Malay paper today. It was rather alright, to say the least. I'm getting increasingly comfortable with my use of malay, so I guess that's good. -shrugs-

Took the 966 route home.

I was just happily walking when I saw something that really saddened me. There was this elderly lady, I'm guessing around 80. She was pushing around this HUGE trolley thing laden with cardboard boxes, plastic containers, metal tins and the like. She was struggling under the scorching sun. You can see from her frame that she was frail and weak, not supposed to do jobs like these. But still, I'm sure this is a common sight across many housing estates. How common? Well, I overheard a lady explaining what the woman was doing to her daughter, "She takes the things to sell, if she don't work, she don't sell, she cannot get makan" The casual manner in which she puts things just shows exactly how common this is, doesn't it? -sigh-

Singapore is not a welfare state. Yes, that has been repeated so many times it has stuck in our heads. Does that mean, then, that the elderly now have no place in our society? With maxed out CPF accounts, we're all doomed to scour in the discarded items for recyclables just to get a paltry sum just enough to buy food? Aren't we supposed to be making progress together? It's really heartbreaking to see my homeland in this state, really. We're all so caught up in our own affairs we're blinded to those who are not doing as well as us.