“I’m also one of the people on the streets, and I am also affected by the rising costs of living. But instead of whining and blaming someone else, I believe in being accountable to myself by working hard to overcome it: is that too hard to do?”
I agree that education is the furthest thing we have to a rhetorical “great equaliser”, but I think that you shouldn’t expect everyone to have the same optimism as you do.
Life is unfair. There are always going to be people who fall through the cracks in society and only some of them have the financial and psychological support to climb back up. The ideal of meritocracy is fantastic, but it makes a world it is easy to look at somebody who has slipped and say “oh, you didn’t work hard enough, this is your due reward.”. Sometimes people are victims of circumstance, and being told it is their fault is an utter slap to their face, as well as the moral fabric of our society. Working hard can only bring you so far before you need somebody that cares to give you a boost, not to say “I am accountable to myself and so should you, don’t complain about your hardships”. Sure we can let them taste the bitterness of failure, however, I for one don’t want them to savour it for life.
You have to understand that until today, there wasn’t a single outlet for Singaporeans to actually publicly have a say in how they want their country one. Yes you can write your MP letters and some of you (Like Eugene Tan and Lionel De Souza) in the press, lucky ones get their 5 seconds of fame on the night news. What about the other 3 million of us? Our friends and family might not necessarily be suffering in the African sense, but they still go through undue pains we want to avoid. When something like the internet pops up, there is bound to be an explosion of dissent. We’re annoyed that we paid $10.50 and got a $5 Chye Tow Kuay. It isn’t bad, but it certainly leaves much to be desired. Not everyone is willing to just sit down and enjoy everything on their plate. Some don’t care, some have nagging doubts, some grumble through their meal, some walk away, some politely give their feedback, some throw the plate at the stall.
Suddenly someone comes up throwing everyone some paper and pencils and telling them to write to the hawker who’s busy working and can’t listen to anyone, what’s the natural course of action?
