So as to achieve Happiness, Prosperity and Progress for????

You and I are no stranger to rolling our eyes at a 长辈's comments that start with these three words:

"In our days... " (usually followed by a 30 mins long tirade of great exploits unknown to humankind and revealed only exclusively to you)

Yet now, being sandwiched in between the young and the old, I came to realise that some things have really changed:

Definition of Bliss:
In my parents' days = Having a chicken drumstick / red egg to eat on your birthday.
In my days = Being allowed to 'tawn' overnight with your equally gawky awkward teenager friends like its the coolest and most adult thing on earth.
To the current youths = Owning a Macbook Pro.

Definition of Committment:
In my parents' days = Sumpah and drip blood, swearing to stay loyal to one another.  Divorce was never an option.
In my days = Staying loyal unless you're 'too much'... (which begs the question: how much is too much?)
To the current youths = For good times only. Bad times / dubious times, you deal with it yourself cos its not my problem.  I will play the role of a "good" friend and act blur until you're ok / your storm blows over.

Definition of Broke:
In my parents' days = Prepare to go without food for the next ??? days.
In my days = Having just $2 for lunch and dinner.
To the current youths = Having money for what you want, but not having money for what you need. (which probably just calls for wiser money management I guess)

How times have progressed!  If there were a time-machine which could bring me back to my parents days, I wonder what my parents in their teenage years would have thought of me as a peer.  I guess I would probably have been regarded as a weakling and wastrel... someone who can't take hardship or real (calculated) risks... or someone who never had the courage to step out to the unknown in a 'make it or break it' venture.

And probably because of their love for us as their little ones, we grew up more sheltered and in greater comfort then they ever had, yet acting it was the greatest tribulation on earth just because we didn't have what all our other friends owned.  Like I tell my friends sometimes, I guess its always easy to get used to comfort and take things for granted.  I, for one, can really get used to travelling by car and getting to my destination pronto, as opposed to public transport. *grins*

And so for paying the price to give us a better headstart in life, I give the older generation the due respect.  I mean, I wasn't even there to witness the full extent of their hardship back then, so who am I to start scoffing when they tell me stories about the past?

So I told myself:  From now on, I will (try my very bestest) NOT roll my eyes when I hear an elder start a story with the words 'In My Days'. 

Disclaimer:  This does not include mumbling under my breath '... when the policemen wore shorts and carried batons under their armpits'..