Seeing red, but not wearing it...

While i welcome any opportunity for a non-working day as much as anyone else, sometimes i don't welcome as much the reason behind it (though it being a non-working day i tend to keep my complaints to myself). Together with CNY, National Day ranks as the holiday that i'm least enthusiastic about. I'm probably the last person you'll see wearing red anything on these days, though on other occasions i've no issue with doing so.

While in school, i wasn't as turned off by National Day as i am now. I even voluntarily went for one NDP when once someone offered me a ticket. However, no way would you catch me being like one of those who would try and predict which army camp would be the one handing out the free NDP tix that coming year and stalk the camp gates like a hungry pride of lions a sick, old bufffalo - thank goodness for the relative sanity of the recently-implemented balloting system (and extra points for thwarting the ambitions of the serial NDP attendees). Whilst still in choir i even managed to grin and bear my way through leading the singing of national songs in school and at other functions.

Then came NS, which i guess was when i started to shift from a mood of ambivalence to sheer and utter annoyance. Overkill, to put it lightly.

Uni times were slightly better, since for the first time i was no longer obliged to participate in any National Day celebrations. I remember the National Day of 2006 the best. Why? Cos for the first time i was out of the country, having left for the States a few days earlier for holiday and exchange. No better place to spend a National Day than in Portland, OR.

Last year i was so fed up with being made, involuntarily, to do a lot of crap thanks to the nie people that i decided to skip the culmination of this crap which was meant to be the nie national day celebrations. Didn't take too well to being back in the mode of being obliged once again to participate in such activities.

And this year, it has struck me that it's something that i'll have to get used to, at least for the next three years or so.. However i'm still trying to stay true to my (warped and, to some, meaningless) principles. I made a conscious effort not to wear red to school this morning (though it was quite a mindless choice as the only red top i have is pretty unsuitable for school wear). But, just to make sure i would not step on too many toes, particularly since i'm still new, i came in white instead. It's a national colour after all. That, together with my inspired choice of Rote Grütze for dessert the other day when i had dinner at Werner's, will probably be as so-called patriotic an act as i'm willing to pull off this year.

Did i already say this National Day stuff is something i'll have to get used to? During the school celebrations there were so many moments when i just had to close my eyes. No, not because i was moved to tears by the song singing, the message, or the multimedia presentation. Rather, it was so that i could roll my eyes in safety, without fear of being detected by anyone around. I had to go against my aforementioned principles a bit though, for during the singing of Reach out for the Skies, some overenthusiastic students of mine pulled me up on stage to join several other less-than-willing fellow teachers to do the elaborate waking up, heart-pumping, and fly-swatting exercise that is the accompanying cheesy dance to the song. Dance schmance. Hmm, i guess at least i masked my cynicism well methinks..

As i'm sure i've said before somewhere here (just look for the archived August posts), it's not that i don't like this place. Far from it. I just don't see the point in all these outward displays of patriotism, especially if they come just at this time of year or when we host some sporting event of otherwise token importance to the international community, but of ridiculously over-magnified importance here. This is along the same lines as the whole Sunday/Christmas and Easter Christian thing - the important thing is not how you are on the so-called important days, but on whatever day it is. It may be just me with this view, and i surely don't force it on anyone else. As long as my family doesn't drag me along to the parade i'm perfectly happy with letting my father enter my name for the NDP ballot (which thankfully for me we've not yet kena-ed as of yet). And i hardly think i'm the worst of the lot. Better to not display the flag at all than to hang it the wrong way round or with laundry draped on either side of it.