Spoilt us

The thing that struck me the most while I was travelling back home tonight was that our road looked so clean, orderly and the traffic so smooth flowing. The buildings are all so organized and smart. The cars on the road were so modern up-to-date. The air is clean and not sooty, even though the traffic was heavy.

The whole scenario is a total contrast from what is happening in our neighbouring states.

There are pollution everywhere, cars are travelling in every direction. The streets are lined with litters and beggars and peddlers everywhere. The buildings are so disorganized and there does not seem to be much urban planning, which resulted in strange buildings sprouting from inappropriate places. The cars on the road, most of them, are so old, some suitable to be sent to the scrapyard. Its tiring even looking at these roads and travelling on them is twice as much exhausting too.

Take note that I am not complaining about our neighbouring states here. I am just contrasting the difference between our neighbours and us.

Now lets talk about the people.

We, on this little island are always going across the borders, looking for cheap deals to save money or perhaps a quick getaway for the long weekend. Just take a look across the causeway on a weekend and you would see how many Singaporean cars there are. Travelling in both directions. The Singaporean cars are so different from the local cars. Our cars are all newer and much well-taken care of. We also do not produce much soot and pollution cos of the regulations in Singapore.

My point is, we Singaporeans are so much better off in terms of quality of life than our north or south neighbours. Our government is actually doing a bloody good job in urban planning and managing the country. Perhaps so good that we are too reliant on our government. Resulting in some very spoilt Singaporeans. We complain, lament and curse our government of being too nanny-liked but think about this. If our government is not like that, then do you think if we can enjoy such a safe, clean and organized place to live?

Sometimes I really think we Singaporeans should just start to think for and think about others instead of just thinking about ourselves for once. Perhaps that would open our world to things outside our safety zone. Closing yourself up and restricting yourself to a safety zone will only allow you to experience whats within the zone. Its only when you take a step outside that will allow you to open your eyes and grow up and learn.

We are just too protected.