National Service
I'm pretty proud to have my country shown in a History Channel series. Unfortunately, it got cancelled by the time I moved to Singapore.
If you used to watch the series "Every Singaporean Son" on The History Channel, you would know that all Permanent Citizens or Singaporeans are required to do something called National Service, where you are called to do military training for about two years. Countries such as South Korea and Malaysia do similar military services. As my dad says "every man in Singapore knows how to shoot a gun", and that that it some feat in itself.
Today I was called in to do my NS medical checkup, and I must feel that something I was dreading for so long as a child fails to scare me as I grow closer and closer into adulthood. As I grow closer to enlistment time, I feel nervous about entering but empowered by the authority that these people are able to muster. I hope that in the future I would be put in the same kind of admiring light that I put these people in today. Looking at the hundreds of people who were queuing up behind me, I realised how many young people we have today, and how we can look forward to a strong and disciplined army in the future.
For many, National Service is considered a rite of passage, and the passage into adulthood. There has been multiple movies produced about the Singaporean National Service and how one changes during the period itself from lazy person with a lack of character to a patriot, and I must admit that to some extent that is true. However my opinion may be biased, and I admit to it being so.
There has been a lot of controversy about National Service, and it is unfortunate that the people of today hate it so much and try to prove the inefficiency of it in terms of economics and the amount of money lost from delaying the time for citizens to be available for working. But it's not about the money or about losing your free time. It's about fighting for your country and to protect what is important to you. In a country like Singapore, where people move from place to place often, it is hard to find people who would die for this country, even when the country has done so much for them. What is the use of money without any sense of belonging to the place that gave you your wealth? This is something I find very sad.
How about you my dear readers? If you are Singaporean or any other country that does National Service, let me ask you: how do you feel about National Service?
Fruit for Thought
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
For many, National Service is considered a rite of passage, and the passage into adulthood. There has been multiple movies produced about the Singaporean National Service and how one changes during the period itself from lazy person with a lack of character to a patriot, and I must admit that to some extent that is true. However my opinion may be biased, and I admit to it being so.
There has been a lot of controversy about National Service, and it is unfortunate that the people of today hate it so much and try to prove the inefficiency of it in terms of economics and the amount of money lost from delaying the time for citizens to be available for working. But it's not about the money or about losing your free time. It's about fighting for your country and to protect what is important to you. In a country like Singapore, where people move from place to place often, it is hard to find people who would die for this country, even when the country has done so much for them. What is the use of money without any sense of belonging to the place that gave you your wealth? This is something I find very sad.
How about you my dear readers? If you are Singaporean or any other country that does National Service, let me ask you: how do you feel about National Service?
Fruit for Thought
Cheers,
Matthew Tan
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