A day out with my daughter - Part II

While waiting for the movie, we both - separately and without collusion - wrote our thoughts on the day at kopitiam while having a drink. Mine appeared in the previous blog. Here is the one written by my daughter (with minor editing): "I expected going JCube with Dad: watching movie, going home - parents' modus operandi. I was thinking at first: another father-daughter bonding session that i can make use of to catch a movie. Thus, i did not expect the unusual experience i had today. After arriving at the mall and thinking that we were just in time for the movie we had wanted to watch, we found out that the movie was not showing. We decided to go for another movie and hence while waiting we went to a fastfood, unhealthy-full-of-preservatives-but-we-haven't-gone-there-for-ages place, KFC. Dad happened to comment on the slightly disabled people that KFC hired and announced his desire to patronise KFC more in future. My reflections: there are many other slightly disabled people out there who do not have employment. How can we help them? I am quite horrified whenever i think/read about these matters - when the rich gets richer and the poor poorer. I think of charity organisations whose managers take out so much of the donations meant for the needy. And ourselves? why do we live in such denial? We do not help, but just listen and shed crocodile tears. Yes, this world is not my home and i'm just passing through, but we cannot wallow in our own comforts and forget about the needs of others! Perhaps since this is about going-out-with-dad day that i am expected to write something about him. And yes, i have found that in everyone, there is a 'kindred soul' and my father has one. I want to see myself as a "helper of humans" and hope that this world may change."

A day out with my daughter

I took leave from work today to spend some time with my Number 3 - as this week is a school recess in Singapore. It is nice to have some 'exclusive time' with my daughter. [the children grow up so fast that I thought I better 'catch' more of them before these younger days zoom by]. we had lunch at an unusual place - KFC. it turned out to be quite an experience for me. [I urge readers to resist laughing at me at this point. Fastfood is rather unusual for my family, especially for me]. I queued up for the food. The first surprise was a sign displayed on the counter that read "This counter is served by a deaf crew ...". That was the first time I saw a sign like this in Singapore. "how do I communicate my order?" I wondered. When it came to my turn, I was a little nervous, compounded by the fact that mine was not the straightforward type of order - I wanted to replace a drink in the combo set, include a burger that is not part of a set, and do a egg tart add-on for the set. Well, as it turned out, a few finger swishing and hand waving did the job for her quite easily, and correctly done too. Still feeling rather amused, I returned to my seat and related the experience to my daughter. Before I could tell the whole story, another service staff came by with the egg tart - for delivery as I was told that it would be delayed.I told her that another burger was outstanding and needed to be delivered too. She seemed tom understand what i was asking, but from her facial expressions and bodily movements, it was clear to me that she could be easily labelled as 'cognitively challenged'. For me, I was won over by her ready smile and obliging charm. I was impressed with KFC - the management is open-hearted enough to take in among their ranks people whom others might have regarded as 'incapable'. Based on my experience today, they were anything but a liability - contributing in a productive way to the normal functioning of the outlet, not to mention raising the image of the entire organization. This experience served as a nice conversation piece with my daughter throughout my entire KFC lunch. I believed the experience and my reflections about it might be educational for her. I hoped she began to see that life is not merely about forging ahead amidst a competitive environment. It is also about looking around to help and appreciate others who may not be able to compete within the same arena as us - is, an important part of learning to be human. I believe a key defining attribute of a human is that of sensitivity to fellow humankind. [as an add on to this story, I realize that my daughter wrote about this exact same encounter too. She is willing to share it - I will include hers in a separate blog piece after this]. Somehow, i felt hope for Singapore. If KFC can do it, so can Singapore. [well, the burger arrived 15 min later, but still with a smile. This seriously challenges the claim of FASTfood. But somehow, it did not bother me one bit]