Angelic Groove: Groove with me through the dark nights...

My hometown, the place where I was borne and raised from a small baby to a half-matured adult is 40 years old tomorrow. I wasn't as old as Singapore, but roughly half its age. I never had to go through the separation of Malaysia and Singapore, the past turbulent periods of racial and political unrest.

Like what my lecturer told us last week during our Business Policy class, our generation had never came across large-scale strikes or demostrations. What our generation experienced is a different kind of environment from the past times. What we have to worry now are economic crisis, epidemics (Bird Flu, Sars, Pig or Cow diseases) and Terrorism.

But we Singaporeans have to be thankful that we have homes (whether it is HDB or private estates) that we can always return to after school or work. Our problems are nothing compared to other human counterparts living in developing countries such as parts of Africa, India, Indonesia and Philippines. Although I have never travelled to these countries before, I read about them in magazines and I've watched the documentaries on them. People in those poorer areas are either homeless, or they live in slums. Food and water are sometimes scarce to them due to natural disasters such as floods or droughts. Thinking about these facts makes me thankful and guilty at the same time. Thankful for a home that I have never really treasured well and guilty for wasting food and water because we are too used to them.

In addition, we are able to receive good and proper education and welfare from our government. Although many complained (including me in the past)that the education system in Singapore is lousy, we are still given good education all the way till 'O' levels. And from then on, you can either choose the JC route or the Poly route. And with our good standard of living and the fact that most familes are dual-income, even if you can't make it to a local university, we still have the option to further our studies overseas, or (like me) obtain a foreign degree through private institutions.

I believe we Singaporeans will often have a grudge or two on the way Singapore operates, but ULTIMATELY, I come to realise that we are indeed fortunate to be borne in Singapore, for it is a very safe country and we are able to receive good welfare and education unlike many countries around the world.

And while people in poor developing countries are thinking of how to keep themselves alive, I'm thinking of a different survival; to survive in a materialistic world, to maintain your 'face' in this kind of society. But which kind of survival is worse?

And though I craves for branded stuffs just because I see my friends having them, I will hit myself in the head and remembers how the poor lives and I will always be brought back to earth.

So enough of my bull-shitting and I shall write out something that I have been wanting to say since this morning;

Happy 40th Birthday Singapore, my homeland. Although I have my resentments at times, I am now thankful for what you have done for me, for giving me a place to live, an education which I used to think it sucked, and a materialistic society which I am still having problems dealing with. But all and all, thank you Singapore, because this is the place my friends and family are living in and I will always stay with them. I am still proud to be a Singaporean~. ^____^

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