LOVE, Kloudiia

I was having a quick lunch session with some friends yesterday afternoon at Bugis Junction’s MOS Burger, when this man in a black t-shirt and jeans carrying a rather big bag slung over his shoulder walked up to us.

As he was standing furthest from where I was sitting, hence I could only catch a few words of what he said here and there. The obvious was he was selling us a pen.

After rattling off for close to a minute, my friend asked to look at his badge again, just to make sure that this isn’t a scam organisation. My friend was satisfied, and so he decided to purchase the pen.

From the bits of words that I managed to overhear, this man is an ex-convict. And apparently he was granted permission to come out and sell pens to the public due to his good behaviour for a certain period of time.

He’s honest and straight-forward to let us know that he will earn a 50% commission from the sales of each pen. Which means, for every $2 pen he sells, he earns $1.

The explanatory note that came with the pen read:

Trust Leaf is not a Charitable Organisation.

Trust Leaf is a company that creates job for the needy people and ex-convict.

There is no obligation for customers to purchse any products.

Provide a second chance to others!

Your kind support is greatly appreciated for this Project!

OUTREACH CONNECTION JOB CREATION PROGRAMME

He didn’t just earn $1 from that “sales talk”. We bought 4 pens from him in total, one each.

Guess what? Ha, I actually got a purple pen! Yeah! My colour heh heh

When I came back and googled thsi organisation, I didn’t manage to find much information, except to stumble upon this person’s blog which also had a brief mention on this too.  

This man wants a second chance to live his life. For us, if buying the pen signifies our support for him, then so be it!

Why I can say this so easily is probably because firstly he looked really ernest and sincere, and secondly $2 really isn’t such a big deal. I have no qualms to have $2 lesser in my pockets to be part of this job-creation programme for hundreds or thousands of them to find hope in life again. If we want them to cherish this 2nd opportunity to live life well, then we have to be the one to provide them that chance, isn’t it?

Will you give this man and many others in the same organisation a second chance?

Maybe when you are reading this, you’ll go “Sure, why not? It’s only $2″ in your head.

But, I’ve witnessed some people rejecting this man’s request. I don’t want to judge them, for they could have several reasons for doing so, or not doing so.

All I want to say is this…

Do unto others what you want others to do unto you.

One fine day, we could be in a similar shoe asking people for help. I know this too well, for I am now in that sort of situation. 

Be kind and courteous to people on your way up

for you might meet them on your way down

[tags]second chance, trust leaf, forgiveness, life, help[/tags]