So I went on a short trip over the Singapore National Day holidays. I had not intended to go on any holidays this year for two reasons. The first is that I have intended 2019 to be a year of ultra-austerity, to test myself how far I can go and to push myself towards the edge. The second was that I have some work that makes it inconvenient for me to be out of the country. I agreed to go on this trip due to a momentary lapse of judgement. I was feeling down over some personal affairs and thought that a trip could cheer me up.
On retrospect, did the trip cheer me up? I have since a few years ago concluded that it does not matter where a person is physically as long as he/she has a strong mindset. As long as I am in an environment with a reasonable standard of tidiness and cleanliness and a good level of comfort and privacy that is conducive to organised thinking and focused thought, the physical locality does not matter. I do not buy into the hype that you must sip a cocktail by the beach or a resort poolside to "get away from it all". I do not subscribe to a "change of scenery" concept. What I do believe in the utmost is in mind over matter. So no, the trip did not cheer me up more than I was able to elevate my own mood. All it did was to provide me something different to stimulate the senses, and I do agree that there is intrinsic value in variety.
It was interesting watching the work dynamics in a resort and at the spa. This was an upmarket place of business where the clientele are generally nice, affluent people who are polite and have money to spend. Perched on a hill, the resort abounds with tropical greenery and has a quiet and peaceful ambiance. The staff-to-guest ratio was high so that each employee can specialize and not be overburdened, which translated into their calm and pleasant demeanor.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to work at such establishment? I thought that working in customer service in upmarket places would be a good deal for barista FIRE. But I checked my own thoughts and rebuked myself for being naive. Everything looks good if one does not scratch beneath the surface. There are always unpleasant politics in any environment no matter how menial the job is. And the lushest environment becomes mundane and boring, losing its charm once one gets accustomed to it. Interestingly, though my attraction will never evolve beyond a passing thought, I am not the only person in my social circle who commented that working in the upmarket segment in the hospitality industry can be fun.
I am not proud of how I spent my time in the resort. I would have preferred to be more productive, but I did manage to clear a hundred pages or so of a book called "Why Nations Fail". Why are some countries more prosperous than others? Does this prosperity last? It was very fitting for me to be reading such a book when the context was that I was the affluent tourist from a rich city state visiting a tourist spot in a less developed country.
How did I deserve to be where I am, doing what I do? I am keenly aware that it is because my government has performed better than another government. The political-economy of my country has outperformed that of my neighbouring countries, which account for a large part of who I am. As the saying goes, without a nation, there can be no family formation. Without a family formation, there can be no individual. Without my country making me what I am, I would not be able to take a plane to go somewhere to get some resort R&R. In a less developed country, I could still be a white-collar worker, get on the middle class of that country, but earn low wages when compared to international standards.
Political stability breeds economic growth. When economic growth is threatened, it will generate political instability. I believe this explains the fundamentals of the unrest in Hong Kong now. There is fierce debate on social media where Hong Kongers deny that the root of their anger is economics, claiming that what they are fighting for are political rights. What they do not see is that political rights is just another word for economic rights. You can be confident about your livelihood and your right to your economic assets only after you have secured what you deem to be the political might to defend them.These go hand-in-hand.
To put the same thing in another way - if most citizens have good housing, a fair and meritocratic employment market and a good income, and there is assurance that their social rights to these will be safeguarded, no one would be on the streets right now. Demonstrators are fundamentally worried that they will never get on the property ladder in their lifetime, that they will never find a dwelling whether they can form their own family nucleus. A residential property is not just a physical object, it represents life itself - having one determines whether one gets the chance to form a family, whether one develops a bond to his nation. It is the very symbol of a person's fate and future. If there is no hope for the future, then there can only be hatred and the destruction that it will bring.
Do the fortunes of nations last? Nothing does. Great civilizations crumble and fall, and each successive generation can be worse off than the one before. Creation and destruction is a constant cycle as long as this world remains. I am grateful for what I have, at the same time I want to be mentally prepared for challenges of changes.
