Giving is the best New Year gift of all
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The last week of year has arrived and many, particularly children, are expecting New Year gifts. On radio, a DJ said December could be a tormenting time for a person with so many loved ones, who happens to have a birthday this same month. That person has
That’s cool! Sometimes it is so hard to find presents that will satisfy recipients. For recipients, presents can be anything, tangible and intangible, as long as they are happy with the gift.
In one episode of “The Simpsons”, Marge Simpson dreamt that she could get away from routine chores on Christmas Day. In her dream, Martha Stuart appeared to help. She got all the kids out of the house, got husband Homer drunk, and re-arranged the house. The result was peace but Marge realised that without the usual noise from all the family members, she couldn’t be happy. She woke up with a smile when her husband and kids walked into the bedroom with the Christmas breakfast for her. The episode made me smile: sometimes, we don’t know what happiness is until it is not there.
This year brought many surprises that deeply satisfied many. Exporters may cry foul over a sharp fall in revenue, but those relying on domestic demand are smiling. Capital inflows are buoying the stock market, pushing the index to a 16-year high. About 1 million people have bought cars at a discount, something you never expected in a country where vehicle prices have kept going up since the 1997 financial crisis. Workers in seven provinces enjoyed a minimum wage hike, without having to fight for it. Their peers in the remaining 70 provinces will also get that as a New Year present.
Amid the good news, there is bad news. Many out there still need something to make them happy. To them, having enough to eat and some spare money for their children’s education is enough to make them happy. But what is enough when the cost of living keeps spiralling up?
Right now, a house seems beyond the dream of many whose family income is below Bt80,000, as that house can cost Bt3 million or more and demand monthly mortgage installments of about Bt15,000.
Driving west of Bangkok, you may be shocked to see a Land & Houses billboard advertising Ladawan Housing Estate, where units are available at Bt30 million to Bt130 million. If that does not surprise you, SC Asset says on a nearby billboard that it has houses priced at Bt40 million to Bt140 million. What would one have to earn to afford such prices?
I don’t know if the farmers from Surat Thani who camped near Government House last weekend noticed similar billboards on their way to Bangkok. I’m curious to know what they would think about it. A house at Bt140 million, a sum nearly three times higher than the annual budget allocated to Samui municipality.
Many who can afford these houses are unnecessarily bad people who earn money from dirty activities. I guess they have also made merit every year, in the Buddhist belief that doing so will make their lives better in this life and next. I guess World Vision and CCF Foundation must be among charitable foundations that they are familiar with. Living in a fancy house like that, they would have to spend more than Bt6,000 a month for cleaning services. That sum is small but it is enough to finance a year of education for a poor child in the provinces.
Reality is not like a soap opera. In one series on Channel 3, there is a devoted politician who is ready to die to keep a Bt1 billion budget for an education programme rather than a satellite launch (regardless of the fact that a satellite would cost much more than that, at least a few hundreds of million dollars.) In reality, there is no politician who would devote his or her life for others without expecting anything in return.
Donations could be the best New Year gift for underprivileged children who are born poor and need help from the well-to-do. Making others smile could make us happier than eating fancy food. Being truly happy can make you glow and improve your state of mind. As time passes, we realise that wealth is not equivalent to happiness. And only true happiness makes longevity meaningful.
If I were to live longer than 80, I would like to be as healthy as the 91-year-old auntie and 85-year-old uncle who were among 1,500 runners joining Kom Chad Luek’s mini marathon last weekend. They have lived long enough with the spirit to enjoy the view of the Bhumibhol 2 Bridge and other developments happening around them.
We may get grumpy about bad drivers on the roads, corrupt politicians or unsatisfactory life partners, but looking around, many others suffer more and need more help. Giving them what they need could be the best New Year gift for them as well as yourself.
Happy New Year!
