I’m about to
lose three house guests (relatives of the wife), who had stayed over for the last
two weeks and I’m feeling their loss. The reason for this is simple, they’ve
been exceedingly pleasant. When I leave the house, I leave people who are
smiling. I come home and we eat dinner together. I get called up by people I
barely know who ask me when I’ll be back and they say they’ll wait to eat until
I get back – and they actually do.
I’ve been
living in a strange world. It’s a world where busy is a given. It’s a strange
world where people take pride in spending their time chasing for all sorts of
expensive stuff. Time, that most precious of commodities is meant to be devoted
to only those who can give you something in return. Having lunch with
colleagues is seen as a distraction and competition. The concept of marriage ends
at the wedding dinner. Instead of bonking themselves silly, bride and groom
quickly return to their busy lives. Sitting on a chair in front of a computer
screen becomes the only acceptable form of existence. Sitting down with friends
and family, with no agenda is strictly frowned upon.
When you’re
living like this and everyone else is living like this, it seems normal.
However, when you leave that environment or you interact with people from that
environment, you suddenly realise that the life you’re leading isn’t exactly
normal and its not exactly pleasant.
Funnily enough,
I’m not against chasing the almighty dollar. The current economic system is
designed in such a way where you will have to chase the dollar if you are to
survive and much as the Singapore government might contest this – you will have
to do so until the day you die. As an ex-boss at Citibank used to say “CPF is
not going to cover the retirement needs of Singaporeans” and Singapore’s
pension system is considered the seventh best in the world:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/042914/top-pension-systems-world.asp
However, while
having money is important, its not the only thing in life. In Singapore, the
people who understand this basic concept are ironically the people who earn the
least. If you walk along Orchard Road on a given Sunday, you’ll find domestic
workers happily turning every nook and cranny into a picnic spot. Some of my
happiest times come from hanging out with a friend who used to meet with the
domestic help on Sundays and going to the odd picnic was fun. I mean, how often
can any of us working professionals say that we had time to lie on the grass
with a can of beer and look at the sky?
https://pride.kindness.sg/why-do-foreign-workers-here-picnic-by-the-roadside/
I think of my
Nepali friend who used to bring me into Mount Vernon Camp to meet with his
relatives. Again, they were warm and welcoming and I leaving the camp felt sad
because you were leaving pleasant people.
It goes without
saying that unhappy people cannot stand the sight of happy people. The unhappy
people, are ironically the ones employing the happy ones. You’ll read enough
articles on the news about how the government needs to curtail people like
maids and construction workers from “loitering” on the streets (what they
really mean is not become an eye sore for unhappy people).
OK, I’m going
to get a few bricks thrown at me, but I’m going to have a go at our local
Chinese graduates’ women. This is the group that complains that local Singapore
men are basically not up to standard and a group of male chauvinist pigs who
aren’t as good as their Caucasian counterparts who appreciate their beauty and
academic achievement (I’ll make it a point of distinguishing between brains and
academic achievement). This group will bitch and moan about how men can’t meet
the standards they set so they go for girls from third world countries like
China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
To be fair, Singaporean
men aren’t the world’s greatest. However, the real reason why we enjoy the
company of girls from China, Vietnam and the Philippines is the fact that they’re
much better and creating pleasantness. The Filipina girls are especially good at
providing no stress entertainment. Our girls are obsessed with appearance and
attainment to the point that they really forget that who really cares about what
you’ve achieved in life unless it affects them.
I work in
Shenton Way, Singapore’s financial district. It is “Wankers Paradise” because everyone
is exceedingly presentable. However, the “beautiful” people don’t smile and
have something to get worked up over. So, it looks good on the outside but it’s
probably toxic to deal with:
https://www.herworld.com/life/are-you-getting-recognition-you-deserve-work/
It’s not just
the women. Guys in shirts are probably miserable. I think of the time I
actually started to envy Bangladeshi workers who were probably earning less than
what I was for considerably more “real” work. It was supposed to be a career
high point for me, helping comb through the books of someone I would only
describe as an evil bastard, though an admittedly wealthy one. I literally camped
in the office for the sole purpose of ensuring that the world would know that
the Evil Bastard was on paper (legally) clean. The experience was such that I
took to social media to ensure that I would get fired and would never work in
the industry again (which obviously didn’t work). Staying in an office for
longer than an hour at a time and looking at spreadsheets and documents in
files makes me want to vomit.
In a way, I’m
lucky because I’ve had several breaks from the awfulness of normal. First it
was going away to Bhutan, a country that understands that economic growth for
the sake of economic growth doesn’t serve anyone. Then, it was the lock down,
which made me realise how much more valuable I was away from the misery of
corporate existence and now its my houseguest.
I’m not saying that
one shouldn’t work long hours to go the extra mile. Its good to be competitive and
let’s make no mistake – having money is nice.
However, if you
look at the biggest fortunes in the last decade or so, you’ll notice that it
wasn’t people who were slaves to chasing the dollar. It was people who wanted
to serve and found happiness in creating things that made the world a better
place.
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