Space and Time
Space and time are curious properties. Change either or both of them and our lives can be altered ever so dramatically. Here we are on this tropical island, just north of the equator, where peace reigns and there is relative prosperity. But travel thousands of miles northwest to the country of Iraq or Afghanistan, and there violence rules and poverty is prevalent. Or travel back in time here in Singapore to 1942 and there we would find blood being shed in the defence of this island. Or travel back in time to 6th June 1944 at the Normandy coast, and there we would find the waters of the English Channel dyed red with blood. Is it not amazing how vastly different our lives could have been were any of these 2 properties changed? And yet few of us who live in peace realise that even as I type these words, there are probably people, people just like us, 19 and just out of high school, who are risking their lives trying to make a difference.
Watching Black Hawk Down in camp the other day made me realised just how similar we were to some of the US troops who had fought in that battle. Similar in the sense that they were not much older than we are. Similar in that they too came from an enviroment not very different from ours, having just finished high school in a first world country and serving in the military (although their enlisting was voluntary). And yet, there was such a world of difference. As I watched the battle unfold, I wondered just what I would have done were I in their shoes. I wondered how I would have reacted under the heavy fire, and if I could have continued to lead a platoon of men while people are getting shot all around me. And here's the chilling part. I could have easily been in their shoes. Its just all about being born at the right time and place. Why I wasn't is a question to which I do not have an answer to. All I know is that I could have easily been in their shoes. For that matter, I could have been one of those men fighting on the beaches of Normandy. All it would have took was for me to have been born at such a time whereby all able-bodied men were drafted into the military to fight in a war far away from 'home'. At the other end of the spectrum, I could also have been born into a country torn and ravaged by civil war, a place where hope for a future would seem dim if not non-existent. Why then, am I placed in such a safe and secure place while others are condemned to such a hard life? I do not know, and can only thank God for his grace that He has placed me in a peaceful nation. But why then, some might question, is God so unfair as to place countless many millions in such hardship? Indeed, where is the fairness in this world? Well, I guess the 'fairness' in this world was thrown away the instant evil came into the world. However, I do believe that God is still fair and just, 'for to whom much is given, much will be expected'. Truly, 'all that we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us'.
Yet, it is sad that most of us who have been so richly blessed don't give a second thought to those who are less fortunate, choosing instead to turn a blind eye to their troubles by living in our own secure and safe world. And it is ironic, that most of those who choose to try to make a difference tend to come from less fortunate backgrounds. Somehow, most of those who have been richly blessed have grown to become distrusting and cynical about the world and its governments; and instead of helping to change the world for the better, choose instead to merely occupy themselves with meaningless things. There's something about extraordinary things coming from ordinary people. More often than not, it is those who are thought of as 'ordinary' who does extraordinary things. More often than not, courage is found in the most unlikely of people. Perhaps the following excerpt from What was asked of Us best illustrates the point. 'It's funny who ends up being awarded the medals in wartime. It isn't the guy you expect it is going to be. It doesn't have to be the best leader. It doesn't have to be the guy that everbody thinks is gung ho. It doesn't have to be the guy that everybody would say is the guy who would win the Medal of Honor. You know who it is? It's the kid who basically scored just enough to get into the military. It's the kid who, when I was a drill instructor at boot camp, would stand and stare at the Pacific Ocean and start crying because it was the first time he had ever seen it in his entire life. I would get a kid that I would have to make go into the bathroom and shave, and I would have to do it for him....His hygiene was so poor because he had never been taught. It's the kids that come into the marine corps at eighteen who never had shoes on their feet, and we're putting them on the battlefield out there and saying, Defend the United States of America from enemies foreign and domestic, and these kids do everything and even more than what is ever required of them.' Isn't it strange that those whom the country cares least for are the very people who would sacrifice their life for its defence? War is certainly a terrible thing, and I am in no way advocating that the best way to serve the world is to sign up in the military. But what is important, is that we should start believing that we can make that difference, and let us all stop being cynical and uncaring.
Watching Black Hawk Down in camp the other day made me realised just how similar we were to some of the US troops who had fought in that battle. Similar in the sense that they were not much older than we are. Similar in that they too came from an enviroment not very different from ours, having just finished high school in a first world country and serving in the military (although their enlisting was voluntary). And yet, there was such a world of difference. As I watched the battle unfold, I wondered just what I would have done were I in their shoes. I wondered how I would have reacted under the heavy fire, and if I could have continued to lead a platoon of men while people are getting shot all around me. And here's the chilling part. I could have easily been in their shoes. Its just all about being born at the right time and place. Why I wasn't is a question to which I do not have an answer to. All I know is that I could have easily been in their shoes. For that matter, I could have been one of those men fighting on the beaches of Normandy. All it would have took was for me to have been born at such a time whereby all able-bodied men were drafted into the military to fight in a war far away from 'home'. At the other end of the spectrum, I could also have been born into a country torn and ravaged by civil war, a place where hope for a future would seem dim if not non-existent. Why then, am I placed in such a safe and secure place while others are condemned to such a hard life? I do not know, and can only thank God for his grace that He has placed me in a peaceful nation. But why then, some might question, is God so unfair as to place countless many millions in such hardship? Indeed, where is the fairness in this world? Well, I guess the 'fairness' in this world was thrown away the instant evil came into the world. However, I do believe that God is still fair and just, 'for to whom much is given, much will be expected'. Truly, 'all that we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us'.
Yet, it is sad that most of us who have been so richly blessed don't give a second thought to those who are less fortunate, choosing instead to turn a blind eye to their troubles by living in our own secure and safe world. And it is ironic, that most of those who choose to try to make a difference tend to come from less fortunate backgrounds. Somehow, most of those who have been richly blessed have grown to become distrusting and cynical about the world and its governments; and instead of helping to change the world for the better, choose instead to merely occupy themselves with meaningless things. There's something about extraordinary things coming from ordinary people. More often than not, it is those who are thought of as 'ordinary' who does extraordinary things. More often than not, courage is found in the most unlikely of people. Perhaps the following excerpt from What was asked of Us best illustrates the point. 'It's funny who ends up being awarded the medals in wartime. It isn't the guy you expect it is going to be. It doesn't have to be the best leader. It doesn't have to be the guy that everbody thinks is gung ho. It doesn't have to be the guy that everybody would say is the guy who would win the Medal of Honor. You know who it is? It's the kid who basically scored just enough to get into the military. It's the kid who, when I was a drill instructor at boot camp, would stand and stare at the Pacific Ocean and start crying because it was the first time he had ever seen it in his entire life. I would get a kid that I would have to make go into the bathroom and shave, and I would have to do it for him....His hygiene was so poor because he had never been taught. It's the kids that come into the marine corps at eighteen who never had shoes on their feet, and we're putting them on the battlefield out there and saying, Defend the United States of America from enemies foreign and domestic, and these kids do everything and even more than what is ever required of them.' Isn't it strange that those whom the country cares least for are the very people who would sacrifice their life for its defence? War is certainly a terrible thing, and I am in no way advocating that the best way to serve the world is to sign up in the military. But what is important, is that we should start believing that we can make that difference, and let us all stop being cynical and uncaring.
posted by Jun Yi at 7:08 PM
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