Time Isn't Money, It's So Much More.
You know, I'm the luckiest kid in the world? My parents are the best parents a kid could ask for. I'm not saying this to make you believe I love my parents and, therefore, cannot be a bad person. Who cares if you know I love my parents or not, whether you believe me or not? My parents are awesome. Like, really awesome. We were never a rich family but my parents work unbelievably hard for the money that we have. We didn't always have as much as we do now but we were never incredibly poor either. We always manage. Though our parents never abandon us somewhere to find our way home ourselves or make us do chores to earn money from them, they always make sure that we know the value of money and not treasure it more than it should be treasured. To them, money isn't everything but it sure matters. It's inevitable, we all need money to survive in this life...at least until we find a better tool of trades.
Yes, our parents spoil us by driving us to places instead of making us use the public transports. Yes, they hired housekeepers so we didn't have to wash our own clothes or dishes. And yes to many other things. Maybe we're spoilt to the eyes of people who've spent their whole childhood in buses/trains/angkots going to and from school whereas we used the school bus and (at the end of my school life) a private driver. So yeah, we don't know which bus or train to take from A to B. So yeah, we almost never washed our own clothes/dishes at home unless the housekeeper went home for the holiday. And yeah, we never experienced the 'mudik' experience of getting stuck in traffic on the way to our parents' birthplaces. But that doesn't mean we're spoiled. We know about things that you don't know either. And it's not to say that our parents have spoiled us, allowing us anything and showering us with cash.
Please!
Our parents were very strict. They first never let us read comic books - which we three obviously love - unless it was the weekend. Then it evolved to us not allowed to read comic books if not in English or any other foreign languages. They also forbid us from several childhood games, such as Tamagochi, marbles and other stuff I can't remember. Did we feel left out? Personally, I don't. Seeing as I've never had any memory of playing these things anyway, I never felt like I was missing out. I got to learn plenty other amazing things. They made all three of us learn piano and English (obviously). Want to know where it got us? My sister just graduated masters in Australia and I now can speak a total of 4 languages.
Recently, I just realised that there are different kinds of maturity. I know someone who can travel to four different countries on his own and totally stumped on finding a way home from a local IKEA. I know someone who has lived four whole years by herself but unable and unwilling to cook. I know someone who has worked two summers in a row and never took care of himself. So yeah, we may not know our way around Jakarta with the public transports. You may think we're spoiled because we either take the taxi all the time or get driven here and there. And yeah, we may only wash dishes now and then and forget about cooking (no, actually, my sister and I have become better at that). But that doesn't mean we're completely spoiled. It just means we have a different way of maturing. You know, my sister always said that when you live alone, you get to be independent and mature. What she doesn't know is that it doesn't happen to everyone...but it's happened to us. So yeah, we are mature in our own way and we might not know things that you know by heart but you also don't know plenty of things we keep in mind. But we are definitely not spoiled. Well, I can't speak for everyone but I'm not, at the very least.
Our parents goal wasn't for us to earn as much money as we can or for us to remember the public transport system in the town we were born in. But for us to experience as much as possible. For us not to take opportunities for granted, whether or not they will earn us money. For us to learn as many things as humanly probable and for us to have as many useful skills as we possibly can. My Dad always says, you can always make more money but time is something you can never get back. Thanks to him, I live my life in fear of missing out. Missing out on incredible opportunities that might or might not take me to higher places, to meet amazing people and to invaluable chances. I guess, our parents wanted to teach us that money is valuable but time is irreplaceable. Oh, how true that is.
Yes, our parents spoil us by driving us to places instead of making us use the public transports. Yes, they hired housekeepers so we didn't have to wash our own clothes or dishes. And yes to many other things. Maybe we're spoilt to the eyes of people who've spent their whole childhood in buses/trains/angkots going to and from school whereas we used the school bus and (at the end of my school life) a private driver. So yeah, we don't know which bus or train to take from A to B. So yeah, we almost never washed our own clothes/dishes at home unless the housekeeper went home for the holiday. And yeah, we never experienced the 'mudik' experience of getting stuck in traffic on the way to our parents' birthplaces. But that doesn't mean we're spoiled. We know about things that you don't know either. And it's not to say that our parents have spoiled us, allowing us anything and showering us with cash.
Please!
Our parents were very strict. They first never let us read comic books - which we three obviously love - unless it was the weekend. Then it evolved to us not allowed to read comic books if not in English or any other foreign languages. They also forbid us from several childhood games, such as Tamagochi, marbles and other stuff I can't remember. Did we feel left out? Personally, I don't. Seeing as I've never had any memory of playing these things anyway, I never felt like I was missing out. I got to learn plenty other amazing things. They made all three of us learn piano and English (obviously). Want to know where it got us? My sister just graduated masters in Australia and I now can speak a total of 4 languages.
Recently, I just realised that there are different kinds of maturity. I know someone who can travel to four different countries on his own and totally stumped on finding a way home from a local IKEA. I know someone who has lived four whole years by herself but unable and unwilling to cook. I know someone who has worked two summers in a row and never took care of himself. So yeah, we may not know our way around Jakarta with the public transports. You may think we're spoiled because we either take the taxi all the time or get driven here and there. And yeah, we may only wash dishes now and then and forget about cooking (no, actually, my sister and I have become better at that). But that doesn't mean we're completely spoiled. It just means we have a different way of maturing. You know, my sister always said that when you live alone, you get to be independent and mature. What she doesn't know is that it doesn't happen to everyone...but it's happened to us. So yeah, we are mature in our own way and we might not know things that you know by heart but you also don't know plenty of things we keep in mind. But we are definitely not spoiled. Well, I can't speak for everyone but I'm not, at the very least.
Our parents goal wasn't for us to earn as much money as we can or for us to remember the public transport system in the town we were born in. But for us to experience as much as possible. For us not to take opportunities for granted, whether or not they will earn us money. For us to learn as many things as humanly probable and for us to have as many useful skills as we possibly can. My Dad always says, you can always make more money but time is something you can never get back. Thanks to him, I live my life in fear of missing out. Missing out on incredible opportunities that might or might not take me to higher places, to meet amazing people and to invaluable chances. I guess, our parents wanted to teach us that money is valuable but time is irreplaceable. Oh, how true that is.