About a Bag

Haven't blogged for sooo long...but was so inspired /humbled by my dad today.
It's his birthday and we'd been thinking what to get him.

He's the kind of man... who can use something for 20 years without complaint.
And finally, my brother thought of... why don't we get him a briefcase?
A nice, presentable looking one.... cos, the sorry fact is, this Executive Director of a japanese MNC goes to work daily carrying.... my old, free, long-abandoned laptop bag, with a ugly cheap logo in front. Yep, he's been using that for the last 10 years!

Mind you, that 'briefcase' was from my FIRST EVER notebook PC, in like.... 1999 or something.
And i can't even remember when exactly i abandoned it and when he picked it up like a treasure and decided to carry it to work EVERYDAY FOR THE NEXT DECADE.

So Leon went scouting in town and found a real nice, leather dark brown leather briefcase.
Nothing flashy, zero logo, just a standard basic very standard-looking briefcase.
When my dad opened his gift, he immediately thought of 967 reasons why we shouldn't have "wasted money" on it, how his old bag was working perfectly well and he really didn't need a new one, asked 300 times how much it cost etc etc, kept asking if it looked too flashy and that he wanted to remain low-key, doesn't wanna show off .....


I was like -- it's just a PLAIN LEATHER BRIEFCASE!
Totally NOWHERE near anyone's idea of flashy or showing off!
hello??!!!

The truth is, it wasn't even that expensive.
Like about $250, i think.
All that fuss.... but of course, he liked it and later on, i saw him transferring the contents from the old bag to the new one.
While insisting that he'll still keep the old bag.

And there i was -- sorry, pathetic me.
Earning a teeny fraction of what my dad earns and yet, yearning for IT bags worth thousands of dollars, trying to rationalise to myself the bag will be an 'investment' and all that BS.
Thankfully, i hadn't succumbed.
But oh my, just one look around and scores of girls walk around town with a LV / Chanel / Chloe.
Why are we sooo shallow?

In fact, i know this girl... who stays in a one-bedroom rental HDB with her husband and daughter.
She's about 27, works as some clerk probably earning not more than $1.8k (fact, she told me).
Which is all absolutely fine.... except she's carrying a huge, geniune LV bag the last i saw her.
I wasn't envying her bag.... i was alarmed at how she prioritised $$$.
If you're living in a 1-bedroom rental flat in a shabby neighbourhood, why aren't you saving up for a bigger, better place for your family???
That bag easily would have cost at least $2k (not that i know anyway since i don't own a single designer bag..... )


Anyway.... yea, i was very humbled by my dad and do believe some of that rubbed off on me.
Despite my weakness for fashion, i do not own a single designer bag.
My most expensive bag EVER is probably $170 or something - TRUTH.
Not to say i've never desired one....
But after today, all that desire is gone.

We are who we are -- no designer item is gonna make us look better or feel better.
And there's probably tonnes better use for all that money anyway.