The gift of really useful giving

As many of you already know, this is the first Christmas that I will spend with my family and in my homeland after living overseas for the past eight years. As I am now forty three years old, I feel that anything I could need or want, I already have. Christmas, as we all know, is a season when people spend tons of money buying presents for others, which is lovely, but let’s be honest here, how many times have we been given a gift that we really didn’t want or need? Now, please don’t think that I am ungrateful for all the gifts people have given me over the years, but as I get older, I seem to need these things less and less. Recently I asked my father what we now do in my family with regards to giving Christmas gifts. He told me that, apart from the children, we no longer give gifts to each other but rather donate money to charity instead. As someone who already has just about everything he already wants, material possessions that is, I thought this is a great idea, and will help the needy as well. But for my family this is nothing new. Several years ago, my brother and sister in law, gave me a goat for my Christmas gift. I don’t actually have the goat with me as I really don’t think the dog would appreciate the competition! Rather, the goat went to a poor village in a third world country, where it is really needed and would be greatly appreciated, apart from the obvious fact that it would also provide milk, and eventually, food for many in that village.

The other day I received a few early Christmas gifts from some friends of mine who were not yet aware of my new practise of donating to charity instead of buying presents. I want to state quite clearly that I was touched and grateful for their thoughtfulness and kindness, and yes the bottle of red will be well and truly enjoyed by me. Whilst feeling slightly embarrassed by their generosity, I quickly explained my new Christmas practise to them, and thankfully I haven’t lost their friendship, I hope!

We human beings, that is, those of us lucky enough to be living in first world countries, create so much waste every day. Now I don’t want to spoil anyone’s Christmas day and celebrating because, believe me, I’ll be celebrating and overeating with the best of them. However, with all the waste we create, wouldn’t be good to perhaps try and redirect some of that to those in real need this Christmas?

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that shouldn’t those of us who already have so much be looking out for those who have so little? I love sitting down to Christmas dinner and eating all that lovely food, but what about the millions of people around the world who have no food? And of course it’s not just food that these people need. Perhaps we could give the gift of decent medical attention, and education in the ways of self sustainability so that they would no longer need to rely on our charity. Imagine that, a world where everyone has enough to eat, proper medical care, and a decent education so that the standard of living would be constantly improving, for all people. A recent survey found that many Australians would be happy to donate to charity this Christmas, rather than receiving a gift that was really of no use to them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely for people to be thoughtful enough and to take the time to buy a present for someone else. As I write this, however, I can look around my house and see so much stuff that I don’t really need; nice to have, but do I really need it? And yes, I know some of you will say to me, well Don, do you really need six hundred plus DVD, and now blu ray discs? The answer, of course, is no I don’t. So I am as guilty as the next person, however I’m not saying to give up the Christmas tradition of giving gifts, just to spare a thought for those with nothing and perhaps to direct some of your giving towards them. I, by my own reckoning, have far too much. Therefore, if all my friends and family donate to a charity the money they would have spent on a Christmas present for me, then from my point of view, that would make it the best Christmas ever.

Merry Christmas everyone, and I wish you all health and happiness in 2012! And by the way, as the name of this blog suggests, please feel free to disagree with me. Comments most welcome.

Another rant and rave when I should be doing something more productive

Assumption, expectation and romantic idealism, can seriously stuff up your day and piss off your friends at the same time! Trust me, I know. I was an expat for just over eight years. During that time there were many occasions when I fell into the trap of going on about how fantastic my home country is. Being my own worst judge, I sometimes found myself in the unfortunate position of continuing on for far too long, labouring a silly and ultimately pointless point, and  some times actually being told to shut up by friends, who were really only trying to protect me from myself! It’s funny how you can assume something will be one way, or completed in a certain way, only to find out later that it is or happens completely differently in reality. Recent experiences have forced me to reconsider the assumptions, expectations and romantic ideals I have about the land of my birth. The most annoying and current experience is all my worldly possessions still being held by customs, even though they were shipped before my departure to enable them to be here before my arrival! Their excuse at customs, according to the shipping company which is my only point of contact, is that there is a backlog and this is their busiest time of the year. Having been told that the process normally takes ten to fifteen days, I’m feeling that seven weeks is just a wee bit inefficient, don’t you? I have been continually told by the shipping company that customs cannot be pushed and that I just have to wait. I assumed that they were telling the truth about it taking ten to fifteen days. I had the expectation that I would be in my house enjoying all my belongings weeks ago. And finally, I let myself get sucked in by romantic idealism that the grass is always greener, or rather things actually get done when people say they will be! Patience has never been one of my strong points. I am the most impatient person I know, stemming from the fact that I arrived (was born) before the doctor did, and have been impatient ever since. So imagine how I must be feeling about this now seven weeks and counting delay. I’m trying very hard to maintain my optimism, but it’s getting harder and harder to do so.

Have you, dear reader, ever had an experience similar to this? Please comment and share. I should add at this point, that what I have just written about pales into insignificance compared to many other people and what they have had to put up with. The people of New Zealand and the bad run with natural disasters they have had this year. The people of Thailand with the flood, or Libya or anywhere else there is conflict or suffering. It’s all relative, I know, but..... I miss my bed, books, CD and DVD collection, sofa, and all the other basic things we all take for granted each and every day, even though I know a very large proportion of the world’s population don’t even have clean water to drink, let alone be able to enjoy the things I’ve just listed.

Trying to keep it real here, so really want to read your comments.

 

More posts coming soon

Sorry everyone, but I've been rather busy moving countries!! I promise I will post something soon, when I'm finally settled.

Cheers

Don

Something that puzzles me

I was in one of my favourite eating places the other day, when something they always do struck me as rather odd. I refer to this little Hong Kong style cafe as the ‘No Bullshit’ cafe, the reason being, you go in, order, the cutlery gets literally thrown down on the table, you eat and then pay as you leave. No airs or graces here, just good honest food for a reasonable price. I’ve eaten at this place, and many other similar establishments, more times that I care to remember during the past eight years. More often than not I’ve attended these cafes with a Cantonese speaking friend, which makes ordering a much less stressful operation than if I had to do it myself, with my embarrassingly small knowledge of the local lingo!

Anyway, the point of this entry is to tell you what puzzles me about these places, and that is the fact that as soon as you sit down, they bring a plastic cup of lukewarm tea and plop it down on the table before taking your order. They have a big tray, with dozens of these plastic cups ready to go. I’ve never seen anyone else drink this tea, as almost all diners order a drink with their meal, in my case iced lemon tea, dong leng cha.

So why do they do this? Can anyone put me right on why they serve me a drink that they know I, and probably all the other diners in that cafe, are not going to drink? Is this an ancient Chinese tradition that I am ignorant of?

What other puzzling things like this have you noticed, not just in Hong Kong, but wherever you are?

A sad situation in the UK

What the hell is going on in the UK? Is there a new underclass of feral children in the UK? Where are their parents? What values are they teaching them? It makes me think there is a new generation of disenfranchised youth, who have no ambitions, and feel that the world owes them. The world owes you nothing, you have to contribute before you can take, otherwise the whole fabric of our society will fall apart. It really scares me that these youth rioters seem to have no morals and are totally self obsessed.

However, over one million people have signed up via Facebook to help with the clean up. This alone gives one hope that it is only a small proportion of the population that feels these riotous actions are acceptable.

So how do we treat these youths? How do we change their attitude and turn them into law abiding citizens?  Do disenfranchised youth find some sort of acceptance in gangs? But there seems to be no loyalty among even these gangs. One example: rioters appearing to help another rioter who is hurt, but rather than helping they are actually stealing from this injured person.

Do these youths have incredibly low self esteem? Do they have chips on their shoulders? Do they believe all the negative talk that seems to have been directed at them, being told they are no good?

Is this a sad reflection on the education system, or society’s ills in generally?

It’s a very sad situation and I sincerely hope the UK authorities can sort it out.

Why I love Hong Kong

Not wanting everything on this blog to be serious, I thought I’d post two pictures I took recently.

I don’t think Her Majesty has ever looked so good!

Imagine if your flat screen TV was this big. It would take quite some time to clean it!

This is one of the reasons I love Hong Kong is that you do see interesting sights like this often.

So I’ll ask the following questions and hopefully someone will comment. What is it about the place where you live makes you love/hate that place?

Why can't people indicate when driving around a corner??

Why is it so difficult for so many drivers in Hong Kong to use their indicators when making a left turn? Having nearly been run over, yet again, crossing the road here in the  Hong Kong suburb where I live, by someone driving a car, the cost of which could feed a third world nation for probably five years, who obviously thinks they have so much money they can do what they like. It always seems to involve expensive cars.I thought it was an offence under the law to make a turn without indicating? Am I wrong in assuming that? Can anyone put me right on that matter? Or is it a case of only being illegal if you get caught?

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog. I’ve called it “Feel Free To Disagree With Me” in the hope of simulating dialogue with my readers. Put simply, I want to be able to use this blog to comment and express my thoughts and opinions about current issues. As this is my first posting, and the fact that I am completely new to doing anything like this, please feel free to offer feedback on how I can improve this blog. Thanks for stopping by to have a look, and once I’ve posted something that you disagree, or agree with, then pleased post a comment yourself.