patriotism

Woa... My tongue is tinkling from the conversation I just had minutes ago... I just got my "conversational-drive' going and I can't stop! Even when my partner on the other side of the phone was already in "screen-saver" mode. I'm going to convert this energy into my blog.. haha..

Sharing knowledge is indeed a beautiful thing. And I viewed it as a powerful form of ballyhooing any kind of information, ever heard of the term "by word of mouth"? Yeah, that's what I meant... There's so much to learn from others. Take it with an open mind and learn. Give some food for your thoughts. Pick on a topic and battle it out with a debate. That's my favourite part.

Since I'm now a full-fledge adult and possess voting power, I should put in my 2-cents worth about our relatively new political figure here. It's none other than PM, Lee HL. When he first assumed the PM position, I thought he'll be just a figure living in his father's shadow. No doubt, his dad had indeed brought Singapore forward into economical limelight, in Asia at least, and also lead us to live the comfortable life we have now. It would be harder for him to cast a futher milestone. However, I can't turn a blind eye to the effort he put in developing national identity amongst us youngsters. To think about it, how many of us are actually proud to be Singaporeans? And to confess, how many of us complain about Singapore so much that at one point of time thought of migrating when the time is right? I have these exact thoughts before when I was a little younger. I used to think Singaporeans are ugly, They are kiasu, kiasi and Sing-lish is an ultimate disgrace. Nevertheless, our home is our home. And our culture and heritage is what we should be proud of, and humbly embrace it. Why look at the ugly side of Singaporeans? If you think that the grass is greeener on the other side of the world, I really think you should start travelling. This is the only ground where you are treated like first-class citizens, you get the right to complain, you get to walk along Orchard road smugly without racism comments (ok.. for me, at least). Personally I've been to places.. And in some places I don't called home, I totally got judged by my colour and labelled as a Communist Pig. And my less fortunate friends got kicked by some total strangers. Why? Just because of our colour...

I used to work in an English joint during the Worldcup season. Actually I was impressed by the patriotism those expats expressed when they came in for the game. At the sound of their national anthem, they sang along, loudly. I don't think us, Singaporean, will croon to the tune of Majulah Singapura anywhere. And to mention, one embarassing incident, during the semi-finals of the Tiger Cup at the National Stadium. The one where Singapore versus Mynnmar. The amount of Singaporean fans to the opposing team was 4:1. The Burmese fans truly sang their hearts out to their national anthem but in comparasion to our local counterpart, you can literally hear a pin drop from where I was sitting. Have all our Lions supporters lost their voices? From my judgement, apparently not! Not from all the "Referee Ka-U!!!"s, "Kelong ah!!!!"s, "Stupid Agu!! Your head gold (blonde), very heavy is it!!!"s...

From all these, highest level of patriotism: Anticipate for the 9th of August every year. Each Singaporean's heart will soar as high as the sparks of the fire works will take them *oh yes! We love Singapore!* and evanesce almost the same time the fireworks stop...

P/S: Since fireworks has such amazing powers, dear political leaders... You know what to do during election season! hehe..