On Sunday there was an article entitled For Love of Country – It is all inside the heart. The columnist seems to imply that loving the country is the most important, it doesn’t matter whether you display the flag or not.
True, displaying the flag doesn’t prove you are patriotic or if you don’t display the flag it doesn’t mean that you are unpatriotic.
I look at it this way:
Displaying the flag is just a small way to show our affection. Is it too troublesome? And if a lot of people think this way, then there will be only a few flags hanging out. It will look pathetic.
Do we not buy presents for people we care for on mother’s day and their birthdays? Why not save the money and just tell them ‘it is all inside my heart’. And why even bother to wrap the presents nicely.
3 comments:
Agree with you. If one does not believe in putting up the flag; then don't put lor. No need to belittle those who do.
Likewise, we shouldn't laugh at people (Chris! that's you) for being so romeo for preparing a sweet present for their wife just becos we don't believe in such mushy ways.
I feel that displaying the flag during the National Day period to show one's patriotism is more a symbolic gesture than anything else. It is just like wearing a wedding ring - I don't and it doesn't mean that I love my wife less. One can wear the ring faithfully but yet be unfaithful to the spouse (although doing both things at the same time is quite unwise, I must add).
However, I am not implying here that Chris' buying of a present for his wife on her birthday is only a symbolic gesture either. I am sure Chris loves his wife very much and so do most of us (love our own wives, that is, not Chris'). Only that sometimes, feeling it inside is just not enough; you gotta show it. And we all know how women love it when you show it, don't we?
Thank you Chun See, I take that as a compliment. But you can't compare the act of putting up a flag with the act of giving presents to the wife lah. National day got fireworks. Wife birthday don't have leh. Heh. You're sneaky, posting comment on me in Frannxis blog ah! ;))
Victor, woa, you sound like you know a woman inside out, eh? Show what? And you not wearing ring? Given your charm, you may give the wrong signal to some of the gals in our office. Don't say I didn't warn you! Another sneaky fella!
Frannxis, my take is that if we truly love our country, we would want to put up the flag to show how proud we are of our country. When I was in Sabah, I saw drivers putting up mini flags on their vehicles. Some ever draped the Malaysian flay over their bonnets. I think in straight-laced Singapore, it would have constitued an offence for "defacing" our national flag? Anyway, I thought what the Malaysians did was very patriotic. And I've never seen such thing here in Singapore. But recently, I saw some Comfort cabs with mini flags on. I'll like to give our cab drivers the benefit of doubt. But I think probably NTUC, their employer directed them to do so. So much for patriotism.
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