A Singaporean activist, Gilbert Goh, shared a story about a homeless elderly man rough sleeping in the streets that he met.
Here is the story
Bumped into this 76-year-old rough sleeper when I was about to leave last night for my beauty sleep and the encounter literally changed my life.
It’s the first time I met him and the conversation lasted about 30 minutes with him breaking down midway when I passed him our CNY angbao – this is captured on the video at around the 3rd minute.
He seems cultured and even educated speaking fluently in crisp Mandarin often lamenting his current dilemma but yet emphasizing that he doesn’t want any help despite his situation.
He initially rejected the blanket and jacket before finally accepting after much persuasion.
I was shocked that he broke down in tears when the angbao was passed over as he felt very touched by the gesture – I told him he also moved me to tears as seldom do I see a grown man cried as men don’t cry easily.
He talks non-stop and I tried to listen intently as the night drags on when he related abit about his past and how people can be very cold and calculative.
Something must have happened to him in the past but he didn’t went into details and I never probe further.
I later left him to his sleep not before getting him some bread and a pack of KF 4 masks from the nearby Sheng Siong supermarket.
What turns out to be a routine distribution last night reinforced my belief now that the rough sleepers need more help than we can possibly imagine.
More than that, they also need us to show the human side of us so that they don’t lose hope in humanity.
Many of them lost their homes through personal reasons and they need someone to show them that there is still a reason to live on despite their adversity.
Do something good for Singapore – a charity movement to alleviate the hardships of displaced elderly Singaporeans.
PS: the video is in Mandarin and lasts over six minutes.
FULL VIDEO LOADING…
Source: Gilbert Goh Facebook