Easy come, easy go.

Once upon a time, there was a young man who lived in shabby little hut in Kodiang, Kedah. Like quite a number of young man in this part of the country, which is very near to the neighbouring country, Thailand, he would travel to the some of the small towns in the southern part of Thailand.

People go to Thailand for mainly two reasons during that time. Many business people and families or women would go shopping in groups as everything they wanted was cheaper in Thailand. Another reason for going there were the girls who were easily available for a night of fun and, perhaps, presents of some veneral diseases.

Well, this young man went there because of the girls. One of the girls he became friendly with, gave him a lottery number. His star was shinning bright and the number brought him a huge sum of money. He was full of joy at his good fortune and so patronised this girl often. A little time later, another one of the numbers she gave struck gold again, this time bringing the young man more than a million ringgit as he had much money then with which he could bet with.

A million ringgit! Without further thought, he married the lady goose that gave the golden numbers. They lived happily for some time with the wise lady urging him to buy up land with some of the money.

Time dilutes the happiness of possessing a mere million ringgit. After all, there are others who have more. His only problem was that he was not prepared to use the money wisely. He knew of no business he could do with his money. Furthermore, his wife would be able to think of another number when his savings dwindled.

So, he continued to gamble. With the amount of money he had, he gambled big time. With money at hand and no work, he spent his days gambling at cards and mahjong,a kind of betting game.

Initially, he won but eventually, he lost more than he won. After more than half a year, his money was almost all gone. Yes, a lot had gone into buying land, but it was a matter of time before he had to sell each one of them to maintain his type of life-style.

Soon, he was back to where he started almost a year ago. Finding insufficient food on the table, his golden goose fled back to Thailand. Well, "Easy come, easy go." was the people's comments. And there was truth in it.

When a person does not have appreciation of something, he is careless with it. Through carelessness, that something can be lost. A person who gets his/her money through hard work or planning will understand how difficult such money is obtained. The person would value it and think of how he/she could use it to improve life.

We value something more if we finally achieve that thing through some effort. We treasure it more because it was not too easily obtained. It is just as I value my health a lot because I was very sickly when I was young. It took a lot of knowledge and exercise such as body-building to give me the health I have today. I thank god for my awareness of my weakness and determination to overcome it while I was still very young.

So, let's forget about easy money and gaining something with nothing. God only help those who help themselves.