Natalie Shobana Ambrose (6 November, 2008 - theSun)
I never knew biting into an apple was a luxury until I heard about life when my grandfather was alive. With 7 young mouths to feed, everything was shared equally including apples! It wasn’t that there was not enough for everyone, rather, the act of sharing needed to be inculcated from young and where better to learn than at home.
Many of us have probably never shared an apple. Or never even thought an apple could be shared. As a child, I remember each weekly trip to the pasar malam came with a reward of sugared jelly sweets. 200 grams shared equally with my siblings onto some tissue paper- once again, not because there wasn’t enough but because we needed to be taught about sharing… and we needed to be taught about greed.
Sharing my portion of sweets was very difficult, even when I couldn’t eat it all. As Oscar Wilde once said “There are many things we would throw away, if we were not afraid that others might pick them up”. I didn’t want anyone else to have my left-overs even if I couldn’t eat it all- because it was mine and I earned it. I want it all!
Greed is a funny thing, because it borders want and justification of what one thinks they deserve – a bottomless ugly pit. The more we have, the more we want. The more we want, the more we think we need and once we’ve convinced ourselves of this need and how much we deserve it- the more greed sinks its claws into us. Making us do things we’d rather not own up to. I suppose greed doesn’t matter if it doesn’t hurt anyone. But the very nature of greed is the fact that it takes away from others, and it never stops robbing.
Everyone’s talking about the global economic crisis, the stock market’s downward tumble and all the economic woes it brings. So where did all that money actually go? Large investment houses don’t go bust just like that? The piles of money are somewhere- it couldn’t have just disappeared. If we go to the heart of the matter- it probably started with greed. Greed for more and more and more when finally there was no more left.
I sometimes look at the world’s super rich and wonder how much money is enough. I admire people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Barron Hilton, cooking goddess Nigella Lawson and the best 007 agent Sean Connery who have decided to give away their millions not to their children but to the world in need.
We Malaysians seem to have the ‘super-size me’ Mc Donalds syndrome. From the tallest towers, to the largest shopping malls, to mega infrastructure programmes and multi-billion dollar agreements…. Why not? After all we earned it and it shows that we are doing well, we’re progressing and prospering. But how many of these ‘project’s have lined the pockets of ‘people doing their job’.
Juxtaposed against the beautiful Twin Towers and the magnificent Putrajaya Bridge are the poor Penans, the stateless Malaysians, the poor armed forces who have to travel on the flying coffin Nuri, young children left behind because there isn’t enough money to build proper schools and the poor single mothers trying to make ends meet.
A few months ago, I visited Myanmar after Nagris had devastated a land already in turmoil. The people didn’t have enough- they didn’t have enough before Nagris, and they had almost nothing after. What touched my heart though was how fast those that ‘had’ wanted to help. As it was, they didn’t live in a lap of luxury- far from it, but they were willing to give up their little ‘luxury’ to help those who had nothing.
On one hand, we Malaysians want to be a developed nation and on the other hand we are willing to let our siblings suffer. When did we learn not to share our wealth and feed our greed?
Natalie wonders how different her life would have been had her grandfather “thatha” still been alive.
Many of us have probably never shared an apple. Or never even thought an apple could be shared. As a child, I remember each weekly trip to the pasar malam came with a reward of sugared jelly sweets. 200 grams shared equally with my siblings onto some tissue paper- once again, not because there wasn’t enough but because we needed to be taught about sharing… and we needed to be taught about greed.
Sharing my portion of sweets was very difficult, even when I couldn’t eat it all. As Oscar Wilde once said “There are many things we would throw away, if we were not afraid that others might pick them up”. I didn’t want anyone else to have my left-overs even if I couldn’t eat it all- because it was mine and I earned it. I want it all!
Greed is a funny thing, because it borders want and justification of what one thinks they deserve – a bottomless ugly pit. The more we have, the more we want. The more we want, the more we think we need and once we’ve convinced ourselves of this need and how much we deserve it- the more greed sinks its claws into us. Making us do things we’d rather not own up to. I suppose greed doesn’t matter if it doesn’t hurt anyone. But the very nature of greed is the fact that it takes away from others, and it never stops robbing.
Everyone’s talking about the global economic crisis, the stock market’s downward tumble and all the economic woes it brings. So where did all that money actually go? Large investment houses don’t go bust just like that? The piles of money are somewhere- it couldn’t have just disappeared. If we go to the heart of the matter- it probably started with greed. Greed for more and more and more when finally there was no more left.
I sometimes look at the world’s super rich and wonder how much money is enough. I admire people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Barron Hilton, cooking goddess Nigella Lawson and the best 007 agent Sean Connery who have decided to give away their millions not to their children but to the world in need.
We Malaysians seem to have the ‘super-size me’ Mc Donalds syndrome. From the tallest towers, to the largest shopping malls, to mega infrastructure programmes and multi-billion dollar agreements…. Why not? After all we earned it and it shows that we are doing well, we’re progressing and prospering. But how many of these ‘project’s have lined the pockets of ‘people doing their job’.
Juxtaposed against the beautiful Twin Towers and the magnificent Putrajaya Bridge are the poor Penans, the stateless Malaysians, the poor armed forces who have to travel on the flying coffin Nuri, young children left behind because there isn’t enough money to build proper schools and the poor single mothers trying to make ends meet.
A few months ago, I visited Myanmar after Nagris had devastated a land already in turmoil. The people didn’t have enough- they didn’t have enough before Nagris, and they had almost nothing after. What touched my heart though was how fast those that ‘had’ wanted to help. As it was, they didn’t live in a lap of luxury- far from it, but they were willing to give up their little ‘luxury’ to help those who had nothing.
On one hand, we Malaysians want to be a developed nation and on the other hand we are willing to let our siblings suffer. When did we learn not to share our wealth and feed our greed?
Natalie wonders how different her life would have been had her grandfather “thatha” still been alive.
Comment: letters@thesun-daily.com
