better life

my driver pushes the seat back and lies down for a nap in the van, in the luxury of a fully air-conditioned surrounding, whilst he waits for me. other times, he sits in there, away from the hot scalding sun, and pours over his newspaper. one newspaper lasts him the whole day for his reading pleasure. he reads them from cover to cover. why not? he has all the time in the world. bored, he will alight and seek out his nearby acquaintance for a chat or some small talk. all the drivers in the world are part of a secret society, they seem to know each other. if they don't, no problem, they'll know each other in a matter of few seconds.

lunch is several hours long when the boss doesn't require his service, which usually she doesn't. work is over at 4 when the last job of the day is done. sometimes, work entails driving here and there, delivering this and that. it's all still very light-weight stuff. no pressure, no competition, no office politics, no complications. pay may not be high, but it's enough to live by. not enough for that month? just come in for a few more hours for more chat with friends, and more hanging around. sick, just take the day off. not feeling like coming for work, just take another day off.

meanwhile, i'm slaving away in front of the computer and desk night and day. i'm beating deadlines, i'm rushing to get more stuffs done. sick or healthy, i still have to deliver. can't let a little thing like that baby who is kicking and pushing to get out from the stomach stop me from meeting deadlines. i work till my back is sore and my shoulder tight.

sometimes i wonder, who got it good? whose life is what we should be striving for? more work, more money? why do we need so much money anyway? to put our kids through a good university, yes i forgot. but do we need so much more than that? we work so hard so that we have more money, so that we can then live an easy life. which he is already doing at the moment. sometimes you get so caught up that you just can't stop, you can't unwind. knowing how to be contented is a difficult art. just when you think you know, then you stop and think, is your life really better than his?