<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>How do I love Singapore? Let me count the ways
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I AM not about to mull over the question of patriotism, although my close friends think I am patriotic.
I love my country, because like me, my country loves clean fresh air. While many countries chop down trees and forests, my country's leaders had the foresight to plant trees well ahead, before the world understood global warming.
I love my country, because my children can have hopes and dreams here, they can aspire to be anything they want to be, whatever they strive to be.
My children will be judged only by their skills and talents, not by the colour of their skin.
I love my country, because this is where there is peace, and I can spend hours with my wife, just watching clouds pass by, the deep blue sky.
I love my country, because my father held my hand here, as we walked along the empty sandy beach of Changi, and I can do so with my own children now, while we watch the biggest plane in the world take off.
I love my country, because all of us on this small island know we are only a little red dot on Earth, but wherever we go, many are amazed at what we have achieved.
And because we are just four million people, with no natural resources, we will always strive for the best, at everything that we can achieve.
I do not know much about patriotism, though my close friends know me as a patriot.
But I do know one thing, for it is in this land where I was born, in this land where my family lives, it is this land to which my loved ones belong. In this land, where I can see my friends, who see me as their equal, even though we are of different colours, even though we have different religious beliefs.
And I do know one thing, when I see the Chinook helicopter carrying the Singapore flag, everything that made me who I am, and everything I truly love, is encompassed in that one flag, the flag of the country where I belong.
Syu Ying Kwok
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I AM not about to mull over the question of patriotism, although my close friends think I am patriotic.
I love my country, because like me, my country loves clean fresh air. While many countries chop down trees and forests, my country's leaders had the foresight to plant trees well ahead, before the world understood global warming.
I love my country, because my children can have hopes and dreams here, they can aspire to be anything they want to be, whatever they strive to be.
My children will be judged only by their skills and talents, not by the colour of their skin.
I love my country, because this is where there is peace, and I can spend hours with my wife, just watching clouds pass by, the deep blue sky.
I love my country, because my father held my hand here, as we walked along the empty sandy beach of Changi, and I can do so with my own children now, while we watch the biggest plane in the world take off.
I love my country, because all of us on this small island know we are only a little red dot on Earth, but wherever we go, many are amazed at what we have achieved.
And because we are just four million people, with no natural resources, we will always strive for the best, at everything that we can achieve.
I do not know much about patriotism, though my close friends know me as a patriot.
But I do know one thing, for it is in this land where I was born, in this land where my family lives, it is this land to which my loved ones belong. In this land, where I can see my friends, who see me as their equal, even though we are of different colours, even though we have different religious beliefs.
And I do know one thing, when I see the Chinook helicopter carrying the Singapore flag, everything that made me who I am, and everything I truly love, is encompassed in that one flag, the flag of the country where I belong.
Syu Ying Kwok
