Cigarettes For Breakfast?

Star Q

i.  Pineapple Fried Rice

ii.  STPM 2013

iii.  Speaking Activities

It was 8.00 a.m. and I was at the shop buying some things to cook for lunch this morning when I heard the shopkeeper speaking loudly to two boys.  She was actually speaking louder than she usually does because this time she was scolding two boys who wanted to purchase a packet of cigarettes.

Upon requesting to purchase the cigarettes, the shopkeeper, being a civic-conscious person (and I suspect she was fully aware of the boys' actual age; just as I was!) she asked the boys how old they were.  The two boys started to raise their voices and said they were twenty-one!  The shopkeeper said that the boys were lying to her.

The two boys got even angrier and insisted that they were in fact twenty-one.  The shopkeeper decided it was too early in the morning to quarrel to with two boys who couldn't care much about their health to purchase cigarettes (even though they are under eighteen) and worse, to be smoking at that age!  She decided that she had better attend to her other customers (including me!) who were waiting in line (and staring disapprovingly at the two boys!) to be served rather than the two boys who couldn't care less about themselves.

The shopkeeper sold the boys the cigarettes they.  They immediately scuttled away, happy with the transaction and began to light a cigarette each.  Nice breakfast, I thought!  The shopkeeper admitted to us that she felt guilty doing so but the boys were on the verge of hurtling nasty words at her and she did so only to stop any further commotion.  I don't blame the shopkeeper for being forced into selling the cigarette.  I don't even blame the two boys for buying the cigarettes and smoking them.  I blame the people who taught them the habit; whoever they are.  

Smoking is not only a bad habit but is has also made these two boys behave badly because of their disrespect to the shopkeeper, who incidentally is much older.  Another negative effect of smoking.

  

BR1M-ming With Pride

Star Q

i.  Jamuan Akhir Tahun

ii.  Speaking Activities

iii.  Pineapple Fried Rice

Image sourced from Google

I suppose many will not agree with me about what I have written regarding the giving of BR1M, especially those who are eligible for it and those who feel that the RM500 one-off hand-out is supposed to sustain their expenses for the whole year, if not more; which in actual fact is only to help them get started financially at the beginning of the year.

If they disagree, it's just too bad.  Sometimes I think the government has made a wrong decision in trying to win the citizens heart by giving them money, because money as we all know, is never enough; no matter how much you give.  The thing is people always want more of it.

Gone are the days when citizens did not look to the government for any kind of aid, especially financially.  People just seemed to work harder to put food on the table just because it is their responsibility to do so for their own families.  People seemed to do more to make ends meet and to minimise their monthly expenditure.

I remember my mom doing her best to make ends meet and to help my dad  put food on the table to make up for what little salary my father brought home every month.  Being a house wife to a corporal at that time (around 1967) and a mother of four children, I remember my mother doing everything she could to help with the family expenditure.  I remember her planting rows and rows of vegetables; I remember her rearing chickens and ducks; I remember her waking up early every morning to prepare our lunch boxes to take to school so that we wouldn't have to spend out twenty-cents pocket money; I also remember her creating recipes that were able to sustain her family and keeping her children happy.  She did all this, so that she did not need to ask for help from others and justly so, because it is her responsibility.

People reading about what my late mother did then to help ease her family's expenses may scowl disapprovingly saying that that was then and this is now.  They would argue that nowadays, most BR1M receivers do not have even the smallest plot of land to plant vegetables or to rear chickens and ducks.  They would argue that the comparison is nonsensical!  

I agree that time has changed.  However, don't just read the lines about planting vegetables and rearing chickens and ducks; don't compare the situation of today with what my mother and I went through almost fifty years ago.  Instead, learn from her persistence to help her family and how she carried her responsibilities on her shoulders without asking for anyone's help; learn from her resourcefulness to make up for what she did not have and to utilise fully what she did. 

I  am not shy in saying that I am proud of my mother and all the mothers of her era who did all that they could for their families without asking others for help.  And to be fair, I also applaud the mothers of today who work and strive just as hard for their families, whether they are entitled for the BR1M or not because quite frankly, with or without it, they have their own responsibilities to fulfil and that life still needs to go on.

To BR1M or not to BR1M

Star Q

i.  Pineapple Fried Rice

ii.  Speaking Activities

iii.  Jamuan Akhir Tahun Pra-U

Everybody knows about this BR1M  that eligible citizens have been getting (I forget for how many years now)  I have never made any attempt to write about this one-off handout per year that the government is giving mainly because I am not eligible for it.  I don't feel sore that I am not getting it; in fact I am thankful because many other Malaysians deserve it more than I do.

However, I have noticed for quite some time now, people (whether they are the ones who are getting the BR1M or not, I am not sure) have been making comments that the RM500 one-off-per-year BR1M is not enough to sustain their expenses throughout the year; what with the increase in sugar, cooking oil; well almost anything and everything really!

I seem to recall when BR1M was first given out, it was supposed to be a generous (?) gesture by the government to eligible citizens of Malaysia as a form of financial aid for them to start the year; you know, to buy school uniforms, school shoes, bags, exercise books, fees; things that are related to their children starting the school year.  It was never meant to be a monthly hand-out where people can use the money for their monthly expenditure on food or bills or what-have-you!  It was never meant to be an alternative for people to stop working hard and forget about their own financial responsibilities to support their own families.  Never!

But, sad to say, it has always been the norm for people (per say and not only those eligible for BR1M) once you get something given to you without working for it, you feel that you are forever entitled for it;  you feel as if it is your birth right that should never be denied.

It is time to wake up and accept the fact that BR1M is merely the government's way of helping out the people at the beginning of the year when there is a sudden need for extra cash.  It is merely a way to extend some kind of aid to ensure that our children are ready to go back to school.  It is merely a way to ensure that our children go to school on the first day of school with everything new (uniforms, bags, shoes etc) and with high spirit and motivation.

Time to Stop

Star Q

i.  Pineapple Fried Rice

ii.  Speaking Activities

iii.  STPM 2013

The misuse of technology has reached a new high recently which leaves a lot to be desired.  Photos are maliciously edited, still pictures are inserted with speech bubbles giving an impression that the person in the picture is saying something (which he probably hadn't!) and photos that are extreme opposites being put side by side to encourage hurtful (to the people in the picture) response; most of the time, judgemental.

P.A.T.I. Part I

Star Q

i.  Tartlet Keju / Cheese Tartlets

ii.  Majlis Graduasi 2013

iii.  Reading Activities

No, the acronym above does not stand for 'Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin' or illegal immigrants.  I thought, since the original coinage for PATI has something to do with 'illegal', what better way to share this idea with what I am about to write about.  My version of P.A.T.I. simply means 'Parking According To Idiots!'