On Being Blessed

Oh how blessed are we to be born Singaporean? Parents tell this to their children. People who have been to developing countries come back repeating it. My Boys talked about it during the debriefs we had. I was thinking about this after the rice soup programme we had with the poorer folks at the villages in Siem Reap as the bus rocked my Boys into deep slumber while moving on the uneven dirt path we were treading on.

I have tried to refrain from thinking and talking about how 'blessed' Singaporeans are for there seems to be an unstated attitude of condescension embedded in such statements. Who are we to define blessedness? Did we design life? Who are we to pronounce the blessedness of a lifestyle over another? We are, afterall, fellow pilgrims on the road of life and we cannot be sure if our destination will be more blessed than that of our neighbors in developing countries.

Didn't like the road name one bit. All I could think was this. "What condescension! Who needs our grace?"

Sure. I concede that we have more than a shirt on our backs to choose from, a concrete roof over our heads that doesn't leak, emergency health care services a phone call away, clean water to bathe in and drink from, and gadgets to play with, like the one I'm using right now to draft this entry. But I'm not sure if I can say that I'm more blessed than my Cambodian counterparts.

For one, they seem to be happier people. They were thrilled to see a bus and exhilarated to receive balloons. It is much harder for me to derive such emotions. Perhaps, my appetite is becoming insatiable. Also, it seemed to me that fortitude and resilience are better forged under Cambodian conditions. This is not limited to mental strength. If the world runs out of clean water and good food, I don't think I'll outlive my Cambodian friends. Finally, I think there are many more 'rich young men' in Singapore than in Cambodia. For the first three nights, my Boys and I felt so uncomfortable because we had no access to the Internet. We were so excited when we checked into the hotel on the fourth night because they had free wifi. Think I'm more attached to and dependent on my gadgets than I think I am.

Oh how blessed I am to be born Singaporean? Really?