Girl: Why am I different from others?

Man: Why…do you have to be like the others?

I’ve been very uninspired to write lately. My senses haven’t been as alert as they’ve used to be and I cannot transform observations into words as easily as I hope I’d be able to.

I don’t know if it’s the issue of being too technical ever since I started trading every weekday 24/5. They say it’s hard to juggle both creative and technical – they’re in conflict with one another. The two seem to make use of different parts of the brain that I feel like I’m re-tuning my mind everytime when I switch trades. I don’t really know how it works but I’m obviously attempting to come up with an explanation for it.

I don’t want to be a jack of all trades, master of none. I just want to be the jack of these two trades. I hope it’s not too much I’m asking for.

My Ideal Singapore

My ideal Singapore won’t just be a country or a city. It will be home. It doesn’t have to be the best yet, but we will be humble enough to admit that we aren’t all there, yes, but we won’t rest on our laurels either.

My ideal Singapore is a work in progress.

In the island of my dreams, we will strive, not pretend towards multiracialism. We will teach children to love each other, to accept that we’re same yet different, to see into each other’s hearts and say “I love you because you’re the best friend I can ever have” instead of “I love you because Teacher says we must befriend those of other races”.

We will accept criticism with humility and grace and learn to improve from it. Our airport doesn’t have to be the highest ranked in the world. It can be the most people-centred, the one place where smiles are genuine and not merely products of overzealous campaigns. (Or it can just stick to what it does best: make Singaporeans returning home cry silently as they catch their first glimpse of Changi in years through a tiny plane window.)

Parents will teach their children to make the best of the talents they have, not force-fit them into a mould. Schools will do more than teach our children the limitations of the real world – they will teach them to defy the status quo, to challenge stereotypes and break new ground. The new generation of Singaporeans won’t just conform to expectations – they will learn to think and fend for themselves. We won’t be a nation of complainers, but of doers.

We won’t bother to try manufacturing patriotism, because we don’t need to. Let us root ourselves here in family, culture and shared values. Patriotism should grow by itself, watered by pride and nourished by a true sense of belonging. We can love an imperfect Singapore perfectly.

My ideal Singapore won’t just be a country or a city. It will be home. It doesn’t have to be the best yet, but we will be humble enough to admit that we aren’t all there, yes, but we won’t rest on our laurels either.

We don’t have to try too hard to appear to be what we aren’t – we can set high standards and work towards them. If we don’t content ourselves with reaching the top, one day we just might touch the sky. (:

Source: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=117042416874&ref=mf
This piece is a submission by Crystal Ong Min Ning, 15, to an essay writing competition “What is Your Ideal Singapore” held by the Worker’s Party Youth Wing. (Essay Entry #5)
If you like it, vote for it here

He embarked on a journey that opened up his mind, and he got to meet many talented people in school. He attended lectures that discussed issues from around the world. Things he had never thought about doing before – he tried. Things he never would have thought he would say – he’s now saying them. Ideals and dreams he would never have imagined having – he now has them.

He looked at his son. His eyes showed signs of weariness – those countless years of toiling for the family as a technician, having barely any opportunities for promotion. You’d look at him with empathy, and you couldn’t have figured that his son is an undergraduate reading communication studies, and who has since become a liberal, open minded character, deviating from traditionalism and has embraced modernity. Family values don’t seem to matter so much anymore, and keeping in contact with relatives has become an obligation rather than the genuine desire to keep family ties intact.

He did encourage his son to take up either engineering or science – the path most traveled, where a stable and successful career was perceived as something that was somewhat guaranteed back during his time. It was an issue of security, the more traditional idea of stability that was still enshrined in the people of that generation when the country was still developing. “Perhaps not Communication Studies. The media industry is a complicated one. Be simple, be happy,” he said.

His son pondered upon his father’s words, but eventually did not take heed. After two rounds of interviews, he got into the course, and he asked his father for blessings and support. His father didn’t say much. “Okay, as long as you are happy,” he said.

So his son embarked on a journey that opened up his mind, and he got to meet many talented people in school. He attended lectures that discussed issues from around the world. Things he had never thought about doing before – he tried. Things he never would have thought he would say – he’s now saying them. Ideals and dreams he would never have imagined having – he now has them.

In the short span of three years, he saw his son change. His son now speaks as if he is going to own the world, often telling him how most people take things at face value and how they should actually challenge whatever we see or hear. He didn’t think much of them – after all, his son is studying the media, and he should be exposed to lessons like these that help promote critical thinking. It was not until he realised that things had gotten more severe, when his son expressed his desire to travel and make films in the future, and started sharing how working is mundanely repetitive and that no humans being should be subjected to be enslaved by – now that has gotten him a little worried. His son now seems to have many items on his to-do list; the transformation from a humble traditional family guy to a left wing liberal who now questions almost everything he sees and reads – you can say, perhaps, hasnow  become a more cynical character. It was something that he has not anticipate would happen. After all, he hasn’t any friends or relatives whose children have studied in media schools before – his son’s the first.

Did I lose control of my son? He asked himself. Have I wrongly managed my child? Why has my son turned out to be this way? Had I been decisive enough to stop him from reading Communications, he would think more “normally”? And if I did that, he would perhaps be just that fine young professional who’s going to lead an ordinary life, with his mind being occupied with issues such as how to carry on the family line, and how to advance his career, instead of thinking about things like wanting to travel or make films – those that serve nothing close to procreation or contributing to the economy. Other people can go realise their whatever dreams, be an advocate for world peace. For my son, I want him to be successful – in the traditional way. He doesn’t have to be rich, he doesn’t have to be too famous. As long as he becomes a professional who earns a decent income, I’ll be happy enough.

Never in his wildest imagination he would expect his son to have thoughts like these in his mind. His son just does not believe in being stuck to a country for a long time because he thinks that the world is a beautiful place and we should never leave without exploring it first. He wants to understand cultures, see things, talk to people, and he wants to do them all while he’s still young.

And this young man also wants to tell stories, although it won’t potentially earn him an income. He just wants to do things that he likes, and not subject himself to climbing corporate ladders, bootlicking to superiors and handling office politics, just because he thinks it’s a waste of life dealing with such meaningless things.

But unfortunately, he’s not born with a silver spoon in his mouth – he’s just an ordinary heartlander who grew up with swings and seesaws and eating popsicles from that provision shop at the void deck of his 3-room HDB flat. In his time, opportunities were dearth. Without the internet, he couldn’t have learnt so much. Compared to other kids, he thinks he is less fortunate, because mum and dad were not educated enough to groom him since young. That’s why at times, he feels a tad inferior to the multitalented schoolmates around him.

He probably doesn’t know a lot about what his son thinks, because his son often assures him that he knows exactly what he is doing and not to worry too much about him. He gives his son a lot of independence, only reprimanding him when he jeopardises his health or stays out late at night too often. The truth is that when he is on his own, he will raise doubts to himself whether he had chosen the right path to study Communications. He thought: had he been obedient enough and stuck to his dad’s advice of taking the safest route, he would not be worrying about the uncertainties in the future. He’d instead be investing his time on more meaningful things like how to make more money and which career path should he take. He thinks that he’d perhaps be happier, without having to think about how to go about realising his dreams and fulfilling the wants in his life.

But still, he often reminds himself to count his blessings, because he knows that every single event in his life has shaped him to become the person he is today. The people who have come and gone, and those who are still around, he owes everything to them. Whatever the future will be, he will embrace it with open arms, because that, too, is going to be a reflection of the person whom he once was today.has