Philanthropy

It’s a good sign that as people get more affluent they tend to be more charitable.  It’s a general statement that may not hold true for everyone but it’s an observation I’ve made.

Look at the celebrities donating to all different causes and becoming sponsors to different non-profit organizations.  The skeptics may say it’s all for publicity.  Whatever the motive is not for us to judge but the outcome is positive.  Aside from helping the needy, it increases awareness for the different causes.

I respect the wealthy who spend the money and effort to help those in needs.  In Asia, in recent years increasing number of wealthy families have invested time and effort for philanthropic causes.  Many of my friends for example benefit from the scholarship the Sampoerna family has sponsored. These are young intelligent people who have so much to contribute to the country after they finished the higher education paid for by the scholarships.

With increasing affluence in Asia, many has picked philanthropy as a way to show-case their wealth.  It has become an “in-thing” amongst many of the rich.  It’s a new hobby.  As long as the support to the cause is sustainable, I have no qualms over anyone’s motives.  If one of the main purposes to support a charity event is to appear in Tattler, I’ve nothing against it as long as some poor kids get to go to school.

What I have an issue with are people who demonstrate their charitable support in public but are mean and petty to the household staff who work for them.  There are countless of people who pay their maids meager salary and have no second thoughts deducting their salary to pay for something they broke while cleaning up the house.  Others will not give their maids day-off.  I’ve also seen many who bring their nannies to look after kids in restaurants without offering the nannies anything to eat or even drink.  Do we even feed our domestic staff properly at home?  Do we care if our driver is making enough to send his kids to school?  Do we help pay for the medical bills when his kids are sick. 

So often, we ignore those around us who are most in needs.   I know many people treat their household staff like their family.  To those people, my deepest respect.  For the others, it’s not too late to start.  Charity starts at home.

Coffee

An except from Taylor Clark's book "Without coffee, half of Western civilization would be crippled by blinding headaches; morning commuters would wonder around in a daze...In short, coffee growers prevent the world from descending into animal-pelt-wearing, fire-god-worhispping anarchy".   That's from the book "A double tall of caffeine, commerce and culture.  Starbucked. ", a must-read for any coffee lovers.

I had to laugh and couldn't agree more that I tend to measure how "civilized" a place is by the presence of Starbucks.  Although Starbucks doesn't serve the best coffee, I am still a fan.  Starbucks provides me with reliable coffee when I need a caffiene fix.  Stabucks provides me a place to meet friends and hang-out.  Starbucks provides me with a place to rest when I'm weary.  Starbucks provides me an escape when I need to be alone.

Starbucks is not present in Vietnam yet.  I'm sure Howard Schultz has the country all mapped out as his next target market.  How can he afford to miss this upcoming economy with growing affluent of young population especially when Gloria Jean's is here?

With all the local cafes in this country and with a similar Starbucks concept in the local chain, Highlands Cofee, I do crave for my Caramel Macchiato at times.  And yes, add a pastry to my order please.

Airport

It’s easy to be in at peace when you are in your yoga studio or sipping wine by the beach.  One of the ultimate tests of how much self-control you have is in an efficient and congested airport.  People show their real self when they are in a hectic airport.

You get irritated by the stagnant yet endless line. You see people shamelessly cutting lines.  The noise level is driving you crazy.   You see people taking longer time than necessary at the check-in counter.  In Soekarno Hatta Airport, just getting into the passenger check-in area is a struggle with long disorganized lines and of course always with people attempting to cut the line.

It’s worse when you have kids or elderly with you.  Most of these airports are not designed for children, elders and least of all the disabled.  If you are late due to the check-in process, you realize that’s only the beginning of the nightmare.  The customs process is usually another long queue plus the long walk to the gate.    By the time you board the plane, you are exhausted.

Airport is the part of travel I least look forward to especially in South East Asia where apart from the world-class standard of Changi Airport, the others are sub-standard.   I don’t understand why major cities don’t design better airports?  With the increase of value airlines and travelers, isn’t it obvious most of these airports need an upgrade?  Or perhaps start with making the existing one more efficient?

Until such time, I’ll just plug in my ipod and breath my way through the jungle of the airport.

Listening

It just struck me yesterday at yoga class how bad I am with listening.  I hear but don't listen.  There is no other sound in class to distract me other than the teacher giving out instructions and yet I fail to listen.   My mind drifts away.  There I am trying to do my poses with my mind going havoc on me.  I read somewhere that an untrained mind is line a wild horse trying to flee in all directions.  That was exactly how my mind behaved yesterday in class.  Work, things to do, people all flocked into my mind randomly.   Breathing and listening to your breath helps tame the mind.

Yoga is about listening to your body.  Letting go of what your mind tells your body what it can or cannot do.  One of my most challenging poses is camel which is a deep back-bend from a kneeled down position.  It took many months and classes for my body to convince my mind that it is alright to attempt that pose.  When I was told that that pose is about receiving love, it struck me that I do have issues in receiving love.  I've unconsciously felt that I need to work at being loved, I need to put in the effort in any relationship in order for the other person to love me.  And when I don't feel love, I work harder to gain back the love.  When I don't feel love, I may even blame myself for not making it work.

Now I am working to be at peace with myself.  I realize I first have to love and accept myself.  Only then can I love and accept others.  I cannot expect others to love and accept me and I've to learn to let go of that expectation.

It's still a journey towards self-love and self-acceptance but it's a journey I've committed myself to embark.

Allow ourselves to fail

Failure has all the negative connotations that come with it.  So intense is our fear of failure that it causes us to put our dreams in the back burner.  We freeze at the thought of venturing into unknown territory.

But why do we fear failure?  Is it because we are worried how people will perceive us if we fail.  Is it our ego driving this irrational fear.

It took me a while to start writing this blog.  I've always wanted to write but have been using my busy schedule as an excuse not to start.  It then hit me one day that time is not the reason why I don't write.  It is fear; fear of not writing well, fear of others being critical of my writing, fear of not knowing what to write.  All those fear even before I start.

Are we putting aside our dreams without even trying?  I would rather have tried and failed then not even trying.  If the experience makes us a better person, have we really failed?