Give back!

070707 was the day my graduation ceremony was held; the guest of honor is an acclaimed alumni of NUS and the arts Faculty. Having majored in political science, she then went on to dedicate her life and work to the needy. Ms. Eunice Olsen, a lady who became one of our youngest NMPs, and has indeed given to society in many ways. The question I asked myself when they announced her name was “are they inviting her as a hint to us”. Are we supposed to think less about money and success and focus on making society a better place?


As a fresh graduate, I have enough dreams to make my head swell! I am still obsessed with noble aims of wanting to write a novel that will change the way people think, that will inspire people to be true to themselves and ask what they can do for themselves, others and their nation before asking what others and their nation can do for them.


Yet in all these airy fairy dreams of mine, there is the cynic in my head which repeatedly yells that these are just dreams! The facts of life and our society dictate that as a fresh graduate I first find a job that offers a salary commensurate with what the papers keep publishing. The starting salary of an SMU graduate who entered the oil industry sometime last year was a reported $12000; with such news bites sprinkling the media, how can any self-respecting fresh graduate, who probably has a tuition fee loan running in the tens of thousands, or a CPF loan to pay off, take on a job that offers self-improvement over a high salary?


I challenge my fellow graduates to tell me how many of them would give up cushy pay packets for job satisfaction. I know I could not do that. I have to think of the costs of education loans, laptop loans, transport costs wedding and housing costs; in our society we have forgotten the less fortunate in our bid to keep rising up. The more we have, the more we want. The cycle just never ends.


I am glad that on the occasion of my graduation, the guest of honor was not another PhD candidate with a secure tenure in a top university spouting words that mean little. I am glad that NUS invited someone whom we can all identify with, a Bachelors degree holder, who has worked and earned and lived the same life we have, in the same society, and yet made something of herself; not in terms of cash perhaps, but in terms of personal growth and giving to others.


I have often written about making courteous comments to service staff in order to make their day; and to reiterate, this too is one way of giving to society. There are so many little things we can do every single day, in every single place we go, that the common excuse of “I’m too busy” simply does not stand.


Instead of throwing away that almost-new but slightly too short/tight/outdated miniskirt, stop and give it to the Salvation Army instead. Before relegating stacks of Enid Blytons and Roald Dahls to the garbage truck, box it up and donate it to various thrift shops, or the stall that currently sits outside Wisma Atria collecting and selling second hand books for charity!


Neither of the acts I described above take excessive lengths of time; and all of them seem immensely do-able to me. So since I myself lack the courage to donate all my working hours to charity, I am hardly able to challenge anyone else to do so; so while I admire Ms Olsen for her work, I am honest in my self-assessment and declare myself unable to do the same. However, since I have donated old clothes to thrift shops and books to charity, I can request the same of my peers. Give back some of what we have got, I urge you! We studied for 3 to 4 years on highly subsidized fees! It’s time to give back, with a grateful heart.