There are many reasons for one to give up one’s role. As I watched two tissue sellers work the hawker crown, trying to make a little money, I wondered if I had joined the ranks of those abdicating their responsibilities to their brothers and sisters.
A bit of background. An unusual cultural nuance, at least to western practices, is the fact that Singapore hawker venues to not include paper napkins or tissue with a meal. It is not a norm. Additionally, nobody expects it. One consequence is that most people carry a packet of tissue with them. In addition to functioning as paper napkins, they can be used for table cleaning and when placed on a table, a token to reserve one’s seat. While willingly shared, tissue packets are respected and honored as something you are responsible for.
To help those that forget or run out, old and handicap individuals often cruise the hawker centers selling a tissue packet handful (4-6) for a dollar or two. It is a respectful alternative to asking for charity.
As I continued watching, I wondered if I understood my role and responsibilities to those around me. Occasionally the tissue sellers are pushy, which creates an excuse to say you do not need the packet, but this seems to a response that ignores the greater role in the story at hand. There is one gentleman that frequents my favorite hawker center that always tugs on my heart! He manner is respectful to the point of apologizing for interrupting whatever I am doing, even if it is nothing. He insists on giving me an extra two or three packets on top of the normal six when I buy, which in turn creates a fun game where I refuse to accept more than two in total.
I always end up contrasting my response to him with the curse noted by one writer; “May there be no one around to help him out, no one willing to give his orphans a break.” (Psalm 109.12) If not me, then who? If not now, then when?
