Thursday, March 06, 2008
Measure of a man
Today, I received an sms which totally spoilt my morning, but it led me to mull over this topic - Exactly how much weight does our word hold? The scary thing is, I realised that in the past few months, I've encountered so many of these 'light-weights' that I'm beginning to believe that nobody can really be trusted. Let's not even get to the serious commitment stuff yet. Say something as simple as 'See you there at 5pm'. How many times do we actually see that person there at 5pm? More often than not, the person is either late, has cleanly forgotten about the appointment, decided to attend a 'more important' function, or even worse, missed the appointment on purpose - on the basis of laziness or weariness or some other crap. It's scary because nobody seems to be keeping their word anymore. No one bothers. Gone are the days where promises are meant to be kept and come rain or shine, I'll be there, blah blah blah...Somehow, there's always something more important, of higher priority, which needs to be accomplished. Wouldn't we all be doomed if Jesus had decided to pull out from His end of the deal and wriggle out of His impending crucifixion? Wouldn't we all be doomed if, at this day and age, God thinks that we're all too full of shit and decides to stop loving us? If you say you want to do something, you jolly well do it. I guess I am starting to develop some serious trust issues, but with everyone being so easy breezy about their word, I don't see how I can be any more optimistic about it.
Anyway, my day was saved, ironically, by a stranger. I was interviewing one of the most influential property developers in Europe. He's rich certainly, but not just in monetary terms. The great thing about him is that he knows that he's blessed and he credits the right people for it. And he's so down-to-earth that I didn't feel, for a minute, that I was talking to a billionaire. I went into the interview feeling rather jittery, and left feeling like I've made a connection - something real and sincere. There was something so substantial about him. I can't pinpoint it now but he has undoubtedly made my day.
Speaking of billionaires, Warren Buffett has taken over Bill Gates to be the richest man in the world. That's a long reign of 13 years but nothing lasts forever, Mr Gates. And just so you know, there are currently five Singaporean billionaires on the Forbes list.
So, what's the measure of a man, or (wo)man? Does money make us who we are? Do our words and actions make us who we are? It's easy to pick out the right textbook answers but when it gets down to crunch time, I most definitely hope the latter will still stand victorious.
Posted by Jo at 10:32 PM
