Dreaming Of Retirement
I was dozing off while watching the news last night. I wasn’t paying much attention to stories being reported but vaguely, I heard somebody say: “We need immigrants to make up for the children we are not having. That’s a very hard fact of life. Between age 25 and 40, more than 30 per cent are unmarried – that means single and childless.
“Without immigration, the ageing problem will be too heavy a burden for the young.”
Straight after that sentence, I dozed off completely. I was in dreamland, or more precisely, on a dream island, sitting on a beach chair, sipping my favourite Gentleman Jack from Duty Free Shop (the one in Singapore and not in Bangkok, of course). A couple of Balinese ladies were fanning me, one from the front and one from the back as one Thai lady massaged my shoulders while the other massaged my feet. The third Thai lady held that glass of Gentleman Jack to my lips.
How about that for retirement? And who is paying for all this? All our young, virile and hardworking immigrants! Yes, these folks who are making up for the children we’re not having. These folks without whom we can never do because without immigration, the ageing problem will be too heavy a burden for the young. My own 2 kids would never be able to afford the 2 Balinese ladies, let alone the 3 Thai ladies and the Gentleman Jack.
How wonderful it would be if we can import lots of young, virile individuals who are willing to work their asses off to keep my Gentleman Jack flowing.
Then, I jolted. The third Thai lady turned out to be my wife and the other other ladies all disappeared. No beach. No massage. No fanning. Just a grumpy wife throwing a stack of bills in front of me. Outside my office at Lucky Plaza, the remittance offices were seeing long queues of young and virile foreigners, sending money back to their real homes.
More on dozing off and dreaming after I watch the National Day Rally.
