During the Lunar New Year, rich and poor people alike celebrate this joyous festival with their families. The mutual love and affection they enjoy is priceless, and the same regardless of their financial circumstances.

When I was a child, I used to wake up early in excitement on Lunar New Year's Day to kowtow to my parents as a New Year greeting, receive red packets of lucky money from them and then wear my new clothes. My delight came not only from the love and affection of my family, but also from a sense of satisfaction with life. Simple as it was in material terms, my childhood was filled with a sense of spiritual affluence. 

Some people might mistake simplicity for poverty and think of those who pursue a life of simplicity as dull and boring. In fact, simplicity is an attitude of being serious and conscientious. It is a quest for a balance between material enjoyment and spiritual satisfaction.

Those who live a simple life do not measure the value of things in monetary terms. For example, they look for comfort and fit in choosing their clothes, and functionality in buying daily necessities. They don't let the array of brand name commodities lead them by the nose, or chase after ever-emerging new products until they are exhausted.

Living beyond one's means

Extravagance implies excessiveness and wastefulness. Whether or not one's standard of living is extravagant depends on one's financial situation. To live beyond one's means is extravagant.

A newspaper report last month told of a young man coercing his grandmother into buying him a new mobile phone by threatening to kill himself otherwise. Some university students have been declared bankrupt because they could not pay their credit-card overdrafts. I feel really sorry for these youngsters.

As a shoppers' paradise, Hong Kong has an abundance of food and clothing of the finest quality, as well as famous brand-name products. The myriad temptations of the material world can easily make people lose their direction. The lust for designer brands or trendy products has become a matter of culture.

Don't indulge

Many young people have fallen into the habit of spending lavishly even before they can support themselves. This will become a burden when they enter the workforce, and will make them feel dissatisfied with what they have. They could easily go astray.

Our parents, or elders, take care of us and provide us with all we need, not only as a matter of responsibility but also as a way to express their love and care for us. We must not forget their travail and indulge ourselves in lavish spending.

If we take their support for granted and regard the pursuit of material enjoyment as our ultimate goal in life; or if we measure the value of our lives only in terms of our financial or material circumstances but overlook things that really matter, such as health, family, friendship and our natural environment, we will come to regret it.

This is an excerpt from Permanent Secretary for Education & Manpower Fanny Law's online column Letters to Youth - Learning to Live a Meaningful Life posted on the Education & Manpower Bureau website.