AS SINGAPOREANS brace themselves for a prolonged and painful recession, they should take stock of the situation and learn some valuable lessons from the financial crisis.

For starters, less emphasis should be placed on accumulating material possessions.

Lives need to be balanced by building relationships with our loved ones and living life with a purpose.

Some are driven to upgrade their property, even though they might find it hard to make ends meet subsequently.

The desire among younger people to own cars also puzzles me, as a lot has to be coughed up each month to meet loan payments.

These people feel that living in HDB flats and travelling on public transport mean they are somehow lesser beings.

Many people focus much of their time and energy on building a nest egg and climbing the corporate ladder, sometimes to the detriment of their health and family lives.

I know many friends who are divorced, and they often blame themselves for the breakup as they spend too much time on their careers.

With little time left outside of work, they were unable to find the energy to keep a marriage going.

Many rich people I know live lives of loneliness and regret, as their families have disintegrated.

As Singapore struggles during this recession, let us take the time to reflect on what we truly want for ourselves.

Our children will not remember us for the toys and money we gave them.What they will remember is the time we spent with them when they were young.

They will prefer life in an HDB flat with a happy family, instead of a roomy condominium where their parents are not around or quarrelling half the time.

Money can never buy love, time and good relationships.

Hopefully, the recession will make people wake up from their years of toiling aimlessly in wild pursuit of material possessions that might not mean much in the end.

Mr Gilbert Goh Keow Wah

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