yertle-the-turtle
ONE love, blood, life
First, a little background. I'm fifteen years old, male, and I live in the island state of Singapore, despite the fact I am of Japanese descent and have lived the first two years of my life in Japan and am a Japanese passport holder. I have lived in Singapore as a permanent resident (PR) for as long as I can remember, and have assimilated into Singapore's culture. (I speak Mandarin Chinese and English but not Japanese). During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Imperialist Japan, where many atrocities took place. In order to defend against this happening again, the Singapore Government has taken the step of introducing compulsory conscription (National Service) for all males when they reach eighteen years old. Four or five years back, they extended this to second generation PRs, ie. me.
This is the selfish bit.
In three years I will need to serve in the army. I am not looking forward to this. I am notoriously unathletic, and I do not like the idea of the de-individualisation of the military. I cannot take physical punishment. I hate people shouting. The period of service is two and a half years, and to put it bluntly, I don't want to waste that two and a half years of my life.
The only option is to reject Singapore citizenship, as well as PRship. This would mean I cannot stay in Singapore for more than six months at a time. Thus, I would need to migrate, but to where? I could apply for a foreign university and stay in that country afterwards, but who knows whether that can happen?
Looking back at what I typed, I feel extremely selfish. I simply don't like the idea of military life. I hate those 'what-if' scenarios where you have a gun and you need to kill the enemy, because to me that's more or less murder. Yet another part of me says I'm simply too scared to take up the toughness of military life. Another part says I'm not doing enough for my country.
I don't know how to end this, but I'll end this here. Typing this, at least, has got a lot off my mind. There's still another three years for reflection, but three years pass by very quickly.
This is the selfish bit.
In three years I will need to serve in the army. I am not looking forward to this. I am notoriously unathletic, and I do not like the idea of the de-individualisation of the military. I cannot take physical punishment. I hate people shouting. The period of service is two and a half years, and to put it bluntly, I don't want to waste that two and a half years of my life.
The only option is to reject Singapore citizenship, as well as PRship. This would mean I cannot stay in Singapore for more than six months at a time. Thus, I would need to migrate, but to where? I could apply for a foreign university and stay in that country afterwards, but who knows whether that can happen?
Looking back at what I typed, I feel extremely selfish. I simply don't like the idea of military life. I hate those 'what-if' scenarios where you have a gun and you need to kill the enemy, because to me that's more or less murder. Yet another part of me says I'm simply too scared to take up the toughness of military life. Another part says I'm not doing enough for my country.
I don't know how to end this, but I'll end this here. Typing this, at least, has got a lot off my mind. There's still another three years for reflection, but three years pass by very quickly.