Serving the Nation

Was watching Channel 52 on TV just now... heard this song... a song which I almost forgot by 周华健, Emil Chau...

璀璨
每当曲终人散之后
眼看缤纷色彩变灰暗
我在等待那一份孤独的来临
还是等待那一阵寒冷的偷袭
不知道我永远不知道
冷冷清清我的心情
璀璨的所有已远去
精疲力尽我的声音
喧闹的回音却挥不去

Listening to this song, memories on the night of 4 Jan 1993 came flashing back...

It was the night before I was enlisted into my National Service...

Loads of uncertainty... loads of apprehension... loads of discomfort... loads of longingness...

I remembered I was figuring out the chords for this song which described my feelings at that very moment... I felt a choke in my throat as I tried singing this song back then...

I remembered the quiet dinner I had with my parents and sister that night... quiet... nobody knew what to say...

I was one of those few randomly selected ones who had sending-off ceremonies organised for us... Mine was held at Braddel Heights Community Centre. I can't remember which MP came to grace the event though... there was a little reception, before all of us enlistees were ushered up the 3-tonne trucks...

I remembered looking down into the crowd after I boarded the 3-tonner... I caught a glimpse of my father... I saw him waving back at me... his eyes were red... with tears... it was the first time in my life that I saw my father tear... a solid and hard character in my life tearing... but he still put on a smile... that was the last image I had of someone close before I was enlisted...

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2.5 years of National Service came and went... I firmly believe that without this uniquely Singapore experience that every male citizens go through, I would never be who I am today... much of my attitude and principles in life were shaped and developed during those 2.5 years... some life changing events happened during that period of time too... and looking back, I'm extremely gratified that I went through those days... even though there were many moments then where I had wished that I could get of NS quickly, those very moments really made me stronger than ever before...

I was reading with great intrigue on Clupsnap forum some days back, where a Junior College student posed this question on the forum: "Should NS be made optional?"

He proposed that NS is taking up 2 valuable years of a male citizen's life and such mandatory regulation imposed on us would only stifle our talents and contribution to the nation... And furthermore, NS actually was the main reason cited by people who chose to migrate...

Such ignorant sweeping statements... he doesn't know the price of peace and security... but he'll find out and grow up after he has served our nation...

Perhaps he's experiencing some pre-NS jitters, just as I did in 1993...