and then Yongquan wrote about inequality and wrote it so well that I maybe I should just post the link here....

In any case, I met a few friends for lunch, dinner, brunch, dunch...basically to eat. I can't help but wonder whether they know how lucky they were to be living in a semi-detached, being able to have their mothers drive them around, or to be able afford lessons. Eventually, I find myself slightly envious of their predicatment. The fact that they were actually born into a 'good life' and yet know very little what it means to be living on the 'outside' - present company included.

Life chances and differences aside, I'm intrigued how our friends mostly have similar backgrounds.

This makes me wonder, that perhaps we live our own spheres of existence, that while we may walk the same tarmac, but our living experiences are entirely different in terms of how we see and interpret the information around us. Take for instance, when the news reveals about a single mother who's barely scraping by, I would not understand the predicament she is in, and least of all, empathize her demise. We can imagine how she might be living, but we can never capture understand. Yet, another single mother would know EXACTLY what she's going through and ache.

It's like watching someone being eaten by Godzilla versus being ACTUALLY eaten by Godzilla.

You laugh, but it happens all the time.

The space we occupy, are not simply spaces, but is a form of bubble we surround ourself with in which contains the most heartfelt experiences which we know best. Hence, we cannot or do not have the chance to experience something out of that bubble.

Even if we have overlapping spaces, like how 500-600 of FASS students pace the corridors of AS1 everyday, we all carry a sense of difference due to our background and upbringing. While we may be at the same place at the same time, we are also in different spheres of existence.

I think, at this moment, is why it is difficult for the rich to help the poor. I think it's not simply reluctance or ignorance. To give these people credit, they must know that poverty exists. However, the difference between action rather than just having a reaction, is experience. If one knows the how it is like to struggle through life, then I think stupid policies like increasing transport fares won't happen on an annual basis.

That's why so-called idiots can say that 'people are poor because they choose to be'.

It's not enough to go to poor countries, do a little community service or visit a home once in a while...I think the vast majority need to experience a little pain, as morbid as it sounds, to truly be in the other person's shoes. Our spheres of existence, and not simply spaces, require expansion and overlap, before anything meaningful can truly be achieved.