Friday, January 20, 2006

Singapore vs The World

Met up for dinner and drinks with Zeting ( who is back for a supremely short stint to clear shit) yday night.

Perhaps the fact that both of us are not Singaporean, the conversation ultimately turned to migration and how livable a country was. Naturally, some country bashing took place...but hey, we all know how fucked up Singapore is, it just can't be helped. :P

Anyhow, we obviously upset mr mimosa with all our talk about how it was better to live Melborne (this was obviously Zeting's opinion) and other countries (mine, since i've not been staying anywhere for extended periods and so can't justify which country is the best, as yet.) and how Singapore sucked.

If you are patriotic...please stop reading now. I'm sure you will be most pissed by the time you reach the end of this article that you'll think I'm a bitch.

So, stop. Now.

Well, for what it's worth, I do think Singapore is a fantastic country. But I do not think it is a great nation. For the uninitiated, there is a difference between "country" and "nation".

**A country is a self-governing political entity while a nation is a tightly-knit group of people which share a common culture.**

Undoubtedly, Singapore is very advanced in terms of technology, economy and all the other political yada-yada. Unfortunately, being so developed has had very little effect on her people (so far...might take another decade or more). While Singaporeans like to sneer at the unsophisticatedness of the Third World, they fail to see their own shortcomings as a nation.

Of course, not every Singaporean is guilty of being a kiasu, narrow-minded, money-grabbing and arrogant cheapskate. Definitely not! But the main bulk of people seem really content to live in their oyster and are ever so proud of their small scale achievements (i.e. buying the latest Beemer, been seen at which high-class restaurant and for spending how much money) in their perfectly planned (read: mundane) lives.

It never fails to amaze me how Singaporeans refuse to look at the bigger picture, to see past the paper-chase, the buying of flats and how to outdo the Jones. They seem contented in just doing well in school, finding a good job, getting married and dying. The average Singaporean wakes up, takes the train to work, knocks off at 6, goes home for dinner, watches some telly and sleeps. Repeating this every day, every week, every year....till they die.

Really. And the sad fact remains that most people don't like what they study (they study what their parents tell them to or what will earn more when they graduate) and as a result, end up in jobs that they hate. Just about everyone I know hates their job..or at least doesn't find fufilment in what they do.

Me? My job is challenging...but i certainly am not in love in it.

I just need to break out of this mould...this monotony. Singapore, as a nation, can't help me do that. Singapore's not bad. It's just not what I want.

XxX,

audrey at 10:39

0 lamb droppings