Bhutan has one of the worst economy in the world and yet the happiest, and most contended people in the world are found there. In Singapore, it's the exact opposite - great economy but financially unsatisfied population.
We always find something to blame for an insufficient pile of dollars. We blame the government for explicity linking everything to economy and money. We blame our bosses for not increasing our pay when everything else that has a price tag is increasing. We blame the bloody hawkers for charging an extra for the damn container that they use to pack our food. We blame everything but ourselves and the lack of financial planning.
The downfall for any financial planning is being unable to prioritise our wants and needs and not wanting to see beyond our next pay cheque. If we think about it, it's all to do with the society with we live in (yes blame the bloody government) but also the mindset of the typical Singaporean. In Singapore, we are just too insanely competitive to the point that it is too suffocating for many people. Notice how materialistic we are? Everything has to be better - your friend bought a Lancer and you want a WRX, your friend got an EVO and you want a BMW convertible. And it doesn't ends with material possessions, even education is included. And so with all these unlimited wants, money plays a key role. In other words, we aren't excatly money minded, we are instead money controlled - slave to material wealth!
To others, money is not everything but to us, we would definitely say something
like "without money you cannot do anything!"
Someone said...."In Singapore, you tell me where no need to spend money. Drink 1 kopi also need money, have sex also need to use condom, even worse sometimes need pregenacy kit to test...everything also money!"
I would ask, in the first place, who gave this damn piece of paper its value? It's us humans. From young, we were taught the importancy of this piece of paper known as money. We then learnt that money is not the cause of evil but having no money is.
In between black and white, there are different shades of grey. It is just that most things fall in the grey zones, hence nothing is 100% right or wrong. No one owes Singapore a living, if you are really pissed you could migrate elsewhere where you are financially better off alot. However I believe should Singapore continue it's over competitive trend, it would hit a stagnent point like Japan did sooner or later.
We are advancing too fast in terms of education, technology and economy. Take education for example. In the near future, a degree qualification will be a norm because everyone is able to attain it. But will everyone get the same job as what we're having now? Maybe 10 years down the road our children, with a degree qualification can only get a job as a manager at some fast food outlet or supermarket. With such advancement, when excatly is enough, enough? You may think the changes within 10 years i not great but I remind you that 10 years ago we were using pagers and big Ericsson handphones 768/688 models. You may laugh at the stupidity of the models or the sheer comical ways some people decorated those phones but it's not funny when you think of the changes 10 years later could bring. What will happen to our future generation?
To everyone of us, it is basically "Good to have enough but great to have more than enough" and with almost everyone going for the 2nd option, Singapore has long become one huge rat race for the cheese.
- Posted at 22/5/08 10:23 PM | By
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