Changing lifestyle

Its the month of Ramadan once again and I cant help but notice the changes which have come along with it.In the 70s and 80s we used to get invitations to "Buka Puasa" with our Muslim friends in their homes.And after we had eaten we would spend some time talking and continuing eating the little tit bits which would be served all night long.It forged a close relationship between Muslims and non Muslims and also made our understanding of Ramadan better.
Today "Buka Puasa " is so highly commercialized that breaking fast has lost some of its meaning.Imagine feasting on lavish food after a day's fasting!This defeats the purpose of fasting as I see it.Ramadan is the holy month in the Muslim Calender and the whole purpose of fasting is to remind Muslims about being humble ,be thankful,and to be frugal.In the early days breaking fast was simple and gave friends and family a chance to get together and build up their bond with each other.There was no need to serve lavish food or overeat(People tend to do this because they have paid high prices for the buffet and in line with the kiasu mentality must have their money's worth).This attitude itself defeats the purpose of fasting.
In our early years on Raya Day our Muslim friends would come with trays of homemade kueh which we happily received because it was special for we knew our friends took a long time to make them.We would reciprocate during Chinese New Year of course.Sadly today this practice has died and maybe practised only in the kampongs or small towns.The Raya kueh is no longer homemade but bought and of course tastes different.
Those days there were no massive traffic jams as the number of cars were not that many but today?Travelling during Raya time today is a nightmare as compared with before.Sadly enough ,it has become a challenge to the govt.to ensure that the number of accidents are kept as low as possible.This is because of the heavy traffic which is a feature of the Raya holidays.In the early days this was never an issue.Today people have become more affluent and the number of people owning motor vehicles has increased tremendously that accidents are unavoidable.Price we pay for progress?
As a country progresses changes are inevitable but for us seniors we cant help but feel there is nothing better than the good old days when people were more sincere and less materialistic.