“One must be poor to know the luxury of giving.”

As Bill Gates claimed in one of his speeches at Harvard University, we can’t get people excited and involved in the movement to lift the unfortunate out of poverty unless they can see or feel the impact. In a well-developed country like Singapore, images of underprivileged children starving to death and dwelling in poor housing conditions are non-existent except through the media. Hence, logically, many may feel that citizens of such societies, due to their lack of exposure to scenarios of extreme poverty, might lack the ability to empathise and understand the first-hand experience of those victims.

Undeniably, being poor makes it easier for us to understand and empathize what it is like to be poor, and hence appreciating the luxury of giving. However, it must be noted that that is not a requirement. Rather, the understanding of the luxury of giving can be imparted through proper education systems and inculcation of good values such as sharing and giving. For example, the education system of Singapore emphasises on community involvement programmes, which includes helping the poorer people in Singapore through voluntary services and financial/provision aids. By going through such structured educational programmes, students will be able to learn and appreciate from young, the luxury of giving to the financially unprivileged. Therefore, it is not necessary that only people who have been poor can understand the luxury of giving.

Done by:
andrea, claire, joel, kersh, weiliang 09S06J