Patriotism

I've been spending the past few Singapore's National Day in Singapore. Well, I didn't purposefully do it just to celebrate my nation's birthday or I'm a patriotic Singaporean or anything like that. It was just that, my summer holidays falls during this period and most of the time, I'm in Singapore after holidaying elsewhere. This National Day, a couple of thoughts came running through my head and guess the longer that I live away from my home country, I see things in different light and perspective.

Sometimes, I wonder if I'm becoming a lot more unpatriotic. I remember 3 years ago, we were staying at The Oriental in Marina Square and we had the view of the National Day Parade. Last year, we were out for dinner with Babe's parents and his aunty and uncles. This year, we purposefully timed our dinner and shopping trip during the parade so that we would have somewhere to go. Somehow, the thrill and the enjoyment of the parade had long gone and disappeared. I'm beginning to think that it's a waste of money and the money could have been put to better use. Plus, the couple of times that I had to bring students to watch the parade, probably put me off watching the parades.

I've been reading stuff in the papers about how my home country have given their citizens or new citizens opportunities in their lives and how they really love their country. But to me, there are things that really irk me. One thing that came really jarring is the issue of education. Sure, basic, formative education is great here. But when it comes to tertiary education, only the smart and people that have the means deserve an university education. The rest, don't deserve it. It was the same for me. But looking back, I'm glad that I had the opportunity to go overseas.

And that brings me to my next point, think out of that bloody, idiotic box. This really irks me. So, I had lunch with my ex-student yesterday. She's in her last year of high school in an American based international school in Shenzhen. She was telling me how she went to La Salle to find out about music and theatrical studies. But this man that was talking to her and her family basically told her that her chances of getting into the school is very slim because of her lack of formal training. I was really miffed when I heard that. Rachel was saying that the man doesn't know her or seen her perform and so how can he pass that kind of judgment. I totally agreed with her. Think of out that dumb box and get some EQ! And recently, in order to fix the parking crunch in housing estates, the HDB decided to charge twice the normal fee for overnight parking, so from SIN$2, it's now, SIN$4! And we pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to ministers to think of such great solutions? And today, the govt is looking at campaigns to encourage marriages and someone wrote into the papers saying, how to get married when housing has become unaffordable or have to wait for like 3 years to get their flats? Gee!!! These are some of the things that irk me.

I remember years ago when I had to sing those patriotic songs during National Day, I wonder to myself, how much of it do I really believe? One of my fav then was 'Home' that was sung by Kit Chan. Yes, this is my home. My parents, my friends and where my bak chor mee and prawns noodles are. But what's beyond that? I remember telling Sharon, my cousin, when I was visiting her this, I used to be able to uproot and move to anywhere in the world but now, with the arrival of little JC, I don't want to me more than 10 hours by flight to her. Yes, this is ultimately still my home, but I wonder, the longer that I stay away from home, would my home become a strange to me in time?