Flag Day

its been 3 years since my last flag day. i remembered vividly the flag days while i was in secondary school. me and my choir mates wud go bedok interchange and flag for a couple of hours, den proceed to a fast food restaurant for lunch, before either deciding on a location for a game of bball or going to the arcade to play knights of valor =X

today, i am reminded once again why i dislike flag days. yes. i dun hate flag days, i just dun like them. i mean, it may seem a meaningful thing to do, being a volunteer and going ard with a tin can collecting funds for the needly. but there are more than several points that i can use to convince myself that i totally find it a waste of time:

1. I did not volunteer to participate in flag day (at least during my secondary school and jc days). i had to do it to fulfill some requirement that our education system came up with.
2. i find that using tin cans to collect coins for fund-raising is totally absurd.
3. the mystical tin can somehow grants u an aura of protection that keeps ppl at least 2metres away from u.
4. ppl who do donate usually do so to buy a "passport" so that other flaggers will leave them alone, and not because they really wish to donate.
5. >90% of ppl who donate do not care abt where they donate to. i could have put there "xiong's foundation for his own pocket money" and these ppl wud not have known.
6. i hate sounding like a broken tape recorder that keeps saying "excuse me wud u like to make a donation?"
7. hate being seemingly transparent (again thanx to the power of the tin can)
8. dun like the sight of flaggers competing with each other when its supposed to be for e greater good
9. long hours of standing and walking = painful feet
10. i usually never heard of the communities that i am supposedly helping

yeaps. thats 10 reasons easily for me disliking flag day. of cos u all need not agree with me totally, but i'm sure some points strike a chord in u too =)

oh and not forgetting the examples of excuses given by prospective donors i've seen in all these years of flag days.

1. pretending to catch a bus/ dash across a pedestrian crossing/ rushing for time
2. "talking" on the phone( funny how many ppl's phones ring as they come near me and my tin can)
3. "i've no spare change" ( notes will also do thank you =) )
4. totall ignorance

i mean, either u donate freely, or u jus tell me a straight NO in my face. at least have the basic courtesy to look at me when i am asking u for a donation lar.. i mean, sure i'm not an avid donor myself, but at least smile back at the poor soul who's using precious time of his life to raise money for some charity organisation. dun give lame excuses. pls.