Was it Worth it?

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I was walking home to get something when someone asked me to look up.

“Very dangerous!” he said.

“That guy is just holding on to the steel grid...I wonder what is he is doing there.” He added.

“Aiya...working lah, you think he playing catching meh”

“That’s not what I meant lah!” he said.

“Why would his boss send him there to do some welding in that precarious position?” he said in Hokkien.

“Yah hor...quite dangerous leh....but I’m sure he has some safety harness strapped on lah” I reassured him.

As I am writing this entry, it made me dwell deeper about the contributions of these construction workers and how much we have taken them for granted.

Immediately my thoughts went back to the 10pm news I was watching just now.

They reported that some workers’ quarters were so overcrowded and stuffy that the workers resorted to sleeping along the streets. The LUCKIER ones actually slept on the back of lorries.

These folks have contributed significantly to our economy and they certainly deserve better treatment!

They left their families behind to come to this strange UNFRIENDLY land to do what we do not want to do.

And instead of appreciating them, we despise them.

We complain without restraint that they stink up the buses and MRT trains during their OFF-DAYS and we call the police and accuse them of doing all the bad things that happen in the neighbourhood etc etc.

Sure, there are some bad hats around...some may be driven to crime by desperation. But which society doesn’t have their fair share of bad hats.

When I was working for an MNC, we get applauded when we do some gravity defying antics in some outward bound school. But that guy who went up to do his work in the yet to be completed Regency Suite condo will probably get nothing more than his wages after he is done with his work.

And the sad thing is that all these workers may be risking their lives for a condo that may not be around 20 years down the road.

Why I say that? Here's my case :

Regency Suites is standing where Kim Tian Plaza used to stand.

And Kim Tian Plaza was standing where the Kings Theatre used to stand.

And mind you, King's theatre is not some grandpa or grandma's hangout from a century ago. I actually managed to watch some sob sob movies in that theatre when I was still considered a child. And I have not hit the FOUR-O yet.

However, I've forgotten when King's Theatre was demolished. I don't even remember when Kim Tian Plaza was built. But when I eventually took notice of it, her days were already numbered.


See what I mean about buildings not being around for more than 20 years.

I rest my case.