March 31, 2009. Tuesday: An old working lady
Late at night, picked up an old lady in Chinatown to go to west coast. I asked her what she was doing at this hour and she said she’s working. I was surprised, as she looked well over 70. I asked why she had to work late into the night. She told me her story.
She came to Singapore with her family in 1942 from Sichuan, China, when she was nine. Her husband had passed away some years ago. For some reason, she didn’t live with her children. Instead, she bought a small HDB flat for herself in west coast after her husband died. Because of her age, the flat must be paid up in 10 years. She has to pay over $1000 a month for the mortgage. She didn’t want support from her children because “they have their own flat to pay for”. She earns $50 a day by working in a restaurant as a cook.
She spoke like a woman who is old but not weak, alone but not forlorn, poor but not without dignity.
I have a soft spot for people like her. I have more respect for them than those who sit high on the social pyramid and have everything, wealth, power, fame, privilege, or whatever they mean by the term "success", revolve around them. Behind the glorious skyscrapers and ravishing neon lights, thousands and thousands of people in this city live their lives like this old woman. They have nothing outside, but they are strong inside. They live at the bottom of the society, but they are the very foundation of it precisely because of that. Without their strength and endurance, this nation, doesn't matter if it is a first or second world country, and doesn't matter how many gold or silver medals it wins in the Olympics, and doesn't matter how many hundreds of billions in its reserves, will inevitably collapse.
At the end of the trip, I wanted to discount her fare by half but she insisted in paying the full amount.
Posted by Mingjie Cai at 1:22 PM 10 comments
Late at night, picked up an old lady in Chinatown to go to west coast. I asked her what she was doing at this hour and she said she’s working. I was surprised, as she looked well over 70. I asked why she had to work late into the night. She told me her story.
She came to Singapore with her family in 1942 from Sichuan, China, when she was nine. Her husband had passed away some years ago. For some reason, she didn’t live with her children. Instead, she bought a small HDB flat for herself in west coast after her husband died. Because of her age, the flat must be paid up in 10 years. She has to pay over $1000 a month for the mortgage. She didn’t want support from her children because “they have their own flat to pay for”. She earns $50 a day by working in a restaurant as a cook.
She spoke like a woman who is old but not weak, alone but not forlorn, poor but not without dignity.
I have a soft spot for people like her. I have more respect for them than those who sit high on the social pyramid and have everything, wealth, power, fame, privilege, or whatever they mean by the term "success", revolve around them. Behind the glorious skyscrapers and ravishing neon lights, thousands and thousands of people in this city live their lives like this old woman. They have nothing outside, but they are strong inside. They live at the bottom of the society, but they are the very foundation of it precisely because of that. Without their strength and endurance, this nation, doesn't matter if it is a first or second world country, and doesn't matter how many gold or silver medals it wins in the Olympics, and doesn't matter how many hundreds of billions in its reserves, will inevitably collapse.
At the end of the trip, I wanted to discount her fare by half but she insisted in paying the full amount.
Posted by Mingjie Cai at 1:22 PM 10 comments
