think this is quite a good article for national day.
Small Singapore has much to be proud of UNFAMILIAR eyes are sometimes the most sensitive in perceiving nuances of reality. As I pass my second National Day as a resident of Singapore, I reflect on how my life has changed by coming to this country.
I have found contentment in moving from a land of abundance and space in America to a small rock devoid of natural resources. My attachment is not to Singapore's skyscrapers, or to the Botanic Gardens, but to its remarkable people.
This feeling does not arise out of sentimentality, for Singaporeans are not always warm, nor always kind. What I marvel at, however, is the tenacity of their spirit and the honest resourcefulness of their intellect.
In a country with oil or land, with fertile soil and mineral wealth, life is easy. But in Singapore there is really nothing except heated stone surrounded by undrinkable salt water. With these conditions, Singapore is an improbable nation whose existence is, in itself, astonishing. It is, however, precisely those absurd odds that I marvel at in the Singaporean people - that scrappy lot of immigrants who came and created something out of nothing. Not content with simply surviving, Singaporeans excelled.
Health was wrestled from squalor and disease; wealth was created on the hands, backs and brains of people from common stock. If humanity is distinguished from other species by its ability to think through problems and even to triumph under impossibly adverse conditions, then Singaporeans should be the epitome of humanity.
Singapore's confidence has been badly shaken by the shocks of economic retreat, terrorist assaults, and, most recently, Sars. So it is easy to disparage one's self-image as a small, vulnerable and dependent nation. But it is none of these. Singapore's vision is vast, its small but sinewy body strong, and its soul, resilient.
Just as the United States has been the home to global aspirations of freedom and democracy, Singapore, to me, is the spiritual home to all those who believe in the strength of humanity: creating something out of nothing, triumph in the face of certain demise, community in the midst of potential chaos.
Small Singapore, raise your head; you have much to be proud of.
DR EDISON LIU
