Man Proposes; God Disposes!

Have you ever experienced how you have painstakingly planned and planned but 75% of your plans went awry!? You wondered how things could have gone wrong with such excellent planning?

On the other hand, have you wondered how sometimes things just worked out so beautifully, and you were able to play by ear. Or how sometimes one thing led to another and you turned back and reflected, "How on earth did everything happen and went so smoothly?"

I learnt the pain of planning and how I had proposed to take papa on a trip to Korea or Japan when I was in my teens. How I longed to quickly start working as a secretary so that I could save up money to take papa on his well-deserved holidays. However, sadly, papa passed away even before I could complete my secretarial course!
It taught me the urgency of time, and how if we could do something there and then, we should just do it. The only consolation I had was that I had shown papa my love while he was still alive. Hence, when I had saved up enough money when I started teaching, I quickly took my wonderful eldest sister Lee Lee with me on a tour of New Zealand, and we dropped by in Melbourne to visit second sister Ean Ean. It did not bother me that my bank account was left with $30 after the trip. I could start saving again, but if anything should happen to eldest sister, I would not be able to realise my plan to bless her with a vacation. For I always remember, "Man proposes, but God disposes."

I wonder if it is because of so many things happening unexpectedly - the September 11th happening in the U.S., the tsunami that killed so many in Thailand, India, and other parts of Asia, the sub-prime problems, the collapse of financial institutions, etc. etc. that many people have now become resigned and have come up with the philosophy, "Save by all means, but enjoy life now to the fullest that we can, for we know not what tomorrow may bring!" Sometimes my clients or friends said to me, "Aiya, Choo, no hurry lah", and my reply is always, "Let me do what I can today, let tomorrow take care of itself".

I was surprised one evening when my best friend, Soh Wah, spontaneously asked me to join her for dinner, one of her rare evenings when she did not have to rush home after work. Soh Wah invited me to the Crystal Jade Restaurant at Ngee Ann City Building in Orchard Road. I was surprised to see how packed the restaurant was and so were the other neighbouring restaurants! I wondered if we were really having a recession, judging by the way that the shops and restaurants were doing a roaring business. "Choo, the more expensive the restaurant, and the finer the food they serve, the more popular. Sometimes you have to book a few days or even weeks in advance!", Soh Wah said. By now, Soh Wah is used to my being a "country bumpkin where restaurants are concerned". Being a good and creative cook, I tend to cook at home. "I guess people are now "kuah puah liao", I said to Soh Wah "Kuah puah" in Hokkien dialect means, "resigning oneself to fate and almost preparing for the end of the world!"

Hence, it sometimes irks me when our government plans and prepares a little too much for the future. A friend of mine is very poor because he is jobless but has quite a lot of money in his CPF. But the rule says he can't touch any of it until 18 years later when he reaches 55. Neither can he buy a flat now because he has no job and hardly any cash even to put down a deposit.

Recently we learnt that Power Supply made over a billion dollars nett profit last year. Yet now there is an increase of 21% in the most essential of all things - water and electricity. Power Supply claims that it needs to be prudent so that it can build more infra structure in the future. I remember how once the computer system went haywire and many expatriates were able to leave Singapore with thousands of dollars in unpaid utility bills. Yet some of us unfortunate and trusting Singaporeans were left to pay the bills of our tenants because we had been gullible enough to allow the utilities to be billed in our names. There was not a word of apology from Power Supply but the attitude is, "The bills are in your name; pay up!"
Power Supply was blind and chose not to understand the evidence especially when the same person had two bills for different addresses! How could a person be living at two places at any one time unless he had a mistress in a second home. !!

I can avoid going to restaurants but I cannot avoid the use of water, electricity and gas when I want to cook a simple meal of maggi mee with some vegetables. Utilities are not luxuries and the least Power Supply can do is to try to keep utilities affordable for the citizens and people Power Supply had claimed to love and care for. Please forget about the great infra strucutre....right now we are quite contented with the current infra structure. Do not tax us to the limit; let us enjoy life a little for now, for we know not what the morrow will bring! Do not be like the father who promised his hungry children, "We save now, please bear with your hunger ....so that next year, papa will bring you all to Tung Lok Restaurant for a great and wonderful buffet."

It is better to stay alive to enjoy simple meals than to wait for that great buffet which may not materialise because sometimes man proposes, but God disposes!

Gan Chau