These days, almost everything is going up and
up with no retreat in sight! Sea level is rising. Earth’s temperature is rising.
Food and essential consumer goods’ prices are rising rapidly. It’s getting worse
and worse by the day and week. Many have to hunker down to endure the current hardship
as ‘dark clouds’ are everywhere with no light ahead. Only my drawings and these
words keep me going: 守得云开见月明.
As far as anyone could remember, current tough
times are the worse in decades. Many people including seniors need to keep on
working to pay for the high cost of living. Some seniors even have to deliver
food on foot. Very few can afford to retire unless one has hidden wealth or recurring
passive incomes. Only a handful can choose to work not for the money but for
their hobbies and loves for something that keeps them mentally fit.
Things are not looking good at the moment.
Scientists found that as we grow older, our
thinking and perspectives can change. Maybe for some.
I still think the current bad times will last for a long time and can only get worse. I’d rather be pessimistic wrong than optimistic correct!
Many things are not going right at the moment. Cost of living and inflation are at record high, over-taking all past recessions.
In the old days, I can drink liquor and wine
every week. Now I can only afford to drink sparkling juice once a month. Plain
water for most days now. Sigh! ☹ With the CDC Vouchers, I can now drink beer
for a very short while. 😊 Thanks to ‘big bro’.
When people and things are not going the way
we wanted them to go, there is very little we could do!
Many things are beyond our control and often we feel frustrated and upset. We have to learn to keep our cool and change our mindsets to move forward.
Someone once told me: When things are not
going right, you can go left!
We cannot stop or change behaviours without strong
enforcements. We cannot stop strange people with weird behaviours doing
irrational acts.
There is really nothing we could do except to
report them or just close our eyes, shake our heads and move on. We must always
be alert to our surrounding at all times just in case these crazy people do
insane acts.
We cannot stop others from over-consumption or coerce them to reduce their wastes generated. We cannot force others to live a more sustainable life and to re-cycle wastes more. In reality, we cannot change anyone’s mindset. We can only change ours!
Earth Day or no Earth Day, we are generating more and more wastes. NEA reported that households generated 1.82 million tonnes of wastes in 2021, up from 1.77 million tonnes in 2020. There is no incentive to reduce our wastes as every household pays the same flat fee regardless of quantity of wastes disposed. No pain no change, no?
This mistake can only be avoided or corrected
if people (from young to old) adopt this mentality: refuse to buy, re-use,
up-cycle, re-cycle our wastes.
I believe this won’t happen!
