Ogy (Kechik) really hit the nail on the head with this post.
Everywhere I go, I heard people complaining about their purported hardship in life, how they were living on meagre salary with nothing to spend at the end of the days.
What struck me as an odd occurrence was their ability to lavish their supposedly pittance on stylish cutting edge smartphones, having pizza or KFC's every other week, and spending cash on numerous other unnecessary products.
If those are their measure of hardship, then surely if they were in our place, they would be running out of words to describe our condition?
Hardship and poverty are really a massive understatement nowadays. People get hoodwinked by the definition of poverty by measuring themselves up against the elite. You do not, in any way, measure poverty by looking up. You measure poverty by looking down.
Especially by looking to family as ours.
We are a rare bunch of family who goes through life by hardship. Money is a rarity when I grew up...even chicken (yes...the one you eat everyday now) was considered a luxury during my teenage years.
Growing up, I ate what Kedahan's called "tokua" (tauhu) as my usual dish. Up until today, tokua is still my favourite food. Being accustomed to this spartan way of life, I am filled with disdain whenever someone complains that certain food is not good.
Boy, cease your never ending complaints...having food to fill your stomach is good enough.
I still spend RM5 per day for food nowadays (you didn't read it wrong...it's RM5 per day - RM2 for lunch, RM3 for dinner). So the next time you want to spend your precious Ringgit on some unnecessary foods, bear in mind there are others out there who strive to even fill their stomach with adequate food.
I am far better off today than the yesteryears, but it is still far off from the finishing line. We still strive to provide a better living, especially to our parents. I made mistakes that broke their hearts before, now I'm amending it.
So if you ever feel your life is hard enough, think again. Others may not be so lucky as you are.
