Parents abandoned over money

Money – It is the thing in our society today, it seems. We cannot doubt its importance in our lives, but is its importance so great that we abandon our principles, ethics, virtues and even – our parents?

This appears to be a new “trend” in the society today as more and more children are leaving their parents in their homes, old folks’ homes or hospitals. Although some children are truly busy working and do not have time to visit their parents, some unfilial children are able to help but plainly refuse to.

Worse still, it seems that children these days are not content with just leaving their parents alone, they try to get money from their parents. According to the president of the Singapore Buddhist Lodge Mr Lee Bock Guan, he knew of a woman whose eight children forced her to sell her flat so that they could distribute the money amongst themselves. Moreover, when she was hospitalized later, none of them were willing to pay for the hospital bills.

I must, in the strongest manner possible, condemn and criticize the actions of the people who do not take care of their parents. I have two reasons for this view.

Firstly, our parents have spent so much time and money to bring us up, and it is thus natural that we repay them when we have the ability to. According to a report by the US Department of Agriculture, parents pay approximately US$221,000(S$320,000) to raise a child to 17 years old. Assuming similar living costs in Singapore, this is definitely a substantial amount. When we think of how much our parents have sacrificed for us, can we bear to see them being helpless and lonely in their own homes? Even an animal, after you care for it, would not come back to bite you. If a person can bear to do that to his parents, then the money that his parents have spent on him has been totally wasted.

Secondly, our parents do not have the ability to support themselves due to their age. Their physical condition makes it difficult if not impossible for them to continue working to earn money, so if their children will not support them, then who will? Is it the government? We must keep in mind that there is an ever-increasing percentage makeup of senior citizens in our country’s population. According to statistics from the National Population Secretariat, the percentage of Singaporeans aged 65 years old and above grew from 6.8 % in 1998 to 8.7 % last year. As this percentage grows higher and higher, it becomes virtually impossible for the government to pay for everyone’s parents’ living costs. Thus, those who do not take care of their parents are putting a strain on the society, and are being irresponsible by making innocent people pay for them.

Some people may say, why is it impossible for Singapore to support her senior citizens when other countries such as Sweden or Norway are able to? This is because Singapore is a small country and lacks the economic power to sustain this support. Moreover, taxes are often high in welfare states, with a 48% tax in Sweden, and this is much higher than the current 20%.

In conclusion, our parents are the ones that have brought us to this world, and it is only obvious that we take care of them, not least due to the reasons above. I sincerely hope that those people who currently have left their parents in hospitals or old folks’ home seriously reconsider their actions, and hopefully, start taking care of their parents!

Article:

"They throw parents out over money"

The New Paper
18th August 2009
Pages: 2-3

Stem cells as a life saver

Stem cells researchers are going to receive an appropriate part of the US$10 billion (S$15 billion) boost that healthcare areas has been allocated in the US federal stimulus plan.

Opinions regarding this matter are largely varied, and I personally strongly agree with this act by President Obama.

For those who are unable to make a decision, picture this: imagine that one day, treatments for incurable diseases like cancer, stroke, heart diseases, blindness and spinal cord injuries could be commonplace and affordable for the masses. Does this sound too good to believe? Stem cell treatment could one day make currently-expensive treatment widely available, boosting the healthcare services around the world in a groundbreaking way. Unfortunately, we are only in its infancy stages and this scenario remains fiction for now.

However, not all is lost. In November 2004, a group of scientists from Korea injected umbilical cord blood stem cells into the spinal cord of a woman who had been unable to walk for 19 years. Within 25 days, she was able walk with the help of a walking frame. This demonstrates one of the limitless possibilities that stem cell research can provide in the future.

This brings us to our next reason. Since stem cell technology holds so much promise, to stop this research is to deny people the right to live. This is especially relevant to us as cancer is currently the top cause of death in Singapore, causing 27.7% of all deaths, and it has been shown that stem cells could possibly treat cancer. Think of the family members of those who have been afflicted with these diseases. If you were one of them, wouldn’t you be desperately searching for ways that could help your loved ones? And thus if someone were to deny stem cell technology, it would be equivalent to denying someone the right to be healthy again.

On the other side of this argument, some people argue that stem cell research kills life. They argue that any of the embryos used in stem cell treatments could potentially become a human being if it was implanted into a female’s uterus. Using these embryos for research and killing them in the process is equivalent to killing a human. I beg to differ. In a sense, they are right in saying that embryos are humans and we should not destroy them. But considering that they could help another human survive, wouldn’t it also be murder if we let the embryos live and the patient die? While many would weep if the patient were to die from the illness, the same cannot be said of the embryo, and that is why this argument would not stand after all.

In conclusion, we can see that Obama’s move is a good one that has caused stem cell research to regain its funding and recognition in the global scientific community, and that we should and we must continue to support its growth as it could potentially save millions of lives in the future.

What is an exposition?

We often refer to the term 'exposition' as a form of writing and discourse. But yet, not many people know exactly what exposition is. Thus, in this post, I will attempt to define, explain and give examples of expositon.

According to the Meriam-Webster Online Dictionary, an exposition is a "discourse or an example of it designed to convey information or explain what is difficult to understand".

In other words, this means that an exposition is a discourse that is used to explain, describe, give information or inform. Based on this definition, we can actually find that there are many places in our daily lives which we encounter exposition.

Firstly, when we flip open the newspapers, the news reports that we see are all considered expositions. This is because news reports report information about what is happening in the world and then tells and explains these information to us.

Secondly, exposition is also found in fiction, where it is much more frequently used. It can be found mostly at at the start of stories, where much information is explained to the reader in order to show the setting, characters, and plot (if applicable; from the previous book/section in the series). However, the problem with using too much exposition in fiction is that it becomes a huge source of information which quickly bores the reader and slows down the pace of the story. As a result, authors often use various techniques to convey information in a more interesting way, such as through dialogues and letters.

Lastly, we note that this blog post is also an exposition in itself. It has served to inform you, the reader, about what an exposition is!


Bibliography:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exposition
http://www.stanford.edu/~arnetha/expowrite/info.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_(literary_technique)