Reflection on "The Soldier"
Young men at the age of 18 in Singapore will have to go through National Service. Many will ask why National Service is compulsory and important in Singapore. In my opinion, National Service is very important to Singapore. Singapore might not even survive without national service in the early independent years. In the past, National Service was introduced to address the problem of racial and religious tensions and also for defense. Singaporeans had to protect their own country as Singapore is a very small country and could be easily attacked and conquered by other countries. However, we can all prevent these incidents from happening with National Service.
In this poem, "The Soldier", Rupert Brooke expresses his love for his country, England and he is willing to sacrifice for England where his homeland was. However, this spirit may not be found in most Singaporeans. Some possess this kind of spirit but some do not. Some examples are moaning and complaining about the life in an army. This shows that many people do not like to protect his homeland and it goes to shows that he does not even love his country at all. One should be willing to sacrifice for his homeland and not do it reluctantly. I should be happy to sacrifice for my country as Singapore is the country who shaped me and watched me grow up. So, I feel that I will have the same spirit of patriotism for Singapore like Rupert Brookes because it is my honour to protect Singapore from any attacks.
posted by Chen Xingzhu at
1:21 AM
4 Comments:
I would like to point out that NS is more of a preventing factor, so that other countries will be intimidated, whereby the govt will not really expect other countries to invade us, This certainly undermines the importance of NS, and also gives us another perspective to view at.
I believe that there is a second part to this blog prompt, which is "Are you proud to be a Hwa Chongian?" and "How have you shown your loyalty and pride as a student of Hwa Chong?".
Also, you have not explained why we should be willing to sacrifice for our country when we do not even have a sense of belonging and we do not love our country?
I feel that National Service in Singapore, does not serve much of a purpose. Perhaps,it may be the fact that I have never gone through National Service before, I do not see that National Service will help to solve the problem of racial and religious riots.
-ChenHuangYan
I am leon ng from 2o2. it is highly plausible that you are such a patriotic young man who is so willing to protect your nation. Some ask why some Singaporeans are not patriotic, this is a question to be considered carefully. given such a comfortable lifestyle and abundant resources, why is it that some singaporeans do not appreciate it? We might even ask, what is the specific national identity of Singapore? NS is definitely tough and it is no doubt that people would complain about it, but most importantly, they must persevere through it, because NS not only train us to protect the nation, it also trains and builds up our physique to make us healthier.
I am Darryl. I want to raise out a few points about your blog post. Firstly, I agree that national service is definitely very important to Singapore but have you think that there are also other means that Singapore can use to survive? You should consider a few perspectives before making your stand.
I do really feel your passion for Singapore in your second paragraph by the fact that you are able to sacrifice for the sake of Singapore. There is indeed another question you did not answer as pointed out by Huang Yan.
Overall, a good job done managing your blog!
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