I feel stressed out living
in Singapore.
Not
only do I have to be perpetually surrounded by people, humans and Homo sapiens,
I have to cope with the behaviours of these people. It is bad enough that we
have to live digging our faces into others’ armpits. But mismanaged odour in
trains puts the most patient to the edges of the cliff of tolerance. The point
is, in this day and age, where Singaporeans enjoy high material standards of
living, why are we still rude and selfish?
Perhaps
this same selfishness is the reason for Singapore’s economic excellence.
Being ruthless and competitive in the global arena, amassing the world’s riches
for ourselves, dominating trade routes, hoarding all that are for grabs; How
Singaporean can we ever get?
Right
from Singapore’s
founding selfishness has always been key to our survival. How do you suppose
our forefathers were able to make their voyage from their homelands to this
tiny island, feeding on the bodies of those who died, indignantly throwing the
dead overboard? On this island, these people shed blood, sweat and tears to eke
out a living for themselves. The treasures were there, up for grabs and only
the fittest would prevail. There were no transfer payment handouts from the
government to yearn for every recession, healthcare benefits to safeguard
social security or schools to learn the trades of the day. Our fathers earned
every cent breaking their backs and waited for death to knock on their doors
when they were severely ill. However, they were lucky enough to attend the best
school ever to exist: the school of life.
Their
plight did not end there. They braved through the Japanese occupation where
deception, struggle and betrayal were their cup of tea. Even the creation of
the Singapore
in the form we know of today was not without pain. An alien left alone, at the
ransom of its neighbours, it defied the odds to emerge as a player in the world
economy today.
How
then, could the people we have in Singapore today be the worst time
has seen? Survival of the fittest has always been the essence of Singapore’s
nation-building of the time that has passed and for the time to come. Hard
work, struggle and determination are in our genes. Nature has selected its best
to make this island great.
Selfishness
has manifested in a new form in Singaporeans today. One which serves self
before others, individual before nation. This is alright as this was exactly
the case 10 score years ago. Worse still, back then, there was not an idea of
nationhood. It was our unorchestrated combined strengths which contributed to
an identity we have found for ourselves. And this is still the case.
Pity
arises when our selfishness is channelled to matters of the least importance or
even derogatory in nature. Yes, being inconsiderate can be said to be a product
of this natural selection. Then, we can question, are we getting too comfortable?
What
seem to interest Singaporeans today are whether our parks today are crowded,
how packed our trains and how ugly the Miss Singapore Universe is.
No
matter how strong these grievances, or how true they are, we live in the age of
the advent of GST offsets admist economic troubles, world-class medical care
envied by the West and top-ranked universities fuelling the needs of today’s
economy.
Perhaps
provisions such as the above have made us lose our head in the game.
Thankfully,
natural selection will once again save Singapore from decline, I think.
With the revelation of the foreign talent and its neighbours’ rise from
economic idleness, it is high time that Singaporeans return to the way of the
struggle before we are strangled.
