Give thanks

In the Monday, Apr 21, 2008 issue of The Straits Times, on page H1 of the Home section, there is an interesting article on whining vs complaining. The article says that Singaporeans love to whine about everything, but will rarely take action. In other words, many Singaporeans are “no action, talk only”.

The Internet has made it easy for anyone to whine about the Singapore government, among other organizations, on their blogs or forums.

I believe, however, that whining attracts more whines. The more a person whines, the more things he will find to whine about, and the unhappier a person he becomes. He also makes the people he meets unhappy with his whining, and makes them whine too.

Hence, after getting sick of hearing about Singaporeans whine about our government, I decided to write this post about all the things I would like to thank and praise our Singapore government for.

Everyday, for as long as I can, I will write something that I would like to thank our Singapore government for. I invite you to join in and give thanks to our Singapore government for all that is wonderful in Singapore thanks to it. I believe this will make us more aware of the things we can thank our government for, and in turn make us more grateful and happier people.

But even before I start thanking the government, I want to thank God:

1. I give thanks to my government for providing me a safe society to live in.

2. I give thanks to my government for giving me a country where I can worship my God freely in my own way.

3. I give thanks to my government for giving me a wonderful transport system that runs efficiently and smoothly.

4. I give thanks to my government for controlling the traffic in my country so that it doesn’t take two hours to get to anywhere in the country.

5. I give thanks to my government for controlling the taxi fares to make sure that I don’t get conned by almost every taxi driver I meet.

6. I give thanks to my government for enabling air-conditioning to be present in most public areas of the country including public transport.

7. I give thanks to my government for limiting pollution in the country so that we don’t have smog in the air.

8. I give thanks to my government for the two years of National Service that every able-bodied young man must go through for it instills discipline and forces most men to mature.