In the past three weeks, a couple of journal keepers, by sharing their canteen experiences, have provoked my thoughts on an issue.

A charitable boy, Zhipeng is ready to help those around him. Whoever is in need is sure to get a warm hand from the lad. He fetches drinking water for some boys and girls at recess from the dispenser. At mealtimes, some classmates often ask him to fetch a meal for them from the canteen, which is located far off across the entire campus from their classroom building.

Zhipeng did not start to complain until last week. Sometimes as many as five or six mates asked him for the favour. Tender-hearted, he found he simply could not say no. As he was queuing in the hall for his turn one afternoon, however, it occurred to the teen that he was wasting a lot of time. When he was ordering the meals at the counter, he had to get the food using one hand and pay for it with the right meal card using the other. It seemed that he would need six pairs of hands to handle it all. It was too much trouble. Amidst noise and heat, Zhipeng was sweating profusely in the throng. He realised that while he was taking the time to get the meals, those who had asked him for the favour were looking after their own homework in the air-conditioned classroom. Zhipeng felt taken advantage of.

One of his classmates, Mr Shu Yu, was pissed off at those students like Zhipeng and the free riders at the canteen, where the teen sometimes had to wait for ages for his turn at a counter. When he was inching his way, closer and closer, to the serving dinner lady behind the counter, he was happy that it would not be long before his turn came. Many a time it turned out that the one or two students in front of him were just the lot like Zhipeng, who were helping get meals for their friends. It took a long time for these fetchers to get their orders filled and vacate the place. Shu Yu cursed those students who depend on others for a meal. He thought that they are selfish. Rather than take the time to go and get a meal themselves, they exploit their classmate. While guys like Zhipeng are shuttling between the classroom and the canteen, they are devoting the time to their lessons in the classroom. Aren’t they aware that they, like leeches, are sponging off their kind-hearted classmate?

I am no longer a student, but what Zhipeng and Shu Yu shared in their journals reminds me of my school days. I met similar guys then. At that time, it did not occur to me that they were playing on my generosity. I was always ready to give them a hand anytime they needed it. Of course, it was not until much much later that I came to see what qualities they had.

Today I have my job and my career. I work with adults. Sometimes I ask myself whether there are such cadgers around. I make it a rule that I am not to be a freeloader. I should be self-sufficient. Meanwhile, should someone attempt to abuse my kindness, I will say a firm NO. I have to do it, loud and clear, to their face. No shame, no offence.