Unsung Examples by Lim Swee Say

I discover this nice little video, "Unsung Heroes" NTUC boss Lim Swee Say shared at the May Day Rally yesterday.


Once a year and only for part of the day, only to some people they are the heroes, but they are heroes to me everyday because everyone of them who got picked for this video have found contentment and happiness. It didn't matter what they do for a living. However I worry about their future. If they only spend more time thinking about tomorrow I am not sure they would remain happy. They would be very worried about loss of income and uncertain healthcare bills.

This song used to be popular and a suitable May Day song but I think they have become too embarrassed to sing it. There is now too much baggage in this song, "小人物的心声"

Well it happens to be one of my favorite but I also can't help thinking it is a celebration of positional low expectations. The successful should sing this to remind them to be humble but the laborers out there should aspire to be much more. Often they can't and if they have good children they pin their hopes on sending them to university but they may not know a university degree isn't what it used to be.

For years I chafe at my mother for wasting her time with Channel 8 dramas. I think she ought to upgrade herself. I was only in my 20s then but some of my colleagues and I were already discussing the inevitable problems this place will face and how we observed if we remained at Shell the way these bosses do their jobs, they would leave behind horribly difficult roles for us when our turn came to be the bosses. Of course that was not unique to Shell. Many organizations were worse.

I hated it that my mom liked this song. If everyone likes this song, take it to heart then what happened? Of course they make for easy governing which translates into votes. But as the decades roll by we weren't ready and so we had to import all these FTs......I am happy that this government is facing some difficulties now because it is a wake up call to forestall catastrophic failure later.

Sure we have done very well and the various league tables affirm that. But we are only top students in a class of failures. I am not sure if the top student also passed. Doesn't look it when your local graduates regularly lost to FTs but at the same time so many do jobs that are beneath their training....our policy makers should check out Clayton Christensen insight on this.