我左手拿叉右手拿刀，将生活慢慢享用

Faith

Yesterday i went to help out with da di's service learning project; sold batches along the streets to rise fund for Children's Cancer Foundation. It's has been quite long since i last participated in any fund rising event. Yup, to think about it, the previous encounter goes all the way back to last year when rising fund for the victims of the tsunami.

Anyway, it is always rather interesting to observe how different people react when you approach them. I remembered that my friend once came up with a list of ten most popular ways to avoid donating after finishing off a flag day.

The list:
1. Look past you as though you are air and totally ignore your presence
(hum... i am a person despite i want your money... show me some respect at least)
2. "I am in a hurry"
(too busy to stop for a half a minute? see how fast-paced our society is)
3. Shoot you a irritated look to intimidate you
(this is a good one...i wouldn't approach you, don't worry...)
4. "No change" and quickly walk away
(no one's stopping you from donating notes... )
5. Smile and say no
(that is quite nice...)
6. "I have donated"
(thank you... sometimes this makes me wonder if i some people just donate for the seek of this immunity)
7. "Later..."
(as if you will come back)
8. can't remember le....

I am not critical towards people who don't donate; anyway donations are not compulsory. Sometimes I don't as well when people approach me. The over-abundant donation drives are sure to desensitize people towards donation. A lady whom i approached even stopped to say that what is the point of having these flag day, haven't them raised enough money through all the charity shows and government efforts. Perhaps soon enough people will start to feel that students with tin cans are nuisance. It will get harder and harder for flag days to be successful.

Then again, these fund rising can be good learning experiences for the participants. These are some of the learning points i can think of:

1. to speak up and ask for favours from total strangers: It seems that these tin cans bolstered our courage in doing this that we would never do in daily life. Perhaps what one can learn is that it is actually not that hard to knew new people; and strangers are not that unapproachable.

2. to accept rejections: most of the time one has to approach many before you finally come across someone who is willing to donate. (someone got 13 rejections in a row ... :P) In cases of rejections, some people do it nicely, others behave in a harsh way. In any case, the volunteer may learn to accept rejection graciously.

3. to be comfortable with uncertainty: Some have mentioned that a problem with local students is that they do not dare to speak of what they are unsure of (like abstract ideas that are just starting to form in their minds) during lectures. Often, this results in failure to hold effective classroom discussions about issues. When one approach someone not knowing if that person might reject or accept to donate, perhaps one is seeking cure to the about syndrome as well.

4. marketing strategy: To ask for donations, if you can put things in a way to touch the cord of people's heart, will be easier than plainly asking "can you donate for XXX please."

Hummm... looks like i have digressed a lot without going into what i really want to talk about. There is one thing that occured during this cip that has left me with a deep impression.
I approached this man who seems to be in his thirties to sell the badges. After repeating the standard line to ask for donation, the guy agreed to buy a badge. He took out his wallet only to discover that there is only a fifty dollar note inside. Of course he wouldn't buy a two dollars worth of badge for 25 times its value. Putting away his wallet, he told me that he will come back later and walked away.

I went back to er di whom i was selling the badges with and told him about it. He said that the man would not come back. For a moment i thought about it as well, remembering that "later" is among my friend's list. It was actually quite disappointing when the man walked past us again a little later but did not even came close.

The afternoon past quickly and i was left with the last two badges. As i was trying to get a Tamil couple to buy one of the badges, a small group of people walked past us. I heard the man leading the group saying "go buy a badge" and looked up to see the man i approached earier was the one speaking. "My boss says two dollars so two dollars", the guy who came over said, before handling me a bill (the guy looked a bit relunctant though :P). The man kept his promise!

Perhaps lots of treasons have occurred around us, perhaps we have been told not to trust strangers since young, yet we should have a little more faith in people don't we? 人之初，性本善 ma. I wonder if other people who "later" but never came back realise that though insignificant as it is, they had made a promise. 君子要言而有信, this kind of things can be refected through small incidents as such. That man who kept his words is a respectable person.

That afternoon i was particularly glad, for it was proven that there are certain virtures that still holds even in the messy world today.

posted by jingzhi @ 5:31 PM