Believe it or not 信不信，由你

繁华都市~ 拾荒老人 Amidst the modern city-state

 To see old people collecting discarded items such as old newspapers, tin cans, old clothes etc to sell for pennies to earn a 'decent' living in our modern city-state; to some may be unimaginable. Some may feel irksome and lowly that these people actually go through rubbish bins and rubbish chutes to "earn" they daily living. But being old, feeble.. who would employ them? Recently through a new friend who had been working in the health care sector told me a sad but true story...

One day, while walking her rounds, she found a crying old man in a corner. She approached him and asked him what had happened. He told her that he very much wanted to jump off the ledge but he can't. No, it is not fear of death. The truth is, he had no money to pay for his hospital bill... old, half-blind, feeble with a bedridden wife who needs his care to change diapers. Both him and his wife has only TWO 'meals' a day.. which is a tiny bowl of red bean soup which they shared in the morning and kept the other half portion to take as lunch.

Which brings to mind... how fortunate we are, to be alive and able. However 'little' we think we have, it is much more than we imagine. Cherish the people around us, the things we have... and have an open heart and eyes ...to see beyond the superficial. Learn compassion (not hatred), more understanding (not blaming) and reach out your hand (not crossed them in front of your chest). It takes so little to make the world a more bearable place for those down and lost...

很难想象在一个繁华都会里，居然还有如此情景。拾荒老人在茫茫人群中，捡起他们的生活。

曾有一个在医疗服务工作的朋友叙述一个故事。。有一天，在例常巡房中看到一个老伯在角落里哭泣。经问起，老伯说自己体弱，眼睛患白内脏，看不清东西，医药费也付不起。原本想跳楼自杀一死了之，但是不行。。。他想：“如果我死了，就没有人照顾躺在家里，久病不起的老婆。” 正因为不能自行起身，所以老婆就得用成人纸尿片，样样都得依赖老伯照料。。老伯和太太每天支吃两餐。。也就是一碗红豆汤，两人早上共喝半碗当早餐，到了中午再喝剩下的。。

是的，看似繁荣社会竟有如此不堪的人生。朋友，请珍惜身边人，您所拥有的一切！因为您觉得不起眼，不贵重的，对某些人来说是遥不可及的。当您在为脸上长出一颗青春痘而发愁时，别人可能在为下一餐一筹莫展，或是在生死边缘挣扎。。

祝福在受苦难者早日离苦得乐。
感恩上天的恩典，生命的苦难（磨练我们的心智），人与人之间的摩擦（试出我们的真性情）和世间的种种诱惑（炼出真善美）。