on national day, this is one common question we ask ourselves... do we love our nation? well, woke up this morning and went online to listen to the national day message... the usual run-of-the-mill things mentioned...
so do i love my nation? though my answer is not a loud resounding 'yes', some part of me feels for the homeland i grew up in. the faces and places are all familiar to me. but will i wear red today and wish people a happy national day? probably not...
writers and artists love their nation in a highly different way. they often speak out or more accurately, against the nation to demonstrate their nationalism. they will point out the underbelly, the unmentionables, the downtrodden... in almost all the scripts that i have written, i probably have taken potshots at the way the country functions... stuff that we all know but never dare talk about...
perhaps people need to talk more about it if we want to see change...
here are my four changes and three wishes for the nation...
1) change our attitude to the elderly... they have worked hard for the nation. they should be treasured and respected...
2) change the way we discipline our children... if we have to beat the daylights out of them to make them learn, so be it!
3) change our view of private schools... MANY people take courses in private schools yet they are not 'recognised' by the very people who permit their establishment. an irony isn't it?
4) change our housing policies... i like my multi-racial block of flats. but multi-national? i need to think twice. i find it ridiculous that my fellow citizens have to sleep at the pavilion, void deck or carparks when subsidised housing that should be available to them is somehow given to other nationalities.
5) i wish for a fair nation... somehow i am very unsettled by the fact that traffic police clear the roads so that officials can have a smooth passage, especially when they are civil servants.
6) i wish for the right people in the right places... may people find the job that allows them to develop their maximum potential and not turn into an office drone...
7) final wish... that we become a thinking people and not a doing people...
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