Health and Wealth


The cycle of life...
Birth - Infancy - Childhood - Adolescence - Adulthood - Midlife - Old Age - Death & Dying

I think I should be at the midlife stage right now. The past couple of days, I have been talking or rather msm-ing two very close friends of mine. When you hear about your friends looking after their aged parent/s, you know you have arrived at the next chapter of your life.

An ex-colleague of mine whose father is in the hospital due to lung infection and liver faliure. She shared about how she was trying to spent as much time as she could with her father (she is based in Australia) and how she was mentally and physically exhausted. Yes, looking after the sick and the aged is indeed a very drainning job. It is a job that sapped up every onuce of your energy.

Then there is another good friend whom I have known since I was 13 years old...yes, it those kind of friend that have seen you grown up, get married, have kids and I told him, he will most likely be one of my pall bearer. His mother was very sick and weak due to lung cancer. He shared about how financially stressed it could be for him and the family.

As a good friend, I could just offer my ears (in this instance, would be my eyes and fingers as we talked through the computers). Whatever I said, whatever I could do are only moments of comfort for them because, really, they are the ones who have to face it day in and day out. I could only pray for God's strength and grace to be upon them and their families.

These reminded me of the fragility of life. Really, what matter to us is really not about chasing after the best house, the best car, the best career, the best of all material things, it is really HEALTH. We can have the best of everything but without a healthy body, we cannot really enjoy living in a mansion, we cannot really enjoy driving the best car with the latest technology, when we are confined to the bed and completely dependent on others.

I look at my own parents and my mother-in-law and everyday I thank God for them and for the past many years, it has been my morning prayer to ask God to blessed them with a strong and healthy body till a ripe old age. For you skeptics who think that prayers are merely talking to the air, let me tell you that these prayers have kept them all strong and healthy. Not just that, they are blessed with wisdom to be financially independent. I have constantly nagged at them to eat healthily. My father's meal is very simple - fish and white porridge are his main meal and I can tell you he counts faster than any of his three kids! They are my role models, I want to be like them, healthy and financially independent even till old age. I am not going to be caught up with chasing after the riches of the world...It is devastating if my children go to court to fight over our estates (I will turn in my grave if that day happens!). It always saddens me to read about siblings fighting each other over dead parents' wealth or children suing one parent over a dead parent's estates.

Being healthy and financially independent are the best 'estates' to leave behind for my kids!