“Stand Up For Singapore and join in at 8:22pm 9 August 2009 for the pledge.”

I’ve been in Singapore now since 1987 — that’s 22 years.  That’s a long time.  Singapore is 44 today, which means I’ve been around for half the time that Singapore has been independent.

It’s a fine place to live, no pun intended.  It’s pretty much home to me now.  And it’s definitely come a long way.

For a nation this size, for everything that it’s not, it’s got a lot to be proud of.  And against all odds, for all that it doesn’t have, there are many achievements to be counted.

Granted, there’s always a lot more that we can want, but if we ever step back to see the forest despite the trees, the big picture is an impressive one.

Singapore has done a grand thing.  It has created a stable and safe environment to live.  There is an abundance of opportunities for business.  And the future is not left to chance. 

For all the complaints that we have, we forget that for a nation this size, there is a lot to be grateful for.

We were having dinner, watching the parade on TV. At 8:22pm, my Singaporean friends stood up, with the rest of the nation and recited the pledge, unreservedly.

“We the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves, as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society,
based on justice and equality,
so as to achieve happiness,
prosperity and progress for our nation.”

The little train that could.  Believe it.

A darn fine country, this.

Then again, a large part of it is very much determined by how we respond to each circumstance that we encounter, and how determined we are to come up on top, to overcome the most difficult of challenges.  But more than that, how we have to continue to acknowledge with humility, that we cannot get complacent either when we have overwhelming success because as much as it may be what we think we deserve, it’s definitely a lot more than we need.  In either case, count each as a blessing and another lesson in life, preparing us for far greater things to come.

Along the way, we meet great people along the way who will spur us on — nay-sayers who will provide the challenges and supporters who will keep us going.  And recently, inspiration in the form of Jerome Tan and Wendy Kwek who run the EAP (Entrepreneuer’s Action Program) and people I met at the program that I will like to acknowledge — there’s always so much to learn.

And I continue to be amazed each day.

It’s only a heavy piece of rock, because it carries for me, the weight of my world.  It’s there because whenever I am challenged by life, this little piece of rock reminds me to be grateful — reminds me to count the one blessing that I am most thankful for, amongst the many little blessings that I have in my life.

That I am alive, to be challenged.  To be thankful for the people around me, thankful for the circumstances that are stretching me to respond, thankful for the lessons that I will learn along the way, thankful for the difficulties that will give me the necessary experiences that can only prepare me for even greater challenges.

Thankful that I have my health, thankful that I have my wits, thankful that I have even have this day to wake up to.

When I start to look for the one blessing that I am most grateful for, and can’t really decide which of the many blessings could possibly be the best, I am thankful that I even have blessings to count.

I don’t remember to be grateful a lot of the time, and it’s difficult to be sometimes with the hurdles that seem to come along.  When situations seem impossible, when there doesn’t seem to be resolutions to these situations.  The mind gets clouded and we despair.

There are times when we want to sit in a corner to cry, when we wonder how things could turn out so badly.  Times when everything seems impossible.  Times when we try so hard but nothing turns out the way we want them to.  Times when everything that can possibly go wrong, that will not only go wrong but bring you levels of wrongness that you never imagined possible.

And this little stone would nudge me.  Deep in my pocket.  To look for the one blessing and to remember to be grateful.

And magic happens.

And I realise that the things that I am grateful for, have more often than not, been preceeded with difficulties that I didn’t think I could get through either.  Things work out, in strange ways.

And with each challenge, thankful for the new paths that life would have lead me and new people that I would meet, and understand better the people who would have stood by me.  Thankful that I would discover a little bit more about who I am and what I stand for.

So yes, I am grateful.  Grateful for the paths that are created. For the people whom I have met.  Grateful for my family who have been there.  Grateful for all the difficulties that life has ever shown me.

It’s just a stone.  But it’s not any piece of stone.

This little piece of stone that sits in my pocket, carries with it, all the blessings of my life.  And if there’s anything I will wish for you my friend, is that you will find a little piece of stone that will become for you, the gratitude stone that mine has become to me.

Happy Year of the Rat!

Checked my email when I got home and was surprised to receive an email from my sister in New York who HARDLY ever sent me emails.

The subject said: “World Trade Center Attack” and content was short — You will not believe what just happened!! About 9:00a.m. today 2 small planes ( we think they’re Cessna ) hit the world trade center. They think it was a terrorist attack.

I figured, well Cessna, big hole in building, another stab at the US by some terrorist group.

Then I turned on the TV to watch the news.

I was numbed by what I saw. Right now the World Trade Center NY has ceased to exist. Within very short moments, tens of thousands of lives ended. I watched replays of how the towers collapsed. We have just witnessed the Pearl Harbour of our generation.

I am not sure what I am feeling right now — anger? Sadness? Disappointment or disillusionment? Frustration that nobody can do anything? I am just dazed and numbed that there can be such blatant disregard for human life.

This is only the beginning. I am sure that the repercussions and chain of events that will follow will not be miniscule. In an already dire economic situation where the world catches a cold when the US sneezes, this totally takes it off the scale. But more than just this, I am saddened by these events and how hundreds of thousands of lives will be affected — friends and family of the victims, and the lives that have to be restored, pieces that have to be picked up where life can never be the same again.

Life will go on and I do not doubt the resilience of the human spirit and how each of us must rise to the occasion. This may perhaps have happened halfway across the globe from where we are but it doesn’t change the fact that lives were lost. And if in our small little ways, we can make a difference, let’s do that.

Remember the lives of the people that were lost, their immediate family and friends — say a quiet prayer for them, take a moment of silence and count the blessings that we have. This will be a day that will be remembered, and I pray that it will be the last such day. For those of you who have friends and family who have are affected, I offer you my sympathies and condolences.