I can go on forever talking about what our government had did to help those who had been affected by the tsunami which happened to our neighbours (Indonesia, the hardest hit, is just down south of us) around the region but I just want to say that I'm so touched at what the government had been doing of late. I'm just so proud to be a Singaporean all over again.
Like what our Prime Minister had said which was published in the papers yesterday that if we don't help, no one is going to help us in times of emergency. Singapore is interdependent with the rest of the world, in short. We are not doing all these stuff to be famous, although it can be good in a way or another due to our country's size which many had said that it's like a small dot on the world map. I just plainly hated the term. It can be quite hurting at times to hear people calling us that.
If you all had been following the news or what on CNN or on your local news channel, probably the biggest headline as of now is the one-day meeting with many of the world leaders and also delegates from the UN and the World Bank in Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia) today. Guess who was the one who initiated the meeting? My country's Prime Minister! He suggested that to the foreign reporters a few days ago back home here actually regarding on what to do to prevent another disaster as major as this right now. And he did put it into action by attending the meeting today.
When I told Dad about all these stuff and the relief efforts our government had provided to those affected today, he said that this could put our country's name and reputation on a high on the world map someday. Getting recognised other than students here being tops in international Mathematics and Science competitions, surprising other countries like the US.
It's also nice to know that the entertainment world is responding to the disaster, other than the sporting world. I know many Asian celebrities are coming together to have a charity single and it's called We Are The World. Maybe the song title sounds familar to you all. It is. They are going to retain the music but the lyrics will change into Mandarin (which is actually my mother tongue and English is my first language) and Cantonese (this is one of the major languages the people of Hong Kong used). Heck, I will know the words when it's being sung in Mandarin but not for Cantonese. It's the language (the former) I used more often than English in my daily life actually. Haha. After all, my paternal and maternal grandparents (and my parents are born and bred Singaporeans) came from China and settled in Singapore.
And what I found so warm and fuzzy is that one of my favourite singers is doing something to make a difference and I almost cried upon knowing it. Since Clay is one of the UNICEF ambassadors, he is being roped in. That's the reason why me being warm and fuzzy. Looking all those poor kids and others on TV news makes me think that people no matter of what status they are all trying to help in a way or another. Even my family did help out by donating those clothes my siblings and I had outgrow already to the survivors. Now I just hope that once school starts for me next Monday, my school is going to help by asking us students to donate money or something like that.
Singapore may be small on the world map, but we have compassion, you know?
