so what for?

we were out at a chinese restaurant just now. there was a family having their dinner at another table, and there was an old man in a wheelchair at the table. the family's maid was feeding him throughout the meal, and even had to wheel him to the toilet once i think.

i've always thought that it was bad enough to be old and unable to walk, but the old man couldn't even feed himself. so what's the point of staying alive? i heard on the radio today that the average singaporean's life expectancy is 81 years, but they spend the last 10 years or so in ill health.

which basically means they live for 70 years and spend 10 years waiting to die.

i've always thought that humans weren't designed to live for so long, that's why our bodies start failing once we grow old. primitive humans would be parents once they hit puberty, and then most likely die before 25 or 30, maybe get eaten up by lions or something.

anyway the reason we were at the restaurant in the first place was because my maid is leaving for spain tomorrow night, where she will be earning 700 euros per month, 3 times as much as she gets here. imagine how rich she'd be if she went to spain instead of singapore 18 years ago. she'd have earned the equivalent of 54 years' pay.

and because i have to return to camp, i doubt i'll be able to go to the airport tomorrow ( technically today). quite weird that this could be the last time we see her for the rest of our lives, and it's really quite probable that this will be the case.

maybe i'll invite her to my wedding dinner or my funeral, whichever comes first.