After months of battle in court, the former directors of NKF have finally thrown in the towel, admitting their breach of duty as the directors of a well-known charitable organization.
But my concern today is not about their acknowledgement of their wrongs. Instead, I would like to reflect on the causes of their wrongdoing and the consequences of such a mistake.
I feel that main reason for their lack of integrity was purely based on the flaws of human nature. We all know that as imperfect human beings, there is always a chance for temptation, corruption etc. to overpower our conscience, leading to humans doing unimaginable things. Temptation caused the fall of man from the Garden of Eden.
And signs of temptation have or will never, now or in the future, cease to exist.
We put so much emphasis on integrity of the common man. Few people question the integrity of the leaders at the top of the ladder.
This NKF saga, in my opinion, would bring about a total change to that mindset for Singaporeans. Then again, I question the good that this change would bring. Would it be good for Singaporeans to live with no trust in anyone (of such charitable organizations for example) ever again? What good would it do for the people that actually needed the help that the organization "provides"?
Our society may well be a well-off one. However, there are still some people that are at the lower end of this balance. I have seen some of these cases. Old, lonely people, living in half-room flats in some obscure district of Singapore that many people definitely would not know about is just one example of such a imbalance.
Going back to the issue of NKF, we all know that dialysis is expensive and some people do need our help in sustaining their lives. Is the NKF saga going to change any mindsets of people? I think no. Looking at the initial uproar to this issue, many people felt cheated of their money and most likely felt inclined never to donate to such an organization every again. I know, because that was my first reaction to this situation. As a keen watcher of the NKF charity show almost every year, I have found myself donating countless times and who could forget the NKF cards that we had almost every year.
That was initially. Now after much of the reaction died down, I think that many people would have realized that there are many people that need our help.
This issue is not about the people involved, but how the people surrounding the issue react to it.
This issue is not going to change the way I feel about helping others.
Neither is it going to stop me from donating to the reformed NKF.
But my concern today is not about their acknowledgement of their wrongs. Instead, I would like to reflect on the causes of their wrongdoing and the consequences of such a mistake.
I feel that main reason for their lack of integrity was purely based on the flaws of human nature. We all know that as imperfect human beings, there is always a chance for temptation, corruption etc. to overpower our conscience, leading to humans doing unimaginable things. Temptation caused the fall of man from the Garden of Eden.
And signs of temptation have or will never, now or in the future, cease to exist.
We put so much emphasis on integrity of the common man. Few people question the integrity of the leaders at the top of the ladder.
This NKF saga, in my opinion, would bring about a total change to that mindset for Singaporeans. Then again, I question the good that this change would bring. Would it be good for Singaporeans to live with no trust in anyone (of such charitable organizations for example) ever again? What good would it do for the people that actually needed the help that the organization "provides"?
Our society may well be a well-off one. However, there are still some people that are at the lower end of this balance. I have seen some of these cases. Old, lonely people, living in half-room flats in some obscure district of Singapore that many people definitely would not know about is just one example of such a imbalance.
Going back to the issue of NKF, we all know that dialysis is expensive and some people do need our help in sustaining their lives. Is the NKF saga going to change any mindsets of people? I think no. Looking at the initial uproar to this issue, many people felt cheated of their money and most likely felt inclined never to donate to such an organization every again. I know, because that was my first reaction to this situation. As a keen watcher of the NKF charity show almost every year, I have found myself donating countless times and who could forget the NKF cards that we had almost every year.
That was initially. Now after much of the reaction died down, I think that many people would have realized that there are many people that need our help.
This issue is not about the people involved, but how the people surrounding the issue react to it.
This issue is not going to change the way I feel about helping others.
Neither is it going to stop me from donating to the reformed NKF.
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