Random thoughts: long lost cheap sympathy

I used to have these cheap bouts of feelings of sympathy for others.

I felt sad when an old lady is picking up cupboard. I remember my wife (then girlfriend) saying she can feel my empathy for a stranger but complained that I am blind to her pains. Ironic, isn't it?

Today, I saw an old man buying the cheap dry tobacco leaves for a smoke ( those you DIY and rolled up for a puff). He looked quite pale and with his mouth opened, looked quite "addicted" and can't wait to have his puff.

Ironic is that my mum has been coughing almost non stop for the short hour I been with her and I am so used to it that I felt nothing then. 

Understand what I mean by "cheap"

Who is poor? Poor thing? When one given up hope in living perhaps? Living, I dun mean living in style? 

For a short while, I felt a short period of cheap contentment feeling how fortunate my life is. 

The greatest gift and hope, is hanging in there. In fact, the lesser we have, the more appreciative we are. The worse people treat us, the more we understand the meaning of kindness. 

Money? I want to keep my mind if I cannot keep both.