Many Singaporeans are known to be in love with a certain beverage – Bubble Tea and a certain clown. So great is their craving that in spite of the ongoing inconveniences of social distancing, many flocked to their nearest preferred BBT stall to purchase one last drink before they were shut down during the extended Circuit Breaker (CB) period.
This BBT behaviour has drawn mixed reactions from other Singaporeans, ranging from the amused to the angry, both for valid reasons. The mad-rush to buy one last BBT showed how much Singaporeans care about our fixes. Meme lords have illustrated this point elegantly (and sadly, quite accurately). We wondered if some Singaporeans would survive a month without BBT. What even is life without it?
Apart from the obvious loss of having less sugar flowing through our veins keeping us dopamine-nirvana, life without BBT may well have proved to be better! Apart from the obvious health improvements (heh thanks MOH, You were right all along), our wallets have thanked us as well.
You may have heard or read articles that talked about how people saved money from quitting certain habits such as alcohol, partying, smoking… and now we have another to add to the list: BBT. So… with an ‘essential’ item removed from your weekly (or even daily) expenditure list, you might have a tiny bit of spare cash lying around! What you do with it is up to you, but I do want to raise a suggestion which will benefit many.
Consider donating to charity
Many charities have had their fundraising plans either disrupted or cancelled, but their beneficiaries still need their support. Hopefully, our giving won’t slow down now when it’s possibly needed more than ever. Most of us probably already know that there are means to still donate beyond dropping a spare coin into a volunteer’s flag-day tin. Donations, like our meetings, can be moved online.
Here’s where I believe we can start. Go either directly to a charity you are familiar with and donate $$$. But if you’re like me and have a limited knowledge of what charities are out there, what they do and which are legitimate, you can check out giving.sg.
Don’t worry, I’m not here to scam you. Neither is this a paid-promotion. I just believe that this is a good effort that deserves our attention. This site is backed by Singapore’s Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth (MCCY). Sumpah. Click here and check it out yourself (also, The Straits Times reported on it recently).
On the site, you get to browse through over 500+ charities and 600+ campaigns over a whole range of causes to find the one which you believe your moolah will benefit most during the Circuit Breaker and the months after.
Clicking into any donation campaign will direct you to a profile of the organisation or individuals behind the respective cause and browse various donation options, a familiar layout to various other crowdfunding portals you may have used before. Some organisations even specify how the donated money would be spent, so you can read up and decide how generous you want to be.
Please consider giving ya? BBT is just one of the many things we may have deemed as ‘essential’ (but is it really?). Each of us craves different things, and this CB period is a great opportunity for us to reflect on how our desires feed into how we spend our money, time and energy. Hopefully by the end of CB, we will find ourselves in a much more socially-conscious and wise place in terms of our consumption and behaviour.
Until CB is finally over and we can finally assemble for real in public again, let us assemble in our solidarity and care towards one another in a time like this.
