National Day

Every year, on this day, someone always tells me that going for the National Day Parade is something you have to do once in your life.
But I have yet again settled for the comforts of my sofa, viewing the spectacle from my good ol' telly. When our annual fireworks came on display, my brothers rushed to our balcony to watch the colourful lights emerge from a distance. As we live rather far from the stadium, the lights weren't as dazzling as they should be. so i settled back on the sofa to watch the telecast instead of standing outside with my brothers. I mused about how fireworks are banned in the country, like chewing gum. It takes stupid people to abuse things like that... it's quite sad how we've got to resort to laws to get things under control. on the other hand, i recall with amusement how on the first Guy Fawkes day i spent in england, a bunch of us went to the huge cryfield field on campus and lit fireworks on our own - and the guys, being rather incompetent, didn't stick the firework in the ground quite as firmly as they should have, and it went off with fire ambers shooting in like a million directions towards the screaming girls who dispersed like frantic ants. i remember it narrowly missing me on the right side - a little bit more and i would have been burnt. so maybe banning fireworks from incompetent people aint such a bad idea after all.

After the fireworks, the annual patriotic singing would commence. Songs ingrained in us during our primary school days suddenly surfaced and I was immensely surprised by the extent of how well I could remember the cheesy lyrics. At this moment in every year, I would cringe in my seat for the load of bull we profess to sing - but somehow this year, it felt a bit different. maybe it's because my youngest brother, having now reached the age of primary one, had been taught the cheesy songs like This is Home and as all younger children display unfanthomable amounts of enthusiasm, started belting out the song at full volume. rather unashamed, and rather enjoying it, actually. my other brother, who is older at 17, but younger than me... moved by the spirit of my youngest brother, started following suit and sang along while fully grinning like an idiot. faced with the pressure from my brothers, I hesitantly began to sing too. I got rather embarrassed after awhile, though. and promptly shut up.. while the other two went on. my youngest bro, with his angelic, young soprano-boy voice, sang till the very last high note - holding it tremulously and with pride. For an instant, i actually felt vaguely patriotic towards my home country. To sum it up, this is after all, my home. Even when I have felt I don't belong, it's a place where I've grown up, like it or not.

2004 seems strangely to be the marking of an era, a moment in history of transition.
Our prime minister's step down from 14 years of office is just one of the events that have marked this year. When the parade paid a tribute to him, as he smiled benelovently at the crowd, waving his palm and gradually walking his way out of the stadium, the ever-skeptic-towards-politicians me even felt a tug at my heart-strings and felt a sense of sadness of his passing the reign of leadership of our country.

2004:
1. I turn 21.
2. PM steps down after 14 years to make way for the new leadership.
3. Grandfather of my friend's, Lien YC, also an important national figure, passed away - supposedly "marking the end of an era" - the legend story of a man coming to Nanyang and making it from rags to riches.
4. Change of America's president (possible)
5. End of 10 seasons-long Friends plus much-loved-and-hated SATC.
5. many deaths.

In the short span of the last two weeks, many friends and relatives of friends have passed on this world - which makes me wonder if the myth of the seventh month holds any truth. there's a chinese myth at in the seventh month of the chinese calendar, the ghosts and spirits are released from the other world. and it's called the hungry ghosts festival. people make offerings to appease the spirits and there are some who actually see them during this month. i know such facts can't be proven - but statistics have actually shown an increase in number of deaths in the seventh month. i shall take it upon myself to find the truth of that statistic when i'm in the office tomorrow, and have resources at hand.

For the meantime, this is my little contribution on national day.
Happy 39th Birthday.