Singapore Mourns Today
This afternoon, I woke up to the breaking news. We know it'll come one day, but, we're still not expecting it to come so soon.
I could be cynical and express my surprise that there's no elixir of life after all, not even an exception for our founding father, when I thought the hospitals can work miracles for him (Given that they fixed our Prime Minister's health in a jiffy when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer previously).
But what I saw was a son grieving before the country, trying hard to hold himself together while addressing fellow Singaporeans about the passing of his father. A son, who is equally, or more sad than any other person of his father's death. A son who's on the verge of breaking down into tears, but couldn't because he has the whole country weighing on his shoulders.
Sometimes I may not have liked how our policies were planned. Sometimes I may have complaints about our country. In fact, most of the times I deemed myself as an politically apathetic individual, who finds no patriotism towards her country, let alone sticking out my chest proudly to declare that I'm a Singaporean. I thought my heart was still, ready to drift to anywhere the rivers will take me. That was my thought.
As much as a man cannot be infallible, it is undeniable that Mr Lee has dedicated his whole life to build our nation from scratch. I am not well versed in our history nor social studies, but at least I have the basic sense that we would not be here without him, typing our computers while sipping away a cup of hot milo. We go overseas with foreigners exclaiming in envy that we're Singaporeans, capable of speaking English and Mandarin. We don't need to scrap and save when we're in Asian countries, because our currency is competitive. We are at so much advantages that we often take them for granted, and then we become pampered. And then, we start to whine when things go wrong by a little (well, of course, that's excluding the transportation fare hike and the high frequency of mrt breakdown, which is unforgivable in my dictionary.) We forget that we are actually living in such a safe place, the roads brightly lit at 3am and I could stroll back home alone, as a girl, without fearing to be mugged or taken down by any baddies.
For that, I would like to send my respect to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the man of wisdom and courage. We thank you for your dedication to our country, and hope that you can rest in peace. Majulah, Singapura.
I could be cynical and express my surprise that there's no elixir of life after all, not even an exception for our founding father, when I thought the hospitals can work miracles for him (Given that they fixed our Prime Minister's health in a jiffy when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer previously).
But what I saw was a son grieving before the country, trying hard to hold himself together while addressing fellow Singaporeans about the passing of his father. A son, who is equally, or more sad than any other person of his father's death. A son who's on the verge of breaking down into tears, but couldn't because he has the whole country weighing on his shoulders.
Sometimes I may not have liked how our policies were planned. Sometimes I may have complaints about our country. In fact, most of the times I deemed myself as an politically apathetic individual, who finds no patriotism towards her country, let alone sticking out my chest proudly to declare that I'm a Singaporean. I thought my heart was still, ready to drift to anywhere the rivers will take me. That was my thought.
As much as a man cannot be infallible, it is undeniable that Mr Lee has dedicated his whole life to build our nation from scratch. I am not well versed in our history nor social studies, but at least I have the basic sense that we would not be here without him, typing our computers while sipping away a cup of hot milo. We go overseas with foreigners exclaiming in envy that we're Singaporeans, capable of speaking English and Mandarin. We don't need to scrap and save when we're in Asian countries, because our currency is competitive. We are at so much advantages that we often take them for granted, and then we become pampered. And then, we start to whine when things go wrong by a little (well, of course, that's excluding the transportation fare hike and the high frequency of mrt breakdown, which is unforgivable in my dictionary.) We forget that we are actually living in such a safe place, the roads brightly lit at 3am and I could stroll back home alone, as a girl, without fearing to be mugged or taken down by any baddies.
For that, I would like to send my respect to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the man of wisdom and courage. We thank you for your dedication to our country, and hope that you can rest in peace. Majulah, Singapura.
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