Health is wealth
Today’s lifestyle is certainly no healthy living. Modern trends dictate that glamour and status id the ultimate way of life. Materialism resigns supreme over basic beliefs and prudent practices. In our pursuit of social acceptance, success and wealth, most of us tend to neglect our own principles and well being.
This is exemplified by highly unhealthy habits of the career clan : workaholics who have no time for self and family : yuppies who expend savings (and sleep) on fashion and socialising; beauty aspirants who starve or risk plastic surgery. However, business is booming for maid agencies, credit card companies and slimming salons. Similarly, the legal profession has been boosted by an increasing demand for divorce lawyers while vanity, no longer a solely feminine trait, fuels and vitalizes the flourishing cosmetic industry.
Our society’s prevailing achievement oriented philosophy has been instilled in us from young when academic results were (and still are) determined by the number of “A” s obtained. Nowadays, ambitious parents unwittingly burden their children who are already saddled with endless school work by enrolling them for private tuition and “enhancement” classes. Ironically, the best education entails sacrifice on health and welfare in addition to eroding the family funds. It is common knowledge that students especially undergraduates forego recreation and sleep to accomplish good grades and projects.
As we seek out a living or climb the social ladder, traditional values are cast aside : children are either left in the care of extended families/nannies or on their own; aged parents are deposited in old folks’ homes or neglected; spouses rarely communicate or see each other; marriage ranks last in the priority list of yuppies.
In our obsession of keeping up with the neighbours and times, we often go beyond our personal limits resulting in unnecessary tension on ourselves and loved ones. Stress is a major problem in our realistic society. The hectic pace in the city takes its toll on many inhabitants : patience is practically extinct; tempers are easily frayed; selfishness rules the day. Mental illness is now confined to the downtrodden as we witness the frequent occurrence of amok cases, child abuse, hooliganism, masochistic attacks, road bullies and vandalism. Psychiatrists, previously peculiar only to the Western society, have recently risen in prominence and are as hotly demanded as doctors.
An inevitable price of progress and urban concentration is environmental pollution, which contributes to common ailments like asthma, hypertension and migraine as well as the much dreaded often fatal cancer. To make matters worse, affluence and the ever-growing workforce has brought about an increased volume of vehicles on the road. Traffic jams are now a way of life even in smaller towns as people spend more time in their vehicles, a factor, which enhances the current popularity of (car) radio stations.
Sadly, success and wealth usually come with added stress and unhappiness. We hear of celebrities facing loneliness or shunning publicity; tycoons losing sleep over kidnapping treats and share fluctuations or their wives; insecurity over their fidelity; family fighting and divided over property; senior executives prematurely balding/greying and risking cardiac problems to strive for deadlines and targets. This fact is consolation to the average folk who enjoy better peace of mind and lends weight to the saying “you can’t have it all”. It is ironical that despite decades of development in education, science and technology, humankind has still not advanced much in terms of genuine healthiness.
