Who makes it a money world?

"The garden of the house has been overgrown with plants here, there and everywhere. Some time ago we had a maid and so it was fairly easy to keep the place clean and tidy but since mum passed away, we have done away with the maid and except for me, there has been no one else to help cut the unwanted plants that seem to grow so easily without any attention or care," she complained to this willing listener.

"well, my dear girl, you still have your father, your brother and his children,' I reminded her.

"Yeah, that's true. However, my father at eighty plus is too old to do much. As for my brother and his children, they stay some distance away and are hardly seen whenever there is work to be done," she explained.

"So, what do you have in mind?" I asked.

"Could you come and help? I do not mind paying somebody to clean cut the plants and clear the mess in my garden," she told me.

Here I am with already too much work to put into twenty-four hours a day and this friend hopes to get some of my time. I was certainly not able to give much time to anybody then and since she has a brother with healthy boys, I felt it unnecessary to offer any assistance.

Then, this morning when I saw her she started complaining the minute she saw me. She told me that she had asked her brother and the children to help out. At first, there was no response until she offered ten ringgit each for the help. Fortunately, that was sufficient to bring themand so the clearing of the place started.

However, she soon realised that the father was so happy to see the grandchildren that he had quickly distributed ten ringgit each to all of them soon after starting. And you know what? With the money safely in their pockets, the brother disappeared from the scene to be followed soon after that by the children. And so it was that she did not managed to get the place properly cleared.

"If it had been some workers, I can understand that they came just for the money. But here are her own brother and nephews, people who ought to give a helping hand without any spoken request. Yet, despite the 'carrot' of ten ringgit, the work was not done satisfactorily," she lamented.

"Well, I don't think it's the children's fault. Somebody has been in the habit of rewarding them with money for every small deed that they had performed," I could not help but told her.

"Yeah, lo! It's my father. He's always giving those children money for running errands, for helping around and for everything. They come expecting some money each time. And when no money is forthcoming, they run at the first mention of work. Children nowadays are so different," she expressed that thought sadly.

Sometimes, parents teach their children wrong values and grandparents pamper them so much that the children just knew how to get the grandpa to respond correctly to their wishes. Children are clever and old folks are too doting where their grandchildren are concerned. In such circumstances children perform not out of love and care but for the money and whatever else that they can get.