growing old, growing poor

while at the cashier of the supermarket the other day, i saw an old couple paying for their weekly groceries.

what i saw broke my heart.

as they transferred their items from the cart onto the conveyor belt, it became plain that they were not very well-off. in fact, many of the items were tagged with a big DISCOUNT sticker. over here, that means that, either the food is nearing its "use by" date, or there is some defect with it. at any rate, many of their items had the sticker: bread, yoghurt, butter, meat and even fruit. these are things, i would normally take for granted, that are hard to find. with the selective eye that comes with affluence, one gradually plays down on goods with the "buy cheap" stickers, or one would give the discount bins a miss.

over in australia, those on the dole as well as pensioners (i think) collect their money every wednesday. this means there are a lot more "rich" people midweek, spending on booze and well, other stuff. and i've seen many more families bringing their kids out for a meal at mcdonald's on wednesday. more than on any other day in the week.

the dignity of the old couple in paying for their weekly supplies reminded me of the importance of working hard and saving up. a frugal lifestyle could be a virtue. all too often i joke about retiring after my job as a student is done, just to get reminded by bank advertisements with questions like "How much does it take to retire?". the rat race exists so that people can make a living, and hopefully, scrape enough to get by for retirement.

i hope that, when i grow old, the "shit! is this all i have got left in my bank account?" thought will never have the chance to cross my mind. it is a very sobering thought, amidst the winter sales and the flurry of activity that comes with the adrenalin rush of a shopping spree. being self-righteous, i sometimes scoff at hearing of relatives/friends' relatives who blow entire amounts of their CPF savings on overtly extravagant, no holds barred trips to Las Vegas to gamble away the rest of the money, cruises, bungalows, golf club memberships, etc. like, hello? could you please invest or save at least 30% of it first? exercise some restraint, for goodness' sake!

growing old scares me. growing old and poor scares me even more. why do people even grow old??!

people should be born old, then grow young. think of how much more enjoyable life would be if we'd been born with knowledge and a wealth of experience. and struggled to grow into the prime of our career, never again to worry about the sickness that plagues old age? and for people who live a long time, their age would go into the negative integers! now that's a thought! :)