Monday, August 18, 2008, 7:48 PM
Sports- Uniting a Nation, yet exposing its Weaknesses too
170808
This should be an exhilirating day for all Singaporeans. We have, for the first time, won the an Olympics medal as an independent nation. It is a day of celebration, for we have reach an unprecendented level of achievement. It is a milestone of the Singapore Spirit. Well, at least, that's what I felt, I was extremely proud of what we have done.
Yet, my day in school proved a totally different sentiment. Here's what I heard most of the time. "We won the Silver" but....... "BUT IT WAS AN ALL CHINA FINAL or WE WON THROUGH IMPORTED TALENT"
I was apalled when I heard what these people said. I was totally disgusted. They never saw this as a Singapore achievement. Seriously, if it was meant as a jest by one or two, I wouldn't have minded. But these jests had turned into a sentiment of the population, sick. Now, two groups of people said these, (1) The non Singaporeans, be it scholars or PRs, (2) Singaporeans
(1) These were the most vocal bunch of people. The 1st thing they said was, "You call that a win, you guys bought the medal" There's no need to say which country they hail from. All I thought was, if you guys want to talk so much about this, AGAIN and AGAIN, outdo us. Either that, or shut the f*** up (no offence at anyone, there's no personal attack against your personality, rather, an attack on your sentiment) We are a COSMOPOLITAN society, accept it. France does it, US does it, what's wrong with us doing it. Don't go around spreading your own sentiment, because if you do it and then try to raise the status of where you hail from, I guess it says alot about how your nation is, you represent your country, so watch what you say.
(2) Our own. Amongst both sides, you make me sick. Most of you are probably smarter than me, and some of you reading this may even be adults, when you say, "They're not one of ours", that's sick. Because you only show how narrow minded you are to think of that (Either that or think of some good reasons why we should not be proud). If you say that, because you have been influenced, you need to start thinking of why we should be proud of our achievements.
Why I think we should be proud? We have always tried to emphasise ourselves as cosmopolitan (and we admire the Americans for doing so). Only by shedding of such a sentiment, can we proclaim ourselves cosmopolitan (for those of you writing this in your GP essays, I hope you mean it). And things go beyond that, foreign talent enriches our society, I have no need to go into the nitty-gritty, you know why we embrace them, and that is the key to our Singapore flavour, and the Singapore Spirit. That is how we, as the nation's future should gear our mindset towards, be proud of what we try to achieve, and try to achieve for the best of this country. The flag that has fathered/ mothered us is the one we swear allegiance to, for as the ancient saying goes, where there is no country, the family cannot exist. Its' the month of National Day and National achievement, so start being proud of what we done.
Start thinking outwards, start thinking for ourselves, for following the mainstream may not always be the best.
