Sunday, August 9, 2009
when in doubt, give hope
Quite possibly one of the reasons why I never made it as valedictorian is valedictorians have to give speeches, and no prizes for guessing what would be the content of my speech. It will honestly make this speech seem really tame and friendly even. Honestly honestly speaking, the kindest word I can force myself to muster for a PAP person is 4 letter-ed and starts with F.
When I lost my job at moral, and then subsequently at SGH, I admit that that was really a rough time for me. Why was I subjecting myself to pain and suffering in an industry so thoroughly defiled and befouled by NCSS, for a job that obviously is not going to pay me for what I'm worth. I did get another job eventually [and I'm still there] but everyday I have to ask myself what I am doing there when I feel I have been so thoroughly short-changed: I am receiving a pittance of a salary not because the organization cannot afford it, but because this is what they feel I am worth as a social worker because afterall, I have no FSC experience. Yet constantly, I'm being turned to for my knowledge of the social services, the contacts I have made, and my mass com expertise. I resolved to act like what I'm paid, a total newbie, but how can I possibly say no? Adding oil to fire, for some strange reason, inter-bank creditting of salary only works for POSB or DBS accounts so I had to open a disgusting account with DBS. And adding even more oil to fire, nowhere is the miasma of NCSS seen more but in a FSC. And I had to smile at those disgusting NCSS cretins.
And to top it all off, I have to get accredited with the Singapore Association of Social Workers [SASW]. I'd rather get inducted into the KKK first.
—
I would like to end this post with Hope though.
This is an excellent speech by a Ms Allison Anais Brunner. Excerpt:
—
I hold the Hope that one day things will be better.
When I lost my job at moral, and then subsequently at SGH, I admit that that was really a rough time for me. Why was I subjecting myself to pain and suffering in an industry so thoroughly defiled and befouled by NCSS, for a job that obviously is not going to pay me for what I'm worth. I did get another job eventually [and I'm still there] but everyday I have to ask myself what I am doing there when I feel I have been so thoroughly short-changed: I am receiving a pittance of a salary not because the organization cannot afford it, but because this is what they feel I am worth as a social worker because afterall, I have no FSC experience. Yet constantly, I'm being turned to for my knowledge of the social services, the contacts I have made, and my mass com expertise. I resolved to act like what I'm paid, a total newbie, but how can I possibly say no? Adding oil to fire, for some strange reason, inter-bank creditting of salary only works for POSB or DBS accounts so I had to open a disgusting account with DBS. And adding even more oil to fire, nowhere is the miasma of NCSS seen more but in a FSC. And I had to smile at those disgusting NCSS cretins.
And to top it all off, I have to get accredited with the Singapore Association of Social Workers [SASW]. I'd rather get inducted into the KKK first.
—
I would like to end this post with Hope though.
This is an excellent speech by a Ms Allison Anais Brunner. Excerpt:
"I believe that hope is intrinsic in the individuals, families, and communities we serve. But what do we do when people feel hopeless? I believe we do as my former therapist did for me when I wasn’t able: We hold the hope for them."
—
I hold the Hope that one day things will be better.
8:22
So at 8.22 PM earlier today, according to the local news, time stood still as Singaporeans dropped whatever they were doing and were united in saying the pledge. I always suspected Woodlands was part of JB because as I roamed around the area looking for dinner, life went on as usual: usual delinquents making too much noise at the basketball court, usual Me looking for blood and usual G half torn between being patriotic and pissing me off.
Me and the pledge go back way back. In Primary 5, I stopped placing my hand to my heart during morning assembly. In secondary school, I stopped stopping whenever the pledge was being recited. In JC, I got into the most trouble over the pledge. I was perpetually late, and one of the punishments for late comers was to say the pledge. I resisted against putting hand to heart but I couldn't escape reciting it, and try as I might, I could never get the last line right. I mean, all decent governments should be striving to achieve a nation built on happyness, peace and prosperity no? Is there something else more important than either happyness, peace or prosperity? I could never figure out the right mix, so I was perpetually in and out of the discipline master's office where he continuously made assinuations that I was a Jehovah's witness. And secondly, shouldn't the pledge be more for the civil service and ministers to recite and not us, since we are not in any position to effect change?
Of course I know what I missed out. 'Peace' was never part of the pledge. Prosperity is. Specifically prosperity for the very chosen few. And peace is something that is not important of course. A country can never have peace. A country is a arbitrarily demarcated piece of land fluffed up by a mascot and history. Without the history, the nation cannot exist but history wears off with the passing of time. History almost always dissipates in the face of peace.
How else can we explain the constant reminder of the threat of terrorism? The threat of racial disharmony? And the latest in turn today: the threat of swine flu? The fact is none of our existing measures go beyond simple serving as a visual reminder that such a threat remains, and by extension, we need to depend on the government to keep us safe. How easy is it to evade the security guards at the MRT stations, if they even need evading in the first place. How redundant is it to have temperature checks when a person would probably have travelled through layers of commute before being detected, if he is even detected in the first place.
-
In other news, managed to catch Up! last Friday [and will be catching it yet again later this afternoon]. It's quite possibly the best show I've ever seen. It's really really good, although G remarked that I make the bitter protagonist look optimistic.
Me and the pledge go back way back. In Primary 5, I stopped placing my hand to my heart during morning assembly. In secondary school, I stopped stopping whenever the pledge was being recited. In JC, I got into the most trouble over the pledge. I was perpetually late, and one of the punishments for late comers was to say the pledge. I resisted against putting hand to heart but I couldn't escape reciting it, and try as I might, I could never get the last line right. I mean, all decent governments should be striving to achieve a nation built on happyness, peace and prosperity no? Is there something else more important than either happyness, peace or prosperity? I could never figure out the right mix, so I was perpetually in and out of the discipline master's office where he continuously made assinuations that I was a Jehovah's witness. And secondly, shouldn't the pledge be more for the civil service and ministers to recite and not us, since we are not in any position to effect change?
Of course I know what I missed out. 'Peace' was never part of the pledge. Prosperity is. Specifically prosperity for the very chosen few. And peace is something that is not important of course. A country can never have peace. A country is a arbitrarily demarcated piece of land fluffed up by a mascot and history. Without the history, the nation cannot exist but history wears off with the passing of time. History almost always dissipates in the face of peace.
How else can we explain the constant reminder of the threat of terrorism? The threat of racial disharmony? And the latest in turn today: the threat of swine flu? The fact is none of our existing measures go beyond simple serving as a visual reminder that such a threat remains, and by extension, we need to depend on the government to keep us safe. How easy is it to evade the security guards at the MRT stations, if they even need evading in the first place. How redundant is it to have temperature checks when a person would probably have travelled through layers of commute before being detected, if he is even detected in the first place.
-
In other news, managed to catch Up! last Friday [and will be catching it yet again later this afternoon]. It's quite possibly the best show I've ever seen. It's really really good, although G remarked that I make the bitter protagonist look optimistic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
