The individual and the society

At home resting after a day of lunar new year visitation.
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Each individual is a node forming the fabric of a society. What is a society? I think it is a domain where many groups of people gather together, each for a specific purpose. These can range from a group of friends, a family, a corporation, a school, a church, or an army. A country requires every parts of a society to work well in order to function properly. Base on where we are and what we do, we contributes to the bigger good in our own way.

As the government announced more measures to keep the older people in the workforce, I visited my grandmother in the elderly home. Its not exactly a good place to house elderly. A few nurses took care of many elderly at the same time. They share a common activity area, many of the elderly are not able to walk. The food are healthy but not exactly tasty, and the beds arranged like that of the hospital. I think that Singapore society as a whole is already struggling to take care of all our aging population. E.g. the average salary of majority of Singaporean may be around 3k. I estimated every person needs $400 per month to live Ok, without luxury. A sick elderly needs $600 for nursing care and medical bills. This does not include housing loans, household expenditure, and savings. If each person needs to take care of one elderly, the expenditure works out as $3k-$600(cpf)-$400(personal expenditure)-$800(one elderly)-$800(one kid)-$200(household and utility)=$200. This means a person earning only 3k per month, own a house, and needing to care for one children and one elderly, can only save $200 per month. What if the elderly fall sick, or if the person is retrenched?

To me, there is no question that the more abled people volunteerily drop out of the workforce, the more our society degrades. Challenges from China and India, high costs of living (particularly our ridiculous housung price), and low salary are already costing heavy toll of the average Singaporean. I personally despise people who contemplate retirement, especially if they are not financially independent. These people are simply dropping their burden unto others.

In our increasing individualistic society, these irresponsible actions will create more controversy in the future. Others carrying these burden would usually be the children. The talking point will be between filial piety and personal responsibility. Does filial piety includes taking care of someone who does not want to play apart in our society?

In fact, my arguments do not just cover contributions in terms of being employed. A society requires many aspects to function. One important area that we frequently neglect when talking about productivity is non-profit organizations. A major non-profit organization in Chinese society seems to be the extended family. In an extended family that is closely knitted, some elderly continues to take care of the grand-children, cook, take care of the house, run errands, maintain the house, educate the young, and maybe provide other free services. These are important tasks to maintain the society although it does not generate 'income'. These are critical to the productivity of the income generating class.

My point is that in a competitive International environment, yours and mine time will be stretched to the limits. We need to contribute in whatever way we can, making ourselves useful, regardless of age, sex, beliefs, religion, anything. If Stephen Hawkings can continue to be relevant, everyone with a will should be. We will be challenged in every aspects to try to make our activities relevant to the greater good. Can I help myself becoming more productive? How about my wife, my family, my colleague, or someone I do not know? We need to share knowledge, create business, and help in non-profit work. Singapore of the future will depend on how we can restructure the society to make this a better place.