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- The National Pledge
- We, the citizens of Singapore
- Pledge ourselves as One United People,
- Regardless of Race, Language or Religion,
- To build a Democratic Society,
- Based on Justice and Equality,
- So as to achieve Happiness, Prosperity and
- Progress for our Nation.
The above pledge, sad to say, is crap. I know this because when you recite something everyday for no apparent reason, that thing automatically becomes crap. It doesn't matter if it's meaningful or purposeful. When you repeat it everyday, the words become mumblejumble and don't really hold any meaning anymore. Which is why I always mouth the words of the pledge during assembly. Come to think of it, I don't think I have even sung the school song before. Repetition sucks.
It's true for everything you do. Take the Alumni's Singapore Exhibition for example. The other day, I went back to the clubroom with Eunice to prepare for the exhibition as well as to give out some lemons (yeah!). I was placed in charge of the repetitive cutting of the prints. I think I did a terrible job in it, because after a few minutes I decided to go and get some Pokka green tea from the canteen, and then when I came back I decided to go out and have tea with Mr Tee (pun), and when I came back again I decided to go out and try out some Pokka iced peach tea in the canteen again. In one day alone two things became meaningless to me because of repetition: the cutting of the prints and tea.
So I'm a coffee person now. And while I'm sipping on my cup of Nescafe Gold, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind my dearest members of the Photography Club of three very important points.
I'm not sure about you guys, but in camp, my platoonmates don't really care about National Day. To them, it's just another public holiday that occurs on a Saturday, and therefore our OC now owes us an off day. Even my unit's highest ranking officer, the CO, mentioned that he almost forgot it was National Day. During the National Day Observance Ceremony yesterday, he started talking about how we should all be garang and chiong sua everyday and blahblahblah. About National Day? Nothing.
I'm typically not a patriotic person. I hate the government just as much as the next government hater. And I find Singapore to be so full of dumb laws and crappy policies, like National Service. When I read the news everyday, I find the 'Home' section to be the most unappealing. Maybe because the journalists have been writing the same crap and drinking the same sh*tty pisswater coffee every single day of their stupid boring lives that they have become drones. Repetition sucks.
What we need here, is a reason for us to celebrate National Day. Thankfully, I have found that reason.
Break in the pattern.
You know, there's actually something good about repetition. It is the break in the pattern. It's true in Photography, it's also true in real life. And even though life in Singapore is mundane and repetitive, magical things do occur everyday.
I sense this every time I go out on my photography walkabouts alone. Nikon D80 in hand, I'll always be on the lookout for good subjects that can make a good photo. More often than not, there's pretty much nothing to shoot. Just the same boring crap. The Merlion, the Esplanade, some stupid riverboat in the Singapore River. Dumb.
Magical things do happen to boring crap.
It's true for everything you do. Take the Alumni's Singapore Exhibition for example. The other day, I went back to the clubroom with Eunice to prepare for the exhibition as well as to give out some lemons (yeah!). I was placed in charge of the repetitive cutting of the prints. I think I did a terrible job in it, because after a few minutes I decided to go and get some Pokka green tea from the canteen, and then when I came back I decided to go out and have tea with Mr Tee (pun), and when I came back again I decided to go out and try out some Pokka iced peach tea in the canteen again. In one day alone two things became meaningless to me because of repetition: the cutting of the prints and tea.
So I'm a coffee person now. And while I'm sipping on my cup of Nescafe Gold, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind my dearest members of the Photography Club of three very important points.
- Repetition sucks.
- Morning assembly is for learning how to stand and sleep simultaneously.
- National Day matters.
I'm not sure about you guys, but in camp, my platoonmates don't really care about National Day. To them, it's just another public holiday that occurs on a Saturday, and therefore our OC now owes us an off day. Even my unit's highest ranking officer, the CO, mentioned that he almost forgot it was National Day. During the National Day Observance Ceremony yesterday, he started talking about how we should all be garang and chiong sua everyday and blahblahblah. About National Day? Nothing.
I'm typically not a patriotic person. I hate the government just as much as the next government hater. And I find Singapore to be so full of dumb laws and crappy policies, like National Service. When I read the news everyday, I find the 'Home' section to be the most unappealing. Maybe because the journalists have been writing the same crap and drinking the same sh*tty pisswater coffee every single day of their stupid boring lives that they have become drones. Repetition sucks.
What we need here, is a reason for us to celebrate National Day. Thankfully, I have found that reason.
Break in the pattern.I sense this every time I go out on my photography walkabouts alone. Nikon D80 in hand, I'll always be on the lookout for good subjects that can make a good photo. More often than not, there's pretty much nothing to shoot. Just the same boring crap. The Merlion, the Esplanade, some stupid riverboat in the Singapore River. Dumb.
Magical things do happen to boring crap.But when the shot comes, even the most mundane things become beautiful. And because you've been suffering the crap that repetition gives you for so long, this special moment becomes memorable, and as photographers, we live for such moments. It's the reason why I picked up photography: to see, clearly, what beauty this world can hold even in the darkest times.
I was taught something recently while I was doing guard duty a few weeks ago. I knew it all along, but boredom made me forget. Five hours into my shift, Vicky messaged me the following:
Bored Singaporeans: there's still magic after all.
I'm going to attend the National Day Parade later. As I said, I'm not a patriotic person. I don't feel uplifted by the panoply of ceremonial guards nor the fluttering of our red-and-white coloured vexillum.
But today, just like every other National Days before it, I'm going to recite the Singapore Pledge for real. Because I always mouth the words during assembly, today when I do recite them, it's going to mean something to me. Saying the Pledge out loud is the annual break in my pattern of not saying it at all.
National Day matters.
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Happy National Day!
"When you're trapped on life's highway, just sit back and enjoy the breeze."
Repetition sucks. Yes it does. But sometimes we've gotta sit back and start to see what is it that really makes us tick. What really makes us love Singapore, even if it's just a little bit.
And that is the reason why we celebrate National Day. Not for the government, not for the crappy lives we're in, not for the sh*t we take everyday, whether in school, in army or at work. We celebrate National Day because we know that these magical moments we enjoy can never happen anywhere else other than here. That if the above shot showed the Statue Of Liberty instead of the Singapore Skyline, it wouldn't be as powerful to us as bored Singaporeans. Because we, the bored Citizens of Singapore, we pledged ourselves as One United People. We are bored, and we are sick of the boredom, but there is still magic after all.
And that is the reason why we celebrate National Day. Not for the government, not for the crappy lives we're in, not for the sh*t we take everyday, whether in school, in army or at work. We celebrate National Day because we know that these magical moments we enjoy can never happen anywhere else other than here. That if the above shot showed the Statue Of Liberty instead of the Singapore Skyline, it wouldn't be as powerful to us as bored Singaporeans. Because we, the bored Citizens of Singapore, we pledged ourselves as One United People. We are bored, and we are sick of the boredom, but there is still magic after all.
Bored Singaporeans: there's still magic after all.But today, just like every other National Days before it, I'm going to recite the Singapore Pledge for real. Because I always mouth the words during assembly, today when I do recite them, it's going to mean something to me. Saying the Pledge out loud is the annual break in my pattern of not saying it at all.
National Day matters.
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Happy National Day!
