A photo of an elderly lady circulating online has earned many disapproving comments from netizens about the cost of living and the extremes that elderly people have to resort to in order to make money.
In the image, a woman can be seen pushing a trolley stacked with cardboard as she takes up an entire lane on the road. Behind her, cars can be seen changing lanes in order to avoid her.
Netizens who commented on the photo expressed their disapproval and sadness, with some even sarcastically bringing up Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin’s comments where he said that the normal perception that all cardboard collectors are people who are unable to take care of themselves financially is false.
On his social media page last year, the Minister even said, “there will be some who do this as their main source of income. Some do so to supplement what they have. Some prefer to earn extra monies, treat it as a form of exercise and activity rather than being cooped up at home”.
Happy People Helping People (HPHP), a non-profit community organization shared about a a 75-year-old senior citizen who earned a mere $3.10 after collecting cardboard all night.
Dressed in a rain poncho, the senior citizen told HPHP volunteers how he needs to use the road to transport his trolley – which is stacked so high with cardboard that it partially obscures his view of the path ahead – to the collection point since the sidewalk is not level and his cardboard boxes may fall off his trolley.
The senior citizen commented about how he leads a “hard life” and that he is not allowed to keep his trolley and boxes in the corridor of his flat or he would risk getting a “summons” from the authorities.
HPHP said that the stack of cardboard boxes the senior citizen spent all night collecting earned him S$3.10.
The netizen who uploaded the initial photo of the old lady pushing her trolley commented: “I am so speechless..
It is so dangerous auntie..
She nearly got knockdown by one of the vehicles. Guys pls lookout for this situation.”
Others expressed similar sentiments as well.
/TISG