Embarrassment of riches

Last Sunday I bought a bunch of flowers for my father's ashes.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

The young woman at the sidewalk pop-up store pulled out the stems of statice, purple and white, plus the orange iris and baby's breath from her bundles, taped the ends together and carefully wrapped the bouquet in brown paper. She had two types of baby's breaths; the one she picked out for me dries better, she told me.

She peeled out a sticker bearing her brand, The Pink Peony Club, which specializes in exquisite Ecuadorian and Korean roses, and used it to tape the paper edges carefully together. Then she whipped out her cell phone and took photos of her Instagram-worthy creation.

I was entranced by the care that went into her preparation of the bouquet. It was nearing noon and she must have been there since early morning when the first mass in a nearby church started. That made her obvious passion for what she was doing more impressive.

The small bouquet cost P350. How much, I wondered, was her profit?

It was touching to see one of our youths so enthusiastic about selling flowers, and focused on quality presentation.

This being the season of our discontent, I inevitably linked this passion for quality and hard work with the megabillions earned by crooks for turning out inferior quality products and services. As we are seeing in several cases, they don't even have to turn out any product at all, and the billions of our hard-earned money will come flooding into their pockets.

Elsewhere in Asia, Gen Zs like that young woman selling flowers are marching in the streets in protest against corruption and colossal wealth that is grossly disproportionate to the legitimate income.