Money..money..money..ah ha...

in a rich man's world..ahhaaaahhhhh...all the things I could do, if I had a little money...

Don't we all know that tune so well. We go through half our lives chasing those elusive pieces of paper, and we push away everything else that got in the way. We would go to the far corners of the earth to earn those extra few bucks, and in the process slowly forgetting the paradise that we left behind. We would forgo sleep, love, friendships and even food some times just so we could have more in our pockets, only to find that our pockets keep getting bigger and bigger and harder and harder to fill. And then we find our youth wasted away.

We forget about the joys of eating cup noodles on a cold rainy night, of having to share our best friend's meal at school because we did not have any pocket money left from the year before. We forget about the fun we used to have walking in the rain after school because we did not have the bus fare or the times when we had to borrow our friend's textbooks and felt eternally grateful for them. And then we die an eternal death all the same, with nothing but ashes to show.

We forget about those days too when our parents could only afford to buy us chicken-less chicken rice but we chomped the food down gleefully anyway. And every new year was a new cycle of recycled hand-me-downs but we nevertheless happily cat-walked our way to the relatives' houses just the same. We forget too the abundance that we used to have if only we had stopped to appreciate, only to be offered food and given paper houses and cars plentifully in our deaths.

But we always remember how it is that our neighbors and relatives are always one step ahead of us in their annual vacation trips, the cars that they would drive or even the numerous fashion designer bags that the fella's wife would parade about, down to the finest details. And we never fail to remember where we saw them ate at all the exclusive restaurants in town over the last 6 months, only to pretend that we actually just came out of one ourselves each time we met. We always remember to gloat about our own little achievements and ensure that we throw in sufficient exaggerations to extract more oohs and wahs. And we will always remember to ask God for more wealth and prosperity each time we go to the temples or churches to pray. If only we did not forget that God already made us perfect in every way and given us all that we could ever need every single day.

If only we would try to always remember and never forget ..