It has been a few months I have not met my friend. He is a successful man in
his career as an engineer in a government agency. When I dropped by at  his
office just to say hello, he was very pleased to meet me and we talked about
his job and the hottest topic-Lunas by-election where BN lost to BA.

Two years ago, I went to see him to collect donation for a religious school
in conjunction with Ramadhan. He was the biggest donor! This time, he asked
whether he could donate something. I thanked him for his every-ready zest to
help those in need. This time around I have a BIG plan, but I dared not
voice to anyone. My plan was to collect RM 100,000 to buy computers for
teachers in Bachok district. It is the poorest district in Malaysia with 44
schools,927 teachers and 19,186 pupils and less than a dozen computers to
share among them. After checking with a few potential donors, I have to
defer the project to another time since most of them have cashflows problems
for the time being. I hope the economy will improve next year so that I can
do something for this unfortunate group of people. Bachok is a district that
was marginalised both during the BN 10-year rule as well as PAS 10-year
rule. By national standard,Bachok is 20 years behind time.

"You know, I have bought a pair of very  expensive Gucci shoes to-day!",he
told me." Is it RM50 ones from Golok?", I joked. "No,this is a real Gucci I
bought at KLCC yesterday!",he replied. "How much?",I asked. He smiled and
asked me to guess. Honestly, I never bought a Gucci shoes before and I have
no idea how much this branded stuff cost. So I guessed," RM 500!". He shook
his head and told me it was RM 1350 and my jaws dropped! But I said nothing.
This reminded me of the most expensive shoes I bought from my scholarship
money in 1965 in Tg. Malim- RM 3.50 for a pair of Fung Keong shoes.

To my mind, it is too much to spend for a pair of shoes to cover one's pair
of feet. If kampung people were to hear our discussion on shoes that day,
they will hang both of us for extravagance- wasting money unnecessarily. For
Bachok farmers, that pair of shoes will support their family for four months
during monsoon time! Personally, I am no better than my friend for I had
once bought a pair of Bally shoes from London at the cost of RM 1000 during
my corporate days! If my mother were to know,she will give a lecture for at
least one hour on the value of money! Different generation has different
value of money. Last two years, my son did not blink an eye when he asked me
RM 200 for a pair of Air Walk! I would not dare to ask my father for RM 10
for anything.

A few months back, my friend gave me a lift in his Mercedes SL320. When I
told him that what a waste to spend more than half a million ringgit for a
car, he just smiled and told me it is alright if one got the money to enjoy
a "little" luxury. What a little luxury indeed! By the way,he is not
alone-all of us are victims of own desires! Proton Perdana is good enough
for me,and yet I bought Honda Odyssey twice the price! As soon as we get
more money, our taste moves up the ladder linearly and a few grow
exponetially.

So the money will never be enough,as long as our desires exceed our capacity
to earn and to pay. There is a growing awareness now in US about simple
living- a concept where we should only pay or own things that we really
need and not what our hearts desire. That way, we do not need to spend more
time to earn money but we will have more time to enjoy our life.

In the spirit of Ramadhan, I called upon myself and my friends to give away
some goodies or money for those who really need. Honestly, I think a pair of
leather shoes costing RM 250  at Parkson is more than good enough for my feet. The rest of the shoes budget can go to charity..