Shin Young's Reflection ( 1a )

Through this CID lesson, I have learnt many things. However, the most important thing learnt is that we should not judge a book by its cover. In this case, I felt that I should understand the beggars background before I decide to help them. During lesson, Ms Huang showed us two pictures of people begging, a woman with a baby and a man with a plank card in front of him. On the man's plank card, it said that he lost all his belongings and need some money so that he can call his family and friends. When we were asked to choose between the two to help if we only had a dollar. For me, I chose to help the man as I felt that with the one dollar that I will give him, he will be able to contact his family or friends and not beg anymore. However, there were much more people who chose to help the woman. Many of them said that they felt that the woman and the baby looked like they needed more help than the younger man. 
After the discussion, Ms Huang told us the backgrounds of this two beggars. We were all shocked to be told that the woman was from a syndicate and she felt alcohol to the baby so that it would not cry when she was begging for money. I was really shocked when I was told about this as I thought that the woman was someone that was worth helping. Through this exercise, I have learnt that one should look into the background of the person before making judgements as we do not want to regret our actions.
Once, on a Sunday afternoon, my mom and I was at the bus stop waiting for the bus when a man who was barefooted, had dishevelled hair and torn and tattered clothes came up to us and asked money from us. I was actually quite scared when he came up to us as this was not something usual. When I looked at mom, I realised that she was ignoring the beggar and so I did the same thing. Soon, he gave up and went up to other people that were at the bus stop. After he left, I asked my mom why she was ignoring him as I felt that we could help him. My mom told me that he looked very healthy and that if people continuously help him when he begs for money, it will lead to the man having a habit of begging. Since he is healthy, he should not beg for money and find a job to support himself. When my mom told me this, I finally understood we should not help some beggars as it will cause them to be very lazy and would not work in order to support themselves.