A Case Of Charity

A middle aged man was sitting in his wheelchair at the end of a long underground corridor. Hundreds of people were walking past him, as they all raced to catch the next train. I was there too, walking a bit slower, trying to soak in the feeling of being back in Singapore again. Its amazing how fast people walk in Singapore on a Sunday afternoon.

I saw the man in the wheelchair from a few meters away as I walked towards where he was. As I drew closer I noticed his very skinny legs, his severely crooked body bent like wet cloth draping on one side of the wheelchair. Perhaps he had a severe case of backbone deformity. His head was tilted downwards to the point that he would not have been able to see anything but the floor and his own feet. I felt rather struck by the sight. 

As I walked closer to pass him, I noticed his legs trembling. In fact his whole body seemed to be trembling. As I looked closer I realized why he was so: He was trying to put a two dollars bill that a person gave him into a small pouch sitting on his tummy. That simple movement required so much energy for him to do.

I passed him and walked several steps before I stopped. I don't always feel like giving any money for charity, because there are many cases of fraud, or cases where a child or a handicapped person was used by someone "behind the scene" to collect money. But the sight of this man was enough to convince me that I should give something.

So I took a two dollars bill, turned around and went towards him. Instead of dropping the two dollars in his palm, I reached out to his pouch directly and slip it in.

The man once again made a great effort to move. His body began to shake again, as he mustered all energy he had to lift his arm. In his hand he held a bundle of tickets. That, apparently, was why he was there. He was selling some ticket. I did not know what ticket it was.

I was struck once again by the sight. I walked away waving my hand to him, to say that I do not need the ticket. He could not see me as his head was tilted downwards, so I just walked away.

As I walked towards the train my heart was warmed by his gesture. His resolve to be a useful member of the society despite his severe disability brought tears to my eyes.  I might have given him 2 dollars easily, but he had to put so much effort to give me something in return.  The charity was on me.

The Most Dangerous Disease

In the year 2007, when Barack Obama was emerging as the candidate for the US presidency, I was glued to the news channels following his campaigns.   I thought he was a much more thoughtful candidate compared to all the other candidates that were running; and, being a mixed raced person, he seemed to be more sophisticated than the standard white candidates.  I remember I was really inspired by his rise, by his message of hope. I bought his book and read it. I was even more excited as I watched his swift handling of the massive economic crisis that hit the world in 2007.  

Now in 2016, as I look back at Obama's last 7 years as a president, I felt quite disappointed.  The inspiration of hope that he exuded during his campaigns seemed to dissipate quickly, especially after he finished doing his emergency bank and auto industry rescue in the first couple of years of his term. I was expecting much more from someone who ran and was elected based on the message of hope.

I should first qualify that I think it is too much to expect one president to solve every problem in the world during his term in office. Furthermore, Obama has inherited a perfectly messed up country (and world) from a destructive and incompetent predecessor. But I think it would be fair to expect that at the end of his presidency, some evidence of hope should be visible.  At the very least, the root causes of the problems he inherited should be dismantled, controlled, or eliminated all together.

Unfortunately, after 7 years in his job, much of the causes of the serious problems in the world are not smaller; instead they are bigger and more dangerous. The banks that wrecked the economy in 2007 and was rescued 7 years ago are now bigger than ever, despite Obama's promise to make them smaller.  The oil industry is getting even more destructive with fracking, and he allowed them to do so despite the evidence of damaging environmental problems they create. The US economy is perilously fragile, more fragile than when he took office. Like a former US senator said, in the last 8 years alone, the USA has doubled the debts that it has accumulated over more than 200 years. Furthermore, the USA has been printing money out of nothing, making it the most indebted, delusional economy in the world. In the mean time, despite the trillions of money being printed, its middle class is getting ever closer to poverty.

I can go on and on to list out all the worrying things that has occurred during Obama's presidency.  At the end, despite being a huge fan of him 7 years ago, I have to admit now that Obama is not a president who brings out hope to the world. He is a so-so president; a better option to the other really bad candidates that he competed against, but that does not say much at all.  Obama is a mixed race person and it was a big deal for the USA. Unfortunately, the first black president might only be remembered for that fact alone, and not much more. In the mean time, whoever is going to take over his job will inherit an even more fragile and more precarious situation than before.

Here is the thing.  Obama is probably a very decent person, a talented human being who loves his family and wants to do his best at his job.  But as well intended, intelligent and energetic as he is,  he did not seem to have the depth of understanding, the wisdom and most importantly the courage to fix a systemic disease that has infected his country. Seemed like somewhere in the middle of his presidency, he realized that the disease is much bigger than him and he did not know how to solve it. The disease is called capitalism, and many people in the US believe that it is their ideology.

The most concise description of this disease was said in the movie Wall Street, when Michael Dauglas' character said "greed is good".  While greed has been a part of human history ever since we exist in this world, it has found the most fertile ground in a capitalistic society.  A capitalistic society does not only allow greed to flourish, it promotes it, builds a powerful system around it and protects it at all cost. 

Capitalism is a powerful disease.  It is a virus that nobody has been able to beat over the last century. The most famous fight against it happened in the 1960s during the rise of an opposing ideology called communism. But communism itself was such a flawed concept and adopted by several brutal governments that it died a really violent death.  As the winner of the battle of ideology, capitalism virus spread like wildfire, expanding from its incubation country of the USA to all other countries that opened itself up to the idea.  By the later part of the 20th century, even the biggest communist country in the world, China, has been severely infected by capitalism.

Like many diseases, capitalism needs a carrier to be able to spread; and it found an excellent vessel in the form of global corporations, many of whom have used greed as the fuel for their existence.

Capitalism is also so strong because it attacks deep into human being's psyche.  It created an illusion that the more money one accumulates, the more prosperous one would be.  At the same time it triggered an acute sense of fear to those infected; a fear of losing the prosperity.

This fear has driven corporations to drop any moral guidance and do anything to accumulate more money.  It in turn cause rampant corruption and no country is spared from it. It has led to so much pollution, over production, and lifestyle of excesses in the world.  It has led to war over oil that has happened so many times in the last century.  It has clouded the very basic nature of humanity, compassion, and replaced it with ruthless competition.

The virus does not only infect the corporations. It infects so many people in the world through the mass media, capitalistic minded education and passed on from parents to their children. The infection is so acute that some people could respond violently to any criticism towards capitalism; as if they have just received a terrible insult.  Some others react with ridicule and cynicism, branding anyone who seeks alternative to capitalism as nuts, crazy or even dangerous.  Some others resign to the situation and said "well, I do not see any better option". 

Capitalism is the catalyst for war.  It is the catalyst for the uncontrollable global pollution to the sea and the land.  It is the reason why the income gap between the rich and the poor continues to expand.  It is the reason why modern day slavery still exist. It is the reason why corporations keep exploiting the earth irresponsibly. Capitalism has to be stopped, and everyone has to get involved.  The later we act, the worse it will get.