Do whatever is possible.

Laws are made by humans and they are certainly not perfect. However, laws are essential for safety and peace of the people. Safety and peace from inhumane adults can only be possible through justice. Nevertheless, justice must be dealt with compassion. Below is a letter written by me and published in the Star some months ago.


Have a heart for woman who stole blanket

I STRONGLY feel something is not right when a poor lady who steals a blanket for her ailing grandma because she cannot afford to buy one as advised by her grandma’s doctor, is jailed for five days and fined a sum of RM500.
Furthermore, if she cannot afford to pay the fine, she would have to spend more time in jail.
I understand very well that she has committed a serious offence and that it is the court’s duty to punish her.
However, considering that the court knows this person stole because she had no money to pay for a blanket and investigations had found that to be true, should not the court have some compassion?
I believe there are NGOs or government bodies who can help her.
I also wonder where she would be hunting for the RM500 to pay for the fine. Will she turn to the loan sharks?
And if she is the only caretaker of her grandma, who would care for the old lady while she spends five days in jail?

What do you think of the poor lady who stole a blanket?

I had to write about the poor lady whose circumstances caused her to steal. She was a caring grand-daughter who wanted to follow the doctor's advice to give her grandmother a blanket. Without money to do so, she was forced to steal to help her grandmother.

Despite knowing that she stole because she had not even enough money to buy a blanket, the court fined her 500 ringgit which would have been a big sum of money for someone who did not even have money for a blanket.

To add to her burden, she was jailed for five days which would have deprived her grandmother of this granddaughter's care for five long days. Yes, an ailing woman who needs help would find five days a little too long. It might have been too long for her to survive that number of days.

God bless us all. Fortunately, there are very kind souls in our world who form NGOs to help such people. You see, a day after the above letter was published by the Star, a representative from an NGO contacted me through the Star to find out more about the case. i supplied whatever information I could. I believed the woman did get help. Thank God!

As for me, I was glad that i did write that letter and brought attention to that lady. I did it because i feel it is everyone's responsibility to do whatever one can, in whatever way possible, as all humans are brothers and sisters. As we in the Art of Living say, "We are a One World Family".