Another time, another life time.

It was an informal meeting planned in haste. A varsity mate, now residing overseas, after his ‘tanah air’ had turned her back on him, had made a lightning trip back. In a jiffy, a few friends on each other’s speed dial decided to flock together at an upmarket Chinese restaurant. Some of them have not met each other for more than 40 years. 

TS walked in into the restaurant with a sense of awe. He was amazed to see what he saw through the ceiling-level glass window that overlooked the skyline of Damansara. 

“Wow, just look at that,” he said. “40 years ago, I worked as a construction worker during my semester breaks there. This whole area was just lush greenery then. Look at it now!”

“My boss then kept telling me the developer’s mega plan to have multi-tied buildings, shopping complex, underground parking, hotels, and more.”

“It had materialised right before our eyes. They are pure visionaries. Imagine 40 years ago, they knew how the country would look now.”

That soon opened the floodgates of everybody with their life journeys, the aches, pains, heartbreaks and family life. 

Generally, all could hold their thrones, praising themselves for a well-lived life. Reminiscing the pathetic state and very humble beginnings that they had started their lives, they can pat themselves on the back for work well done. 

If we think our parents have suffered much for our futures, others are obviously coming from more hole trodden boats of life. Our achievements appear a pale comparison to theirs. 
Fast forward to the future; these people are in the twilight of their lives. They want to leave a legacy behind for the generation next to follow. They tell them of their struggles, endeavours and achievements. Gen-Xs and millennials are not interested. To them, these are all just bedtime stories that grannies tell their grandchildren to bore them to sleep. They cannot fathom their parents being someone so bold. They have only heard their parents talk each other down and denigrate each other in their day-to-day dealings. 

“Oh, how absentminded your father is!” or “Oh! How extravagant your mother is” are all they have heard. Nothing positive as they run the other down. How can they be who they claim to be? Unbelievable!

This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.