One Christmas past
I CAN still recall how the Christmas tree in my office was transformed into a children’s wish-list tree during one unforgettable Christmas.
What’s so special about a children’s wish list, one might wonder.
As I reminisce, just before I got the completed wish cards from the children, I imagined what they might want for
Christmas: perhaps remote-controlled toy cars, Barbie dolls, princess dresses, game consoles, etc.
But, to my surprise, 90% of the children stated in their wish cards that all they wanted for Christmas were chocolates and shower gel. Only a handful of the children wanted items like MU football jerseys and UNO cards.
It reduced me to tears, thinking about this. What we deem as ordinary items are a luxury to the less fortunate.
It is easy for us to walk into a convenience store and buy chocolates. But, these children can only dream of having chocolates, and probably can enjoy chocolates once a year, that is, if people are kind enough to buy them some.
When I started participating in flea markets, I realised that what we deem as “not so useful anymore” or “pre-loved” or “doesn’t look nice anymore” can indeed be “very useful”, “very lovely” and “looks so nice” to others. There is bound to be someone who yearns for our pre-loved items, no matter how old the items may be. Sometimes, what we don’t want can be someone’s met need, and what seems to be of no use to us, may be someone else’s collector’s item.
There are some things that business schools don’t teach, and this is one of them: To appreciate what we have.