A survey of the "Top 10 Singaporean Dreams and Goals" released by OCBC Bank on 9 Jan 09 shows that starting a family, settling down and homes are the nation's top three dreams this year.
The top 10 list for year 2009 is as follows:
1) Family and Children
2) Settling down/Starting a family
3) Houses and home
4) Making money
5) Retirement
6) Seeing the world
7) Automobile
8) Good health
9) Starting a business
10) Self-improvement
On the back of the current economic meltdown, making money is no longer in the top 3 of Singaporean dreams and goals, it is back to basics, the basic of society: Family.
What I find perplexing is that health and self-improvement ranks on the lower rungs of the list. Personally, I do believe health is the most important as without it, we cannot do anything. Next would be self-improvement, an area which pervades all endeavours of life.
My personal list is as follows:
1) Good health
2) Self-improvement
3) Settling down/Starting a family
4) Houses and home
3) Settling down/Starting a family
4) Houses and home
5) Family and Children
6) Career
7) Community activism
8) Seeing the world
Not thinking about it: Automobile, Starting a business
Non-applicable: Retirement
Comments
1) Learned from past mistakes.
2) Improve on short-comings.
3) Embrace each day like a god-given bonus.
4) Love the family well (we tend to forget the importance while rushing thru a haze of activities).5) Be kind to others.
6) Be happy - always count our blessings.