The Tissue Paper Ah Mah

Almost every time we walk pass the underground pass between Tangs and Isetan Scott, we would see the old Ah Mah selling packets of tissue papers. Now, we don't go there often. So when we do, we see her, which shows us that she's there quite often. Normally, Mr Goh would give the Ah Mah $2 and take 3 packets of tissue papers with Snow White printed on the packets. We would love to buy everything she sells - Kong Guan biscuits, old clothes, etc. But there's only this much you can do.

I always think that old people should just stay at home, play with their grandchildren, and go travelling with their friends. At least I hope that's what my golden years life would be.

Seeing Ah Mah selling things like that make me sad. Call me old fashion, but I think it is the children's job to look after their old folks. It is something called "the family".

In my opinion, a family is not about the members of the family - who they are, how many members there are, but it's about the love and responsibility between each member. From an academic point of view, identifying a family structure is easy, identifying an "alternative family" is also easy. But if we don't factor in the love and responsibility between family members, that structure remains an empty shell.

I recognise that there are families where their members don't get along. But I think deep down, somehow, there's something that links all members together. In our previous lives, we must have had some sort of connections that we "deserve" each other in this lifetime... (hmmm)

So anyway, I hope the Ah Mah doesn't need to sell tissue papers anymore. Then I don't have to carry around Snow White or Barbie Doll tissue papers.