Fortunate.

Recently having yet another great long chat with an amazing friend of mine, We suddenly landed on the topic of whether we are actually fortunate to be what we are now - With internet access at your command, with ample amount of money to buy your favourite gadgets, with your best friends living around your vicinity and most of all, with parents that work their assess off so that they can take care of probably everyone in the family, which includes you being the apple of their eyes. I suppose many people would think that this is actually not an epitome of 'fortunate' in many of us teenagers minds, because right now in our rapidly developing and callous world, all these aforementioned features of a fortunate life becomes so common nobody actually considers it a fortunate lifestyle anymore. In fact, these few features are rather becoming an expected lifestyle more than one that you would learn to cherish and appreciate. Its because of the rapidly growing economy that we are forgetting the true meaning of being fortunate.

Could you imagine if you were to be born in the early twentieth century where everyone had been suffering greatly due to many factors? World Wars coming up every half a century, Economic Crisis like that of the Great Depression. Upheaval in the war time period was common and it has caused great disturbance to the life our forefathers lived. Life expectancy was low and many a times you would lose contact with your great friends because they would suddenly disappear and you won't even get to find out why. All these little problems existed because technology had not been this affordable, this convenient at that time. People even relied on horses as means of transport even though their horseshoe gave irritating noises and their manure was disgusting and foul smelling. Why? It's all because they didn't have a choice. Now in the world we live in, we have so much choice that we sometimes just neglect them and just choose something you think is best depending on your mood.

Lets go back in time again. How about during the time where the world solely relied on physical means to do work? Where not even a single speck of technology existed? Yes i'm talking about the time where war was the norm and everyone was wearing battle armours and wielding spears and broadswords. During the time where the world was separated into dynasties. Where travel was infinitely tedious and where people didn't even know other continents existed - like that of those ancient Chinese dramas that you could see from television programmes. Would it be fortunate to live in those times? Where the best of entertainment would be those that are considered 'lame' or 'boring', like chess? Although many would argue it is certainly better to live in those periods where there was no such thing as carbon emissions or even global warming, the amount of inconvenience altogether was a headache not to be meddled with. i believe nobody who lives in the world now would want to live in those times because we are so used to used to convenience. The light bulb, the air conditioner, the cars, the many other means of transport, et cetera. All these are things we neglect daily. But do we ever consider ourselves lucky and fortunate? I don't think so. Not even me.

It was only until i stumbled upon this conversation with my friend where i truly understood how lucky and fortunate i am to be in such a time and born in such a place. A time where people invented things for the sake of convenience. A place where the crime and death rates are at its lowest, where all of us could live as a multi-racial society where everyone lived close to each other, happy forever.

Perhaps we really need to rethink our ideas on what is 'fortunate'. It isn't really being born to a rich and famous superstar. Neither is it to be born a child prodigy. It is frankly speaking just being ourselves. Everyone of us are fortunate but we just don't realize it. If you are able to read my thoughts in this blog right now, you are considered fortunate. So smile when you read this and I hope that you readers will cherish your lifestyles and learn to appreciate whatever your family does to help you. After putting on that smile, learn to also do the best in everything you have a chance to do, because there might never be a next time that you can do it again. I believe you all know what i'm talking about. Its our education, something people once longed to have.

Cheers,

Yao Kun

P/S : Thanks, friend for mentioning this topic so that i can share my views on this blog.