I met with some old friends some weeks back, mostly because one of them was going to back in town and someone thought of doing a gathering. Sounds common enough. Out of the 20-plus classmates, 5 of us showed up at a married-couple's house (how many of your JC friends got married to each other?). The turnout rate sounds bad but seriously, my JC class had many non-Singaporeans, mostly ASEAN scholars who are now out and about in the world, doing wonders for their wallet and the world economy. That aside, the bigger surprise for me was the house. It was nice. 3 stories, end of a short cul-de-sac (posh for dead-end), wood floors, and top this - a waterfall plus a pool that goes 2 metres deep. Awesome. I am sure anyone would be impressed at the stroke of good fortune and perhaps good planning to befall this married couple. What more, there was a 4-litre Range Rover and sleek Merc parked under the car shelter. How more well done can you get?
The folks haven't changed though. They're still the same couple - he a little brash and boisterous, she funny at times but always poilte. Nice to know that money doesn't always change people for the worse.
What did bother me though was more of a general perception of the good life Singaporeans want or worse, feel they deserve. Ask anyone on the street and most would list a posh home, cushy car and perhaps some other asset-related entity of great value. The question I want to ask is what have you done to deserve this? Most would then reply they studied hard, made it with some kind of degree and worked hard, paid their taxes and other dues and now were poised to reap all the benefits. Perhaps some were entrepreneurial and this kind of success was a reflection of their achievements. (I've heard that in some churches in Singapore, the leaders have told their flock to simply take what they want, to go get 'it' because as God's followers, they deserved all these riches.). I then want to ask, really, is this what we deserve?
The bigger question is what have we taken, and secondarily, what have we given back.
Maybe I've gone all Amish, Buddhist, environmental or something, but doesn't sustainability concern anyone anymore? I've told a few people that the Earth seriously doesn't need humans, and we've done more harm than good. What sometimes strikes them is that it is a hard truth. We use up resources and we can't give them back. We generate pollution that kills other forms of life. Our greed makes us want to acquire more things, things that have to made out of trees, oil, rocks plants and animals; and we use them, we sometimes need power, electricity or light. More things we don't realise we take because all it takes is a flick of a switch or the press of a button. Things we take for granted.
Just have a short think about this. If everything you use and need had to be manufactured, what was the journey it went through to get into your hands? Take a burger. What resources were needed to make it? And what power (and where did it come from?) was used to create your item of need? Go all the way back, along every thread of packaging, product and ingredient, right to the root, the elemental level. Does paying that $3.50 for a burger now still make sense? Yes, your very life form is a pain in the Earth's ass.
So $3.50 is enuff pay back?(This happens to also be a number from an episode of South Park many years ago. I dunno why I remember this) Perhaps money is the problem/answer and, as we've all been taught, perhaps even brainwashed, more of it is better to have. It sort of justifies our outright wants and demands. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard "throw money at the problem" in my stint in advertising. We get away with it because we have money. "I make this money and I'll damn well spend the way I want before I die" yes? No sense in being humble I guess with a fat wallet? Eddie Murphy once said that he didn't know he was poor growing up because everyone around him was the same. He probably ended in the wrong neighbourhood one day and realised nah, we gotta get ourselves some money and get outta here! Upgrade! So now we're drinking $8 pulpless juice from $20 glasses now because the dough is rolling in. Pride and greed are the sly twin friends of consumerism.
Living in a city and having just gone into debt to purchase a 123sqm flat in the boondocks I can totally understand the need for lots of money to live this life. I wish I had the $ to throw at this 30-yr problem. But how much can our fancy existence justify our need to take away from others and the Earth? It is a problem of commerce isn't it? The human need for more spurs business, commerce and spins the gears and sprockets that make the world turn. People wake up to go to work for money. This is surely not something you and I can even fathom attempting to reconcile. There's almost no way to change our collective minds. Money runs our lives and it is the root of all evil (Debate topic I had decades ago). Nonetheless, we cannot go on living this way (and worse, imply to developing economies that this is way to live). We're all just hoping that we won't know the consequences in our lifetime. Fingers crossed.
So would I get that big house and big car if I could? The more I think about, the more I wouldn't. Seriously, a 4-litre gas guzzler? In Singapore? Yikes. And that's perhaps what I want to put across in the rant. Think before you buy something. I don't mean turn caveman and start to drink from streams but just spend a little time to assess if you really need something. Be grateful, and use less. Believe me, you don't need everything you think you do. Once you realise that, you'd be happier.
No comments:
Post a Comment