Singapore's National Day

The 9th of August of every year is the National Day of Singapore and this year, we have reached 49 years of independence. 

Despite being in Jakarta for such a long period of time, the patriotism within me was diminished upon arrival at the beginning of the year but has now been developed into the strong fire within me today, as I remain thankful for everything this country has given me. It pains me to hear people say "I hate this country" or "I want to leave as soon as I can", because this is the only country in the world that will fight for your rights. There are many cases where Americans have been held in North Korea only to have America send ambassadors to negotiate for many months before they are free and I have no doubt that Singapore will be the only country that will do that for you. Of course, this is the small little anecdote that I tell to my non-patriotic friends.

People do say that Singapore is a country full of "complain kings" and it's sad to say that it is not that far from the truth. Everywhere I go there is someone complaining about a large aspect of their lives. From my brother complaining that he was put in the wrong school to the public who complain that "everything is expensive",
"that we don't get enough out of life", "Singaporeans are rude" without even bothering to take a step and do something about it.

There is a small percentage of people that do. They step out into the morning greeting everyone they meet purposely to try and brighten someone's day, hoping that that joy will pass on. I meet these people once in a blue moon and I wish I could see more of this in my society. In places like America, demonstrations are held to try and bring peace to places in the Middle East, charity events are held for places like Gaza and so on. Although demonstrations are banned in Singapore, that doesn't mean that we can't do anything about it! There are just different ways to do so and I wish more and more people could see that!

But when I turn on the TV and see the National Day Parade, I see the crowd cheering Singapore on and I do get reminded that there are people who love Singapore. People who are willing to change Singapore for the betterment of the people and best of all, I see hope in Singapore's future.

Cheers,

Matthew Tan