[NYGH Board of Monitors] Donation Drive

I think the event that really got me thinking about practical things was donation drive. Some context: Nanyang holds a HongBao donation drive, and a food donation drive, in collaboration with external organisations to spread love to the needy during Chinese New Year. Each year, BOM EXCO is in charge of encouraging their classmates to donate a part of their red packet money, as well as bring some canned food from home to donate.

At the start, donations were really slow. As I thought about how I could further convince my friends to donate, a question came up: why are we even donating? Certainly, the standard answer would be that it’s for us to give back to society, empower the less fortunate yada yada. But what does “giving back to society” actually mean? And in what position are we to “empower” the less fortunate in society? Anyways, would the small sum of money we collect really be able to help those who are struggling financially?

As a 16 year old, my brain simply couldn’t comprehend those complicated questions and so I went to ask my friends for their opinions. And there was no clear cut answer. Eventually though, we still managed to work through it and collected a decent sum of donations.

Looking back now, I still don’t have a clear answer as to what it means to “give back to society”. As I take part in several volunteering opportunities now, the question also comes up: why exactly do I volunteer? Although I love to rationalise things, I doubt I’d ever be able to get a logical answer for this question, without coming off as cynical. I think we help others because it’s in our culture to do so - because as humans we live in social groups and we naturally help to uplift others when we can. “No man is an island”, “We rise by lifting others”, sure, these may seem cliched, but it really is true.

I think the donation drive was held, perhaps not with the main motive of really uplifting others out of poverty, but to cultivate the sense of helping others when we have the ability to. Yes, I can’t think of a logical answer as to why we should, but at the same time, I can’t imagine a cold World where people simply walk away when they see someone in need.

In a World where everyone is so pragmatic and constantly looking for answers, the things that really matter seem to always lack an answer. Sometimes, it’s really just a calling, with no absolute reason at all, and I think that’s what makes life so beautiful and complex.