What does a ten-dollar note mean to you? An uber ride? 3 cups
of bubble tea? 3 plates of chicken rice? Well, to a foreign worker,
it could mean a monthâs school fees for his child back in his
hometown and a day of toiling in the hot sun. Would you give up
such a precious piece of paper without receiving anything in
return? Not many people would. We have met people who would not
even give it up in return for a cute calendar filled with cute
pictures and heartwarming stories of our doggies. Yet, during one
of our regular stray feeding sessions last Saturday, one of the
foreign workers from a factory that we visit every week actually
approached us to beg us to accept his ten-dollar note. He hoped
that we could use that sum of money to buy food for the doggies on
his behalf.
We initially refused his kind gesture and asked him to keep
his money as we felt really bad to take his hard-earned money.
Usually, workers approach us for canned food, kibbles or medication
for the doggies. This was the first time that a worker had
approached us to offer us money. However, the worker was adamant
that we take his money and was choking and tearing as he spoke to
us. We simply could not bring ourselves to reject him further. He
told us that he felt guilty that he could not do more for the dogs
at the factory as he could only go to the factory once a week. He
badly wanted us to accept his money and feed the doggies on his
behalf. As he spoke, tears began welling up in his eyes. We also
started sniffing and tearing when we saw that, so we accepted his
scrunched up ten-dollar note with much gratitude. Each fold in the
ten-dollar note seemed to represent each day of guilt that went by
for the worker when he could not visit the doggies to feed them
personally. We were touched beyond words. Kindness writ large in
the workerâs little gesture.
Thank you kind man (he did not wish to tell us his name) for
loving the doggies and touching our hearts. Thank you for reminding
us of the existence of kindness in this sometimes harsh and cruel
world. Kind deeds and kind people like yourself keep our faith in
the human race alive and spur us on in our work for the doggies.
May you and the doggies be blessed with more kindness and
happiness. Mark Twain once wrote that âkindness is a language that
the deaf can hear and the blind can seeâ. To that, let us add that
it is a language that the non-verbal sentient beings feel and
reciprocate.
https://mothership.sg/2018/01/foreign-worker-give-money-dog-food/
