Today, like every Tuesday in the last couple of months, we gathered and discussed about many things. We're brushing up our french. Mr. J, a "Parisien" and he talked about some things he saw in Asia.
At the beginning, we talked about the national identity. Then came to questioned about Singaporean and their national identity (which, our S'porean friends had struggled to describe). Some Singaporean friend's said that their "identity" is Mr. Lee (Kuan Yew), they're hardworking people -- but somehow they said, now the younger generation seem don't care, they're spoiled generation who know that everything is already taken care of (by their parents/ older generation), but still they demand more ..
We ended up talking about how people in Asia seem more "materialistic" than the people in the old continent. He added, even though luxury brands are mostly came from France or Italy or Spain .. you don't see many people flashing on a luxury items in a daily basis as much as in Asia. Are the people in Asia more wealthy than in Europe? .. or is it because there's no other places to get excited about than going to a mall (and buy those items).
Malls. Yes, we noticed. There are more of that over here than over there. Getting rich, own many beautiful things seemed to be a very important thing in some people lives, especially here. On the contrary, having a picnic in a park or feeding the lake's swans is something they might think as useless, meaningless, poor.
Well, let me tell you what I felt after he told us the facts. Those simple things we used to do to in the old place, they brought us pleasures and peaceful feelings, we could appreciate God's creation in this world and be grateful of what we have. I think, we couldn't compare them with how people use to live here.
Maybe it's the "image" that they want to show off to other people. For example, as Mr. J said while showing off your wealth is considered "rude" and "negative" there, here is considered "cool". So, like in a race, who get more and who get first.
Me & other friend who used to work for Vuitton, agreed that we saw more Asian clientelle than European, even inside LV boutique in Champs elysees, there were more Japanese/Chinese than French people them selves -- well, maybe there's some, like that old lady who came in -- not to buy though, but to mend her broken luggage.
There are many rich people in Paris but those luxury stuffs mainly sold like a candy to Asian or Eastern European people.
The question is, do we still have our identity if we are not rich?, the answer? yes, thankfully, there are still some people who see others based on their qualities, their personalities, their attitude ..
