BEGGARS INVADE our streets, swarm the hawker centres, and crowd the roadsides. Some of them are blind, some disabled, others look like your ordinary auntie or uncle. Well, they aren't exactly beggars in the strictist sense, but in a land where begging is illegal, they sell tissue and play instruments instead.
The blind ones seem especially grotesque, their faces are often quite contorted and twisted, their lips tangled up in an awkward position. Their eyes are dirty white, and one wishes some of them had put on shades. They walk at a snail pace, a stand-out in fast-moving Singapore, waving their stick about in front of them. The walking cane seem to take on a life of its own, feeling about, shifting left-right left-right at a rapid pace.
Despicable, detestable, disgusting -- certainly not a sight STB would want tourists to see. But yes, they exist in large numbers -- these impoverished folks -- sleeping under HDB apartments and outside MRT stations
While the blindness of some of these people are pretty obvious, are we -- able-bodied, relatively well-off Singaporeans -- the truly blind ones? Are we so caught up with the rat race and the chasing of grades that we forget those who do not have the same opportunities as us? Do material concerns so engulf us that instead of being the consumer, we become consumed by the pursuit of wealth...
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