Perspectives on Christmas

Somehow i've never really been excited by Christmas here. I reckon it's because when i was a student the arrival of Christmas meant that the new school year would be starting within a week (which is probably why i've been even less excited about New Year's Day). Then when it came to army time i recall having to be back in camp by Christmas night, or at the latest the following day, so regardless of what Christmas symbolizes i never was particularly thrilled. save for the opportunity for a one-day break. Now that things have come full circle and i'm a teacher, i'm still pretty much indifferent since Christmas means that the end of the school holidays is near again.

And while much has been said of how Bethlehem is situated in the middle of the desert, so on the first Christmas it couldn't have been that cold, surely even for people here the idea of "Christmas in the tropics" somehow doesn't cut it. Blame it on the very westernised picture of Christmas that has been etched in our psyches, something that only breeds further disappointment, which is pretty much catnip to this nation of complainers. Why, the only hope we have of the much sung-about white Christmas is to head to Tanglin Mall and be sprayed by soap suds amidst a throng of over-excited young 'uns (and in steamy weather to boot).

Of course, ideally i'd be focusing more on what Christmas really means (isn't that always the case?), especially when year by year, we get bombarded by an increasingly commercialized view of the season. I can't say i'm a conscientious objector to the over-commercialized Christmas season though - i don't Christmas shop simply because i'm lazy - but nevertheless regardless of the proximity to the school term i guess it's good to take the opportunity to look at things from a larger perspective. Which is probably why i was very appalled to read a report on West Coast GRC in yesterday's ST, even if it was just for one line, which actually had nothing to do with the political situation per se (which you'd figure i'd have a lot to be appalled about). The reporters were talking about "foreign newcomers" in the GRC, and said that "residents in Pioneer, Boon Lay and West Coast endure the presence of foreign worker dormitories in the heartland".

That brief line speaks volumes about how Singaporeans in general (and admittedly sometimes myself included) disregard the contributions of the foreigners in our midst and instead just harp on how they inconvenience our daily lives. It almost is as though we see ourselves as superior beings to them. Now, i'd flesh this point out in detail, but that's been done far more eloquently elsewhere. I also can't say that i was appalled by this point in itself, since i pretty much would have expected to hear such sentiments. What i was appalled at was that this was presented as a factual statement on the reporters' own part. For all of ST's faults (and don't get me started on those - again others do so far better than i ever can), you'd at least expect them to present a balanced view (though then again, as i type this, Fox News comes to mind =p) and not take a prejudiced view towards the matter. Instead, we have the reporters themselves declaring that having foreign worker dormitories in our neighbourhood is something that we have to "endure". Surely a role that the press should play would be to dispel such one-dimensional takes on these issues, rather than to endorse them in their own writings, but, again when taking things into perspective, i can't say that i'm surprised. Sadly. Perhaps these ST reporters need to take this opportunity (no ST published tomorrow rite, which means that they really can do so) to think about what they write...