On a hot sunny afternoon, a woman opens her bag, takes out a plastic bag that contains a water bottle and drinks from there. Right across her, another woman walks to the nearby BUZZ and buys a bottle of Coke. She takes a three-second gulp before the bus comes, and both the women board the bus. It won’t be too difficult to guess the correct age of the two women: the woman who buys the bottle of Coke is most likely born after 1980 while the other woman is most likely before 1970. However, both could have the same financial commitments and the same monthly salary. Yet one of them is willing to spend so much to buy a bottle of drink and throw away three-quarters of the content. Of course this is generalization, but in Singapore, to some extent, we do see older people, who tend to be richer, be more thrifty. Have you ever wondered why? To answer that question, simply look around you. Youngsters nowadays are willing to spend hundreds of dollars just to buy the latest handphones or the latest tablets. Not many of them would have difficulty trying to afford three meals a day—these meals are almost a given to them. And lets face reality: these youngsters would most likely not have experienced days when three meals are not a given. With that lack of experience, do you think they would care much about spending an extra dollar on a bottle of Coke? Well, I shouldnt say they. I should say we, because I am acutely aware of me being part of this generation who would rather spend $2.60 to buy a bottle of Coke Zero from a nearby 7-Eleven instead of working two minutes down the street to the supermarket to buy the same bottle at $1.40. In fact, I believe the amount of bread that I throw away in a year can feed a family in a poor country for one month. Thats how much Ive wasted on bread, and yet, I still buy them, and throw them away when they expire. Why? Well, I can afford three meals a day easily, right? Im born in the 1980s (1985, to be exact), and I am already exhibiting such unhealthy trait. To add on, Ive once lived in a small three-room HDB flat that housed over fifteen people. If, given this experience, I can be so wasteful, what do you think of many others? What do you think? Please share and like this if youve enjoyed reading it! Can a female university grad marry an ITE grad? Read one of my novels, A Singapore Love Story (all my novels are in bookstores now), here: goodybooks/asingaporelovestory.htm
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 13:10:01 +0000