Steeds minder Belgen halen een rijbewijs: "Jongeren zien een auto niet langer als statussymbool" - this is a piece of Belgian news I read in the morning - means that fewer and fewer Belgians get a driver's license: ''Young people no longer see a car as a status symbol''.
All of a sudden, I was thinking of my Chinese compatriots, most of whom are very obsessed with pricy vehicles no matter whether or not living in the lap of luxury, at least their parents can help pay off the loan of affording the luxury of social status.
De FOD Mobiliteit heeft in 2018 exact 111.991 rijbewijzen uitgereikt. Dat is een daling met 18 procent tegenover het jaar 2010. Vooral bij jongeren daalt het aantal rijbewijzen. "Een rijbewijs en een auto kosten veel geld. Jongeren geven dat geld liever aan een smartphone of een verre reis", zegt Werner De Dobbeleer van de Vlaamse Stichting Verkeerskunde. According to Belgian News, The FPS Mobility issued exactly 111,991 driving licenses in 2018. That is a decrease of 18 percent compared to 2010. The number of driving licenses is falling, especially among young people. "A driver's license and a car cost a lot of money. Young people prefer to spend that money on a smartphone or a long-distance journey," says Werner De Dobbeleer of the Flemish Traffic Engineering Foundation.
The reasons behind the matter are not the same as we have in China. The young in my homeland who are chasing a prodigal life cannot miss an up-to-date smartphone or exotic trip that is tantamount to a posh car. Sometimes I haven't got any clue about how distortedly such an individual finance works in Chinese families. How an ordinary employee whose salary averages no more than 1000 euros can afford a sporty car without considering the cost of car maintenance in the coming future? How an ordinary college student who has not yet found a job can afford a lavish car people should own as getting promoted in their career? How an ordinary woman whose professional skills have no advantages at all can afford an exclusive car without knowing how to utter the make of the vehicle.
Hence, disloyalty, envy and aggression penetrate the atmosphere of society, in which people are on the way of losing ethical orientation. What this eventually brings about is melancholia only.