Present/Next Generation

Should be doing my assignment and not writing here....

just saw news at channel news asia wrt GE. I am not into politics. But I have always cared who is the government. When I was in P5, there was an election. At that time there was only black and white tv, and that was the only event that had live report. As most of the count was manual, the results were released constituency by constituency. I followed till 5am. Mum and Dad was not in Singapore then. The result was a clean sweep, and I was glad.

At that age, I followed the newspaper avidly, maybe because there was no other distractions. But most of all, I knew we need security in the nation.

That year, my father's business was wiped out by outbreak of foot and mouth disease. It was the beginning of financial hardship, together with the existing abnormalities in the family. I was far from apathetic. Survival was a real issue. My classmates were almost all well to do. That made no difference to me. I knew one has to work hard for one's livelihood. Except I didnt want to work after O levels. I wanted to study. And in Singapore, you are given the opportunity to do so, if you are determine and able. The government believed in it. And most thankfully, my parents also believed in it. I am very grateful for it because I was the only one in my family that wanted to go further. I knew I was needed to work to support the family. To work was the norm. I gave tuition to do that duty.

This generation has far too much. I get mad with kids that dont value the kind of support they are given so that they can move on in life.

Action is really better than words. We really have alot. You walk out in the night, and there are street lamps all over. There are greeneries so much taken for granted. There is safety. There is security. There isnt beggars on the streets. And opportunities abound. People dont realise so much is possible because we owe it to a generation of leaders that had foresight.

Yes, there are mistakes. I have suffered from many of them. There were policies that I detested from the start, really really detested. But weighed in the balance, I know nation building is like family building. It takes a lifetime. And people must be positive and constructive. And like it or not, there must be true capacity to serve, and real ability.

I dread it sometimes that what I have seen take a lifetime to build, I may also see the loss and ruin in my latter days. That is why I find there is such an urgency to teach. To teach the next generation to help themselves; to have values; to serve and build. I dont have the capacity to do 'great' things. But i have the capacity to do little things.

It is easy to comment on things on face value. I hate bickering of words, sometimes really senseless, infantile, almost inbecile. I hope the next 9 days will be over soon. And I hope, I really hope for a safe and secure nation. I hate it that in some ways, my 'fate' should be dependent on the millions of voters.

Yet I also know, that if it is not so, so-called 'leaders' will not listen. How often I see people put into positions of 'leading', think they 'own' what they are given to lead. Brutish, and brusque management. Mismanagement, I mean, but well disguised by results and kpi. Rare are true leaders worth the name and salt.

So voting gives people the voice needed and leaders realised they must listen.....because people gave them that mandate.... Is that the wisest system? I dont know. I only know, in my lifetime, I dont want to see the deterioration of this nation. It matters to me. National Day matters to me. This is really my country. This is my land. When I stayed up that night for the elections result as a child, I felt that. And that remains rooted within me.

And I hope, I really hope, that our future will be secured by sound and sober judgement the next few days.

To the present generation and the next to come, dont be apathetic. You need to shoulder the responsibility of nation building when you become the able man and woman that you are. And I hope among my students, will be true leader worth the salt.