Story of a Young Man & an Old China Man

I felt a sense of deja vu when a Strait Times headline hits me. "9 months' jail for ex-water polo champ who took funds". This person of responsibility apparently embezzled $61,714 from a sporting association over to himself to pay off bank debts, credit card and car loans.

It reminds me of a story of a young man and an old china man.

A young man goes to a sleek show flat, eager to impress his dream girl, tells the developer, "this is what I can afford, but I will stretch it further to buy a bigger unit than this."

Old china man goes to the same show flat, tells the developer,"this is what I can afford, but I will reduce my budget to buy a smaller unit than this."

Young man goes to a car show room, eager to prove his manhood, tells the car salesman,"I want a 2,000 cc, turbo charged, 2 door, convertible with 16 valve engine...."

Old china man goes to the same car show room, tells the car salesman,"I want a low cc, efficient engine, low fuel consumption, ....."

Young man buys car only look at the cost of the car. (and pays attention to the salesgirl)

Old china man buys car look at the cost of the car + insurance+road tax+monthly fuel cost+monthly parking cost+monthly road usage cost+yearly maintenance cost. (and ignore the salesgirl)

Young man entertains with wine and dine at fine restaurant and pays +++. (using credit card of course)

Old china man entertains with tiger beer and eat at neighborhood Zhi-Char store. (pay cash of course)

Young man always compare and complain what he does'nt have.

Old china man always give thanks and content with what he already have.

Young man was forced to his knees by bank debts, credit card and car loans, and wanted to take company money to solve his problem and "pay back later".

Old china man stops him, use his own money to bail him out of the problem. Old china man says:"young man, never compromise your integrity, it is time to wake up and grow up!"

If you are this "young man", I hope you will wake up from a life-style of high consumption and watch out your debt level before it goes out of control. I have seen so many high calibre people compromise their integrity when their debts go out of control.

As for the old china man, he really exists and is living a peaceful and purposeful life. The next time you have coffee at Kallang Bahru hawker centre, you might bump into him.