Recently, there was a certain building in my camp that needed some repairs. The height of the building is almost 1.5 storeys high based on my judgment.
The contractor came and did his job. I saw what he had to do. Since our door was run by a motor located at the ceiling, he had to climb all the way up to change it.
He used a tall ladder that looked really flimsy, and he handled it really well. At certain junctions, he had no proper steps to step on and his feet could be just dangling in mid air. I knew he was experienced. I knew he knew what he was doing. But from what he was doing, I could see that, it was really dangerous.
It made me recall of how bird nest collectors in China work.
One harvester can collect as many as 50 or 60 nests a day. Sometimes, like mountain climbers, the harvesters hammer metal poles into rocks and boulders to attach themselves to the cave walls. Many have died when a rotted bamboo pole or a boulder gave in under their weight, but such accidents never discouraged the surviving harvesters.
Quoted from Http://www.koreabridge.com/writings/nonfiction/tpark_birdsnestsoup.shtml
They risk their lives for a living. One may ignorantly say that that's because of the living conditions of China. But in Singapore, we have these people who risk their lives to put food on their bowls.
At the end of everything? After providing that dangerous changing service with motor parts included, they're rewarded with $1500. And they're not even the boss, Let's say they earn $1500 a month, and they do that job once a day?
For a mere 30 dollars a day, they risk crippling their arms. So is money that easy to make?
This will be one question I'll ask myself, whenever I carelessly spend money on unneeded things.
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