Charity

Charity begins at home ? Is that really true?

I believe most people are charitable at heart; expressing empathy and reaching for their wallets at the same time. Very commendable indeed, you certainly won't lose faith in the human race. The milk of human kindness, so very heart warming. Yet it is this same kindness that are often exploited by the unscrupulous or the outright crooked.

Whenever disasters occur, relief aid bodies are quick to appeal for public support. The shock of the disaster serves as a wake up call for people to rally behind relief efforts being made. Appeals are made for donations in cash and kind by the aid bodies. But how much of this aid support actually reach those in most of it?

Rumours abound about cash and goods donated that are re-routed into heaven knows where. It never reaches the intended parties who had suffered most from the disaster. These rumours are more often than not probably true. Cash that are readily donated are not properly accounted for and often disappear into thin air. Same for goods like food provisions and other stuff – they are sold by agency insiders for quick cash gains that go straight into their personal pockets. It is of like donating more to a crook after he had robbed you.

If you are serious about doing your bit for the unfortunate, try to go the extra mile. Give your cash directly to the sufferers, never to a middle man be it an agency or otherwise. Better still, help the affected party to purchase whatever he needs to recover his life. You can also buy food provisions from wholesale sources and then send it directly to the disaster areas. This way, the end users will be ensured of getting the help and support they sorely need.

When donating to a person who needs money for medical treatment or surgery, it is better to pay directly to the appointed medical center handling the treatment You can then be assured that your donation will not be mis-appropriated for other purposes by the patient's relations or friends. One never knows.....

It is sad having to take such measures so that your donations will be used as intended but human nature being what it is; it makes sense. Being kind does not mean you have to open yourself to being conned.

Be kind and generous, do give till it hurts but do it wisely.

Local tv

Does anyone really watch local free-to-air television channels? Is it any wonder why paid satellite tv operator Astro is doing well? Is it any wonder why pirate dvds are selling like hotcakes?

Let's face it; local tv programmes are crap with only a few exceptions. Look at the shows aired by RTM1 & 2 – absolutely crap. There seems to be forums everyday where self professed armchair 'experts' discourse at length on some social issue. Dullsville! No one in their right mind will watch such programmes unless they want to expire from an overdose of boredom. But I can't really blame RTM for producing such crappy shows as it probably operates under a tight budget. After all, forums are the cheapest programmes to produce – just decide on a topic and invite some tom, dick or harry to talk at length. Probably don't even have to pay him, he'd be more than happy to pose his ugly mug in front of the camera. Low cost but it is a doubled edged sword; if fewer people watch the programmes, then advertising revenue will be lower. The vicious circle continues, without any prospect of improving. Even the broadcast quality pales in comparison with the other channels – RTM broadcasts on the VHF band while other stations use UHF which sends out better broadcast signals. The colour and resolution just don't look right; in short it makes you want to channel surf away to another station. Even the newsreaders look boring; obviously RTM doesn't have much of a budget for attire as well. It would have closed shop ages ago were it not a government owned concern. We must also remember that we don't pay for a tv licence nowadays.

The commercial stations worth a bit of watching is Ntv7 and 8tv; especially the serialised crime and action shows from the US. Tv3 is slowly leaning towards more local content; hence you see more and more local dramas.

You must have noticed by now that there seems to be a pact among the different stations to break for commercials at exactly the same time. Of course it is easy to arrange this, after all Ntv7, Tv3, 8Tv and Tv9 are all owned by Media Prima. So much so that even RTM has caught on to the trick, breaking at about the same time. Viewers are forced to watch the irritating commercials; you can't be going off to the loo every 12-15 minutes, can you? Big problem if you do. It must also be said that such programmes would be impossible to watch for free if there weren't any advertising revenue.

The government has been encouraging more widespread usage and literacy of English. Yet even cartoon shows originally in the English language are dubbed in Malay. How are the young, especially Malay kids going to get more exposure in English? Something is not right here. It just doesn't measure up. It is understandable if shows originally in Japanese or other foreign languages are dubbed in Malay but for goodness sake please leave the English programmes alone. At this rate, English language literacy will actually go down instead of improving.

Ah well, the show must go on ............

Best friend.......

Next to a good human friend, a dog is the best companion. It gives you unconditional love and loyalty in return for just a bit of caring and food. It never questions or judges you much less nag at you.

I live in an apartment now so keeping a dog is out of the question. Have kept at least 5 dogs since childhood - couple of them got stolen, 1 died in accident, the rest died of old age. Chinese believe dogs bring luck; not sure about this but I can recall my life went very smoothly when I kept a dog. My life went doggone when I didn't have a doggy pet. In fact, a dog saved my life on the same day I took her from the animal shelter in Johor but that is a story for another day.

I like playing with friends' dogs. I also make frequent trips to big pet shops to view the puppies there. 'Aiya, tat bugger again! See but never buy, what a deadbeat!' - I bet this is what goes thru pet shop owners' minds whenever I pop around. Besides my love for the furry critters, seeing them is good therapy for my blood pressure. I feel more relaxed whenever I see a tail wagging bundle of fur. This obsession with dogs has gotten so bad that I have a folder named Cute Dogs in my computer, filled with doggy pictures culled from the internet. A stuffed toy puppy given by a friend some time back ranks among my prized mementos.

Next to pet shops, I try to go to animal shelters as much as possible. They need newspapers to line the cages, so I send over as much as I can. Better to give to the animal shelter than sell to the paper-lama-man for a pittance.

So if you have newspapers lying around, send them to an animal shelter such as PAWS near Subang airport. The critters will thank you for your kindness.

Woof, miaow ................

What price fidelity?

Fidelity. Nope, I am not talking about hi-fi, not being an audiophile. Marital fidelity, that is.

Alright, all of us have roving eyes- whether we are men or women. No harm looking when an excellent specimen of the opposite sex comes our way. See only, no touch, go ahead – indulge in your fantasies, when done; just go about your life as usual. No point rocking the boat when you are married, especially when you are happy with your spouse.

Yeah, real easy to preach all this gospel, right? You must think I am trying to be a monk or worse......

Lack of fidelity or outright unfaithfullness is the problem. Is it any wonder divorce rates are high and still climbing? I wonder. Of course there's always the the old standby whine – my spouse doesn't understand me, etc etc ad nauseam. Or is it just pure lust?

There is actually a medical term for sexual lust, read about it recently but just as conveniently, I forgot about it. There is a perverse addiction for variety, sexual types that is. Let's not kid ourselves that craving for affection drove a person to seek it out of wedlock. Just plain old sexual lust.

Let me tell you a real life story about Larry, an acquaintance of mine. Larry is in his mid- thirties, a permanent resident in Singapore. He is married with a young kid; his wife being a graduate and career woman. Problem is, Larry is a rake. I used to tease him that he has a better deal than Muslim men who are allowed to take up to 4 wives; because he has 5. Yessir, 1 common law wife and 4 mistresses – all in different towns over here; just so they don't bump into each other. Being a cunning guy, he calls all of them 'Dear', never by their names thereby avoiding the calamity of using the wrong name at any time! How's that for being wily, eh. Good measure actually, if ever any of them finds out he has been sowing his oats far and wide, they might just do a bobbit on him. Bobbit is a term coinedfrom a Ms. Bobbit who snipped off her hubby's cherished appendage when she discovered he was double timing her outside. Can't say I sympathise with him in this aspect.

All of Larry's mistresses believe she is the only one apart from his actual wife in Singapore. Talk about naivete. I guess it takes two hands to clap but let's not forget the background of the 4 mistresses; they were karaoke gals or aka ______ (you fill in the blank). I would have expected him to have better taste and judgement. Only money attracts these women, Larry had lots of it. Or at least he did until he started collecting mistresses like I collect Matchbox cars. Now he is way broke. The plot thickens - the women are now getting in the family way, one by one. His mating season. Last count, he already has 2 kids out of wedlock. Six additional mouths to feed, not forgetting another 2 in Singapore. Consolation is, he is contributing to a larger population in this fine land of ours. Properties that he bought in joint ownership with the women remain locked in limbo; he cannot sell them off to free up cash to fund his business; cos the gals are terrified that he will cast them aside with nothing left.

When the chickens come home to roost, that's when our Larry will find himself in deeper shit than now. What if one of the gals decide to slap him up with a paternity suit? Force him to furnish regular financial support to them and the kids. His legal wife may hear of his nefarious wanderings. Oh boy, that would be the day. Sure wouldn't want to be in his shoes then. Then again, he did chose to go and sin some more. The crap will most definitely hit the fan.

You reap what you sow. Problems; monumental ones, that is.