Making a difference to others lives?

I remember back in 1981 when I was an undergraduate in the National University of Singapore, I used to rush to the computer center after class to snatch a place at the card punching machines. In those days, the only computers available are mainframe. Monitors are rare and keyboard does not exist. To write a program, one need to buy stacks of cards and punch holes in them using the card punching machines. Each card has 80 column by 8 rows. Each column represent one byte. The card punch machines punches the ASCII code for the character that you type in. Each card represent one row of text. So if your program is 1000 statements, you need 1000 cards, arrange in proper order. If you drop the stack of cards, you will be sorry for yourself.

How time flies. With the invention of microcomputer and microprocessors, the life we have today is totally different from our parents; for better or for worst. We would be totally lost today, if our mobile phones or computers stop working. Information at finger tips, anytime of the day, instantly is expected by everyone. We may bemoan the cost of Window operating systems or Microsoft Office. Many have probably curse Bill Gates silently for charging this obscene amount, making himself the richest man on earth and yet they continue buying the softwares.

Imagine if Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Sim Wong Hoo and other inventors weren't born, what would our life be now? You may dislike any of them but you cannot deny that they make a difference to the lives of billion of people around the world. So are great statesmen like Ronald Reagan, Deng Xiao Ping, Lee Kuan Yew and others. People whose action touches the millions or billions of lives in more positive ways than negative. On the other spectrum are those that is better off not born like Hitler and Osama.

So where do you stand? How many lives have you touched positively and how many negatively? If I were St. Peter, this will be my yard stick to determine if you are qualified to enter heaven and not how often you go to churchs or temples. I wouldn't care if you always praise the lord or bow until your head hits on the floor. I wouldn't care if you sing hymns and pray everyday. You may be the biggest donor for some charity event on TV or you may be seen in public doing charity work but you are not getting into heaven if what is at the back of your mind is something else. Charity obsession is no difference from publicity obsession. But then again I am not St. Peter.

We are all so consume by self, that most of the time we forgot that there are others around us who are in poorer states than us. We only look at the other's actions but not their reason for those actions. The recent case of a businessman, in Singapore, caught putting glue into neighbours' keyholes because they did not agree to sell their houses in an en-bloc exercise is an example. He looks at the neighbours action but not their reason. There is no compassion in him and maybe his neighbours too. The other example is the case where a Mercedes car bump into the volunteer on purpose at a Church in Singapore due to a disagreement in parking. For every statement given to the press in these two cases, there is probably another selfish reason behind in back of their mind. For these people, be forewarned that what can you hid in your mind from others, you cannot hid it from those in heaven. Being religious or not does not make a difference. You only need to show a little kindness and compassion to make a difference to others lives.