One of my relatives complained that her salary as a senior bank manager pales in comparison to the salary of a newly promoted bank manager today.

Another relative complained that his salary as a sole practitioner lawyer pales in comparison to the salary of many sole practitioner lawyers today.

Many of my friends came from poor to lower-middle income families. Today, several of them have, at the ages of 37 to 39, already made their first million. One or two on their way to their third or fourth million.

Millennials have access to better education, better healthcare, better technology, better transportation, a globalized world, etc. Compared to the "boomers".

I cannot brain some of these things sometimes.....

Shhhh..... I am trying to stay low profile...... just make sure you don't lose to me, that's all.....

Yeah, at the ripe old age of 39, I actually feel like a 60 year old now.... so much stress and pressure in life....

It is true what they say... money may buy you a home, a comfortable life, a stable family life, and some assurances for your loved ones and children, but man, can it not buy you happiness.....

I did not know boomers were born from 1944 onwards. Looks like my parents are both from boomer generation then. My old man only earned RM300 / month in his first job on SPM qualification. My mom always talked about the potty toilets households of that era used.

Wish we could all be boomers again. Superb lifestyle, and many opportunities to become rich

Well, put it this way....

The first time my parents took me overseas was to Singapore. When I was aged 8.

The second time I went overseas was to Australia, when I was aged 15. Reward for good results in PMR. My old man did not go, only me and mum.

Same for my siblings.

The first time I ever ate sushi? When I was 16. Once a year treat from a relative. I discovered how awesome salmon tasted then.

The lifestyles my "salaried" parents led back then were pretty damn stark. Very little on luxuries, a lot on savings, investments, education for kids and a full pantry.

My parents would probably survive in almost any era and in most forms of hardship. Someone like me... like I said before, would 24th floor if I was transported back in time to my father's generation.

But hell yeah, OK boomer!

Want to confirm insta-death. Don't want to land awkwardly and then still be alive for another 30 seconds or even 1 minute.

Already said... my father's time, chicken meat is only for CNY, eggs is once a month or so, and milk is non-existent.

During their time, they also had to work hard. Raise children and sustain an elder on their own.

If my parents were transported to today's era with its modern conveniences, I fear they would become like me!

I mean, in any era, you have your char siews and strawberries, and you have your survivors and successful folks.

In every era, you also have your regular, almost daily complainers, and you have folks who do something about it, while appreciating the past and working towards the future.

Hell, yours and my grandfather's generation was WWII. Don't think you and I would survive long

I mean, you do whatever you want to do in life lar. I am not going to convince you of whether you are living in good, prosperous, peaceful times, or in hard, poverty-stricken, miserable conditions times. You view it whatever way you want to, OK

Well, that is why my parents led pretty stark lives. To ensure that their children do not "lead" the lives they led back then.

And so far, they have succeeded on that account.

The goal of most families is to progress, in one way or another. Families which stay stagnant or fail to adapt in fast changing times are those who want time to go backwards.

How about families who failed to adapt during our parents' generation? Those who depended on bullock carts for transportation, on hand-tools for farming, who believed that only a Standard 6 education was sufficient to "make it in the world"?

They would want time to regress even further!

But anyway, I digress....

As a closer to my participation in this thread, I want to point out something about your example:

You claim that we cannot do a crap job today and survive.

In a way, your statement is true. But in another way, your statement is not true.

Try telling your statement to the hundreds of millions, if not billions of poverty stricken men, women and children in places like Africa, South America, South Asia, and even many parts of South East Asia. Folks with no jobs or jobs so crap that they would find OUR crap jobs a goldmine.

There is a reason why hundreds of thousands of people risk life and limb to become fruit pickers and toilet cleaners in developed countries. Because the alternative sucks donkey balls even more.

There are people who want to do Malaysia's crap jobs. There are Malaysians who want to do Singapore's crap jobs. Heck, I posit that everything in this world is just a different level of crap... in our professional lives, we take so much crap from everyone. Businessmen take crap from their clients. Politicians take crap from their constituencies. Billionaires take crap from haters and people with nasty agendas. Royalty are stuck in inheritance and face-maintaining crap. Its just a matter of which crap you'd rather be stuck in, and whether you turn the crap into fertilizer.... earthen gold, in the course of your life.

For all the ribbing I do of Malaysia, I readily acknowledge that Malaysia is far ahead of many other countries in the world. Heck, probably ahead of another 100 other countries in the world.

To a very large extent, I am very thankful not to be born in those countries. I am thankful to be born in Malaysia, and under circumstances where I am forced to survive and compete for my place in the world.

Because life could have been a lot crap, and in many more ways. And I am not sure I am mentally strong enough to withstand THAT type of crap.

OK, on that note, have spent too much time internet-warrioring on these forums, going to retreat for a bit

Yeah man. That social media thing is a PITA!

Almost every month, I am bombarded by someone who go to some exotic location, who bought new car, went to new expensive restaurant, buy some brand new handbag, or shit like that.

It makes me look at my 18 year old kereta perang, and at my once a year holiday, and at the home-cooked food I eat almost 7 days a week, and at my cheap backpack, and I then shed tears....

Just 3 months ago, someone on my feed bought a new Cayenne and was flashing the keys on social media. I felt so small and inadequate after seeing that post....