Of course I think of this not as an American but a local. Most important I think and feel as a fellow human being.
Most of my thoughts were actually on politics in Singapore contrasting it with dysfunctional America. In many ways where they got it right, we had it wrong and vice-versa. We ran Singapore on a diminished concept of humanity and with rare exceptions as when our backs are against the wall, replace faith with rationality. The Desiderata could not have been written in Singapore and we have not found any one to continue where Rajaratnam had left off with our pledge, an utter act of faith in the deepest darkness.
So Pres Obama has put into action what he meant that the greatest job of an American is not to be President but Citizen. Now a citizen replaced the president to speak to the nation. This will not happen in Singapore with our present Zeitgeist. Our luxurious inhumanity and hypocrisy. Singapore is changing and I hope for the better. For the first time the change is driven bottom up and the PM is ruing about becoming an order taker. NTU students have made some progress when they realized that in their final year project it was smarter and more honest to let their subjects speak for themselves in "Growing up with less". I checked my blog traffic and my post on that subject ranked as one of my least viewed posts. Best time to observe ourselves when nobody is trying to look good eh?
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