National Day

9th August. The date that is all too familiar with all Singaporeans. It is the day where Singapore gained independence. The day we became a sovereign state back in 1965. The day yours truly become all patriotic. You can call it saddening, that throughout the whole year, I only become patriotic on this one particular day. Thing is that, I supposed, sometimes the environment that we are in cloud the way we see things.

Hating it is very superficial whereas loving it is pretty much spiritual.

There are so many things to hate about Singapore. The rigid system that we are under stands out like a sore thumb. The cost of living here is so high that some of us literally work to pay off necessities. For Singaporean males, we have to serve 2 years of National Service which many would view as a complete waste of time and that 2 years could be well-spent scaling greater heights. And honestly, the list goes on and on even to the most minute details and unhappiness.

So what is there to really like about Singapore? For me, it's the sense of belonging and identity. The very fact that I call this place home. Simple as that.

Living in Singapore has been pretty much a love-hate thing. It is like a bad relationship between a parent and child where as kids, we sometimes just hate everything that our parents impose on us but somehow we know that regardless of what they do, we still love them anyways. We love Singapore too much to be hating it and nit-picking every single detail that comes with it.

That said, we cannot satisfy every person here in this small island. As citizens, let's try to make the best out of what is there for us here, to achieve and strive the best we could. Happy 45th Birthday Singapore.

"Sometimes the best things are taken for granted"
- Corrinne May (Song for Singapore)