Frow wherest dost thou cometh, O Charity?

Orders a teh peng and Hainanese beef noodles...

Today's New Paper carries a cover-story of a Mediacorp artist who got injured during rehearsal for an upcoming televised charity show. And she has had enough; stepping up to question the need for artists doing dangerous stunts to solicit donations (Yet, I am uncertain if she said all she did in an arranged interview).

I end up at a moral junction when rethinking using such means to gunner charitable acts: do the ends justify the means? Charity, (perhaps influenced by my moral education) is an individual's desire to give with no material gain in return. Yet, knowing this as but an ideal, the use of "gimmicks" (eg. winning a b****y luxury condo by the waterfront if you donante) is probably overstaying its initial intent to give charitable donations a kick-start locally.

Indeed, some may argue, that so long as society's less fortunate are cared by this "guided" charity, there is no cause for arguement. But perhaps as an educated, progressive, and cosmopolitan populace, we should slowly dissociate ourselves from this form of charity, and aspire towards the ideal.

Why, then, have ideals when inadequate effort is made to constantly work towards it? The inertia must be overcome, and it is timely to consider a paradigm shift from third world to first world.

Uncle T