http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kV0ikuC6Hg
Chong Wai Fung and Clarence Dorai present SDP’s 2013 Christmas message – We need a more compassionate society (text available below).
The Christmas season is upon us again – a season of giving and forgiving, a season of festive cheer and goodwill. But Christmas is also a time where we remember what humanity is all about – compassion and the ability to care for one another. For what would the Christian faith stand for without the virtues of care and empathy?
Singapore is renowned for its tinsel and glitter at Orchard Road especially at this time of the year. We go about shopping for gifts and partake of the fun and food that is in abundance. But even as we spread cheer and laughter, let us also remember those who continue to live in poverty and pain.
Let us remember 95-year-old Mdm Lu Dai Hao who took her own life because she didn’t want to burden her family with medical bills. Or the 81-year-old lay who suffered a heart attack after queuing up for three nights just for a free meal at the temple. Or those homeless families camped out at the beach.
We cannot leave those who need our voice be unheard. We cannot leave those who are defenceless without rights and dignity. We can do better than this, we are better than this.
We need to build a compassionate society, A society that can look into the needs of it’s weaker and more vulnerable brethren. After all, Christmas would mean nothing if all there is to it is the emphasis on shopping.
Caring and compassion for our fellow men and women is what makes us all human, it is the decent thing to do, it is the true message of Christmas. Let us re-dedicate ourselves to this message and see to it that power be accompanied by compassion. The two must not be separated.
And so from all of us here at the SDP to all our Christian friends have a Blessed Christmas and to everyone else Happy Holidays!
Singapore Democrats