Status Quo

It’s in this day and age that people always say that they would want to carve a niche for one’s self; to be different, some might say, and that they’ll go out of their way to prove a point that they are being different.

I think it is in my own opinion that by doing this expressively, wouldn’t they be contradicting what they said they wouldn’t want to be in the first place?

In the local Singaporean context, having a “normal” lifestyle would be to study your ass off, get a job, and live a contecnted life in the heartlands.

As pretencious as this may sound, 80% or so of the majority of Singaporeans live in public housing, not that it is to be frown upon. I mean have you seen some of the newer public developments? They seem condo like.

“Suceess is a journey, not a destination” which is a quote I hold engrained in my mind, I guess this can be said about life, you gotta start somewhere. And what I have observed and to a certain extent experienced, life’s all about learning and moving on up in the world, and I think ‘moving on’ would vary to a certain degress depednding on what this term may be perceived as according to the inviduals goals and expectations.

This need to be different I guess srems from living in a highly competitive spciety, the nedd to finish first, because who cares about the person who comes in after the winner? To be kiasi in the local context.

To have your own identity, in hindsight after expressing this? Wouldn’t you end up just being the same as the rest who are trying to be different?

I guess being yourself doesn’t really cut it these days. I for one, am proud of my Singaporean upbringing. Sure, we are a young nation and all that, not much history apart from the colonial days and the second world war. I for one enjoyspeaking in Singlish, that mish mash of languages that is rolled into one rather ‘colorful’ trail of words and languages. And in some odd sense, it does mirror what Singapore’s heritage and society is all about: a melting port for the citizens of the world.

Which does go to show how small the world is becoming, I remember in my uni days in K.V., we were trading local slans and dialects. It doesn’t show bbad manners or a bad grasp of English (what is English these days anyways? You don’t see anyone speaking in Victorian or queen’s English now do you?). In many repscts it could show your communications skills, when to sayt what and to whom, given the time and circumstances.

So what is the fuss with some people? I for one, did not, and still don’t, I guess never had a ‘normal’ Singaporean upbringing. Lucky o not, it still has it’s perils.

But here I am, a normal person enjoyinig life, enjoying what is to come, havinga normal first job, having a normal drink afterwork, having a normal good time with friends, getting smashed after a normal week of work on the weekend.

So what’s wrong with being normal? Being genuine, true to yourself doesn’t count for much these days? As one person did say this about a certain local celeb< “You can take her outta a pig farm Chua Chu Kang, but you can never get Chaua Chu Kang outta her …” Ouch, yes I know, does sound kinda snooty, but I’m just trying to reiterate what I have been saying in this entry.