Simple Living #2 - A Story

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of nights on the ranch with what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked, "Son, how was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how those people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah" said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered:

"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

We buy our food, but they grow theirs.

We have walls around our property to protect us , they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks Dad, for showing me how rich people live."
 

We may think we are rich when we are actually poor.

I think this is very true for many Singaporean families, including my own.

We live in a peaceful country but with lots of stress instead of tranquility..

Our country is called the Garden City yet we don't take time to smell the flowers..

We lack no good food on our table yet our food is mostly not organic and often processed..

I want to rethink the concept of rich and poor and strive towards leading a rich life with little money instead of a poor life with lots.