Patriotism...

National Day is on the corner, that is, August 9th. It is not "my" National Day, yet I could not help being excited. I remember that on the day I went to the Night Safari I wore a red shirt and white shorts, accidentally and deliberately. DF quipped,"today is not National Day, why do you wear like this?" I gave an immediate answer without going through my brain, which later I realised that it was really a dumb gaffe. "Because I want to attract the tiger's attention."(lame joke here, not as good as the Superman one). However at that time I really thought Nation Day a distant thing to think about. After all, we still got more than nine months to go. Now, we are allowed to wear red shirt with white skirt to celebrate the National Day. That is really a privilege since here students are wrapped in school uniform all year round.

It seems that by now the idea of National Day has been pervasive islandwide. Every time I go out, I can see Singapore flags hanging almost in every block of HDB flats. It was one day in last week when I returned to school after visiting a nursing home and was flabbergasted to find Singapore flags "flying high and free" in front of the main experimantal block. It was a magnificent scene to see, at least to me. In China, we also celebrate National Day with solemnity, yet we usually hang up cheering banners and suspend red lanterns in front of main buildings or at the entrance of an expressway, without ERP gantries distracting drivers' attention. However, our celebration never pervades into schools, especially on such large scale.

During the Australian Maths Competition this afternoon, my train of thought was intermittently interrupted by the band practising outside. They were playing the national anthem! Later I saw some band members playing the trumpet and saw Jian Peng playing the horn, It is for sure that they are performing for the National Day. Here, school is a small patriotic society, you do not need to wear flag pins like American presidential canditates to show your patriotism, for the country is in everyone's heart. Today I also attended the "recollection' rehearsal as one of the critics. The beautiful verses let me see their determination between the lines and reminisced me of the Independence Declaration written by Jeffson, the famed democrat in the19th century, on a faraway land teemed with people pursuing the same dream, freedom.

Being mentioned so many times in history essays, especially when analysing the rise of Fascism in Japan or the rise of Nazism in Germany, patriotism has been closely connected with nationalism. Yet I believe here patriotism is a natural effusion of feelings, which makes is so valuable and touching.

Now I understand why Mrs Sabar reiterates Singapore's smallness with joy. She emphasises it with pride, as if saying,"see, we are so small, yet we can create such miracles that you cannot!"

One thing to add on, today I got my Games Day Tee, the colours just fit my appetite. Yet I have to stop now because the security guard is chasing me out of the computer room!