8/02/2007

The profit motive

When everything is about profit, nobility, idealism, selflessness, charity etc are no longer meaningful concepts. As we move towards a new century of selfish interest and wealth accumulation for the sake of wealth accumulation, we much stop teaching our children about charity, about noble deeds and acts of love, compassion or charity to fellow beans. We should not be hypocritical. These are only useful occasionally to give the public a false impression that one is generous, just a PR exercise. The professions of teaching, of healing the sick, when transform into money making machines, will lose their intrinsic meaning and nobility. Teachers will only teach more and put in more effort if the parents are willing to pay more. Medical professionals will only heal the sick and dying if they are willing to pay, and pay at a ransom. There is no qualms when making money is the only reason to do an act. And no one needs to apologise for it. It is the culture and mentality of the 21st Century. Sorry, can you afford to pay?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is the use of progress in every field, when in the end we cannot provide a decent, average person with a decent, average quality of life. We are at a stage where only the filthy rich, those who became rich without a soul, those who became rich without morality will benefit from all the progress we are witnessing. All others are left behind. Don't ever believe when they say 'no one will be left behind'. I totally agree that it is just a PR exercise.

Anonymous said...

Idealism can neither pay the bills, nor put food on the table. Get real, man !!

Anon.Dimwit said...

It's ironic. Don't U guys think so?
Our sunny island has struggled n so succeeded in tending & providing for the basic necessities (& lots lots more!)of the people.

Now, the people are struggling with their mundane needs.. Housing, job, transport, family etc..

Sigh. :(

Chua Chin Leng蔡镇龍 aka redbean said...

when people think that it is decent to charge sick people exorbitant fees, when people think it is clever to make money from essential goods and services, and they bragged about them... this is what we have become, a gracious and extremely talented people.