Moral ambiguity

An article I read a few days ago

"One of the basic humanitarian functions of a civilized society is the help the poor, the sick, the suffering and the elderly and not to abandon them as other people’s problem, or worse, to protest and deny them a right to a physical, psychological and social space. To do the latter is to dehumanize society even more than the blind pursuit of money would."

vs

This letter to the Straits Times today

"If the HDB had stuck to its original aim of selling flats at cost and for residing in rather than as investment assets, residents would have less of a leg to stand on if a host of socially enhancing facilities like childcare and elder-care centres are built."

Ok so I know it is less than 19 days to MBBS and I should be studying, but I happened to read a letter in the Straits Times today that caught my attention. How fitting that it came in the middle of a geriatrics posting.

Actually, there was a similar case a few months ago when TNP interviewed this caucasian lady who opened her condo unit to destitute foreign workers. Some people actually wrote in to criticise this lady for being a bad neighbour, because the presence of the foreign workers posed a security threat and brought down property prices. This kind of things make you ask... why?!

Let's say you were to go down the street with a mike, and ask people why they are such money minded assholes. Other than being punched and mocked you'd get a heartfelt reply that no one set out to be an asshole. Few people are born assholes, but there is a lot of shit in life, examples being a rising cost of living and soaring property prices, that put pressure on us to be assholes. It is easy to judge someone, less so to understand why.

Nevertheless, at the end of it all, it is only real shit like the MBBS and the stress of city living that truly test our humanity. It would be very questionable if, in our quest to protect our money, we lose the basic ability to care for fellow human beings.