Freedom Fries

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to feel strongly and express strong feelings. It is strange that society has created that arbitrary rule that has caused an internal loneliness within each of us. We suffer quite needlessly, in our own thoughts. We swallow our words, bury our grieves, suppress our laughter. Since when has passion been caged at the confines of romance? Simply, for societal stability. Basically, we are individuals. And if our differences are amplified, we will not be able to see our commonalities. So we sacrifice for the whole. I agree with this concept. However, I am afraid we might have overcompensated. If any of you have heard this Zig Ziglar story before I apologize, but let me borrow his story.

One day, a husband sits down for dinner and his wife serves him this whole ham. He notices that the ham has the end cut off. So she asks her wife why she has removed the end of the ham. She said, “I don’t know, my mum does it all the time.” A few days later, that husband asks his mother-in-law that same question. And her she replied, “I don’t know, my mother does the same all the time.” Finally they rang up the grandmother, and she explained, “Well, it’s because my oven was too small and the whole ham couldn’t fit.”

My point is we must always know what it is that suppressing ourselves would accomplish. Would the world collapse if I express my great lust for nature? I love bicycles, and I still don’t understand why they don’t have bicycle lanes in Singapore. And if I express that would Singapore implode? Probably not. Now we all heard about that blogger and A*Star and the defamation suit.

Should we all shut up? Fearing to express our passions online, feeling suppressed or even oppressed by the Singapore government? Absolutely not. But should we join in criticizing our leaders? I think not. If we remember the reason for cutting that ham, we would know that we suppress our opinions to maintain the society. How would speaking bad about our leaders do anything to help the situation? All this does is to destabilize society. We start to first doubt our leaders, then disrespect them. If we believe in our leaders, we should understand that they are not superhuman. And surely, they will not be able to control aspects of their responsibilities fully. Let us not judge someone based solely on their mistakes.

Mistakes are real, they do exist. And of course, in Singapore, I know I can point out where they are. I feel vehemently towards them, but I won’t sacrifice my leaders for my opinions. I believe each of us has a right to freedom of speech, but let us also exercise some social responsibility. Solve the problem, don’t take the easy way out and shoot the messenger.