Waste not, want not

Post 5 Be thrifty even in days of abundance

If you avoid extravagance, you will avoid poverty. Waste not, want not, therefore advises us to be thrifty. Unfinished food is often either discarded after meals or kept in the refrigerator sometimes only to be forgotten and to be thrown away. This is a waste of money. It also does not justify the use of valuable resources in producing the food. Ironically there are still billion of people around the world, who are undernourished and go to sleep hungry. Always count your blessings that you are not in want.

There is a Chinese saying, Behind the vermilion gates meat and wine go to waste while out on the road lie the bones of those frozen to death. The vermilion gates are red-lacquered doors of wealthy homes. Can you visualise the contrast between extravagance and poverty within and without the large, impressive and luxurious house. The rich and the poor are living in two different worlds and lifestyles.

An emperor was informed by his prime minister that there were demonstrations all over the country. The people were hungry because of famine. The emperor then asked the prime minister, “If they are hungry and have no rice to eat, why don’t they eat meat?” The emperor was divorced from the reality of life.

A person who is born into a well-to-do family is said to have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Financially he is better off than his peers whose parents are not as wealthy as his. Nevertheless, his character must still be nurtured through diligence, perseverance, and life experiences. His well-to-do social-economic background can be a double-edged sword. It may be an added advantage to him because he has the means to do many things; or it may be a hindrance to him because he may be too dependent on others and would not be able to stand on his own two feet. What he needs to do is to make good use of his slight edge to further improve what he already has.

If a person happens to be born into a poor family, he must remember what Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America had said, “Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.” There is nothing to be ashamed of if a person is poor. He can reverse that situation by having an attitudinal change. When he studies and works diligently, blames no one for the situation he is in, and believes that there is no free lunch in the world, he can also be rich one day. Since he has been poor before, he will truly understand the value of money and hard work. Waste not, want not, will then become more meaningful to him.

In modern days people like to frequent food outlets with delightfully peaceful ambiences. They have the means to enjoy and relax with their friends there. However, there were times that I noticed some customers who left without finishing a considerable portion of their orders. They had shown in public the weakness in their character. In contrast my 83 year-old brother-in-law who is a believer of ‘waste not, want not’, eats up every grain of rice in his bowl. This is frugality personified.

The following adage which I learnt in the primary school is now translated from Chinese into English for you to ponder on:

“Who would have thought that the meal on a plate,
Has each grain the fruit of arduous labour?”

4 August 2009