09/08/09

Yea. It is that time of the Year again. Or was, since it is now the 10th of August. National Day, a time of near communist/socialist festivities, where the nation gets together to celebrate our 44th year of Independence this year, or Inter-dependence if you really think about it.
To me, this year's National Day Parade (NDP) is exceptionally special. Besides the stronger emphasis on the National Pledge this year, written by the late S. Rajaratnam (25 February 1915 – 22 February 2006), I also like how the planned the Parade, such as having the Ministers walking in past the audience, instead of having them always entering on a red carpet from their little enclosure, as well as having the MM, SM and PM come in. They deserve some spotlight, yea? Of course, this year's NDP also saw quite a departure from previous years', making it probably the best so far, and possibly the most "modern" too.
Truth be told, I can tell you so much about the Parade because I'm catching the encore telecast now. I spent yesterday with my family and grandmother at East Coast Park, cycling all the way to the Park Connector connecting ECP to Changi Beach and back, and then having my grandmother recount how my late grandfather and her used to come to ECP and how then the horizon was clear of all those ships and stuff, and how my grandfather would walk all the way to Bedok Jetty, and my grandmother became very worried because she couldn't see him. Of course, I admit I missed the Pledge moment, but I was eating, and it would be so darned awkward to be the only one doing it in a restaurant, right?
Well, to make up for my missing the Pledge moment yesterday, here goes:

We, the citizens of Singapore
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society,
based on justice and equality,
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation.

Yes, it really is that time of the year, whereby I truly feel most proud to be a Singaporean