If You Have the Power to Do Kindness

Today, I read a shocking story of a father who led his three children to suicide which resulted in 3 deaths and 1 survived with serious injury.

This incident happened in KL, a male Burmese refugee led his three children to jump from an overhead bridge which resulted in 3 deaths and 1 survived with serious injury.

At the news comment column, some netizen wrote: “The father was not being cruel, he was just worried that once he is not around, the children livelihood will be in jeopardy, the only choice he left with was to bring the children with him.”, “There is no father who doesn’t love his children, we can only say that he has been cornered by life!”. Some people also said: “He should persevere no matter how difficult it was.”; all these comments stirred up more responds from the netizens: “When life is really difficult, you’ll not be able to utter such words. Nobody is able to experience what others felt if they have not yet experience it first hand.”

This incident really struck my heart. Me as a father to a child, I can’t imagine what kind of mental turmoil or struggle the father had experienced before he takes such action. The cause of this incident is still under investigation, but this family tragedy already happened in our society. 

Maybe, they didn’t have 3 meals lay out on the table, or his SOS’s call was not answered, after losing face and exhausted all his energy, he hits the bottom and became totally devastated when he faced our ruthless society (i.e. people). The worst scenario would be that he was being cheated and exploited by heartless bandits, thus failed to live up to the honor of a father’s dignity.   

If the problems that he had been struggling with can be solved by money, then our society need to be more merciful; if the issues cannot be resolved by money, then we need a higher justice.

I hope people who resides on this land, especially churches who are known as children of our Father in heaven, the least we can do is not being absent in matters regarding mercy, but a better alternative is we can be more proactively involve, in issues regarding foreign labor and refugees to display the grace of hospitability. In Deuteronomy 24:14-22, where God instructed us:

• Not to bully those foreigners in our land,
• Gives them daily wages,
• Do not deprived them of justice,
• When harvesting the field, if we left a sheaf behind, or when we beat the olives from the trees, or when we harvest the grapes in our vineyard, leave the remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.

Why in verse 18-22, God said: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt …, that is why I command you to do this.” Our ancestors were foreign labors who lived in a foreign land before, therefore today when we treat those foreigners with kindness, it is also depicting a heart of thanksgiving and gratitude towards our God.

<Bible> 

Proverbs 3:27: 
“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”

Matthew 5:41-42: 
“If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, …”

This is Jesus’s teaching on the mount, it is the living standard require from Christian!
We pray to God to send more volunteers to walk among the suffering poor in our communities to care and be their companies.

The second half of year 2022, Manna Food Bank expanded to another 3 regions. i.e. Klang Valley, Kluang and Malacca. Amidst tremendous pressure from life and inflation, let us come hand in hand to instill hope into our society, because our simple act may prolong the beating of somebody’s heart.