One salute and one bitchy rant

I have been deeply moved to see Chinooks, Pumas, battleships, men in fatigues, army jeeps moving in synchronisation to help the needy in Indonesia. Prouder still, DAMN prouder still, to see the little Singapore flag emblazoned on the sleeves of our SCDF and army guys.

Our nation, my little idiosyncratic nation, is pulling its weight in the disaster relief effort with a grace and humility that could shame larger, richer nations.

To see the symbols of efficient modern warfare be renewed as symbols of efficient humanitarianism.....To look at faces raised in anticipation rather than fear at the sound of approaching helicopters....

God is doing a wonderful work in our nation. It may be doing some things wrong but damn if its not doing a lot of things right. I cannot imagine living anywhere else in the world. PM Lee, his administration and all the Singaporeans who have relentlessly poured their contributions ever since the disaster hit.....I salute you. If I could, I would like to shake your hand and pray we continue demonstrating our heart to serve in a world torn by political posturing.

I have never been prouder to call this place my homeland.

WIth all due respect, Phooey on all armchair Singaporean critics. This government has earned my respect and so have its people.

$24m raised by our local Red Cross? WOW. The hopeful grins of the 3 army personnel in the papers in the midst of all that disaster? the officer who declared he could set up a water purifer unit now in 15 min? The officer who missed his daughter's 2nd birthday to coordinate relief efforts? FANTASTIC.

I love this place.

There was a time when people said that Singapore won't make it, but we did indeed.

+++++

Minor bitchy rant:

Can I be bitchy and add....what the heck is up with George Bush's PR Department? They happily announced Bush is contributing US $10,000 out of his own pocket to the disaster relief. Hello???!! Right next to that sorry little snippet was an article about how Winter Sonata's bae yong joon , the Korean actor has contributed US$500,000. Let's not even mention Schumacher in the sports page that contributed $10 million

I know its not about quantity donated but you know when the man who heads the richest, most powerful nation in the WHOLE world contributes 1/50th of what a modestly successful Asian actor does.....you just got to wonder. I mean Bae has money but he is hardly $20m a film like George Clooney. I wonder how many of those super duper CEOs have dug into their GDP sized fortunes...

and all those publicity hound athletes who are offering $1000 for every basket shot or goal made....please. Just shut up and give money if you want to give. Don't turn it into a sorry media blitz. Same with all the little local businesses that are trying to cash in on the tragedy with some "10% of our sales proceeds will go to the relief fund". Argh....for goodness sake. Even if it was well-intentioned, it really is quite tacky. Don't even get me started on Breadtalk's '9.0" (like Richter scale 9.0...geddit?geddit? argh!) bun that they created where 90% of proceeds go to the fund. It just seems so....inappropriate and cutesy. Cutesy in tragedy is just.....plain tacky.

No wonder Christ warned us to give quietly. The widow and the copper coins will be well-rewarded more than any Pharisee who flashes his gold bags.

i think Neil Humphreys said it best in today's sports page writeup on the athelete donors: the dead and dying have no time for silly gimmicks. Just give and don't think about how to leverage off good will from your contribution.