Bricks

Mostly red and white, though not quite

This is the sixth National Day photo on this blog and I can't quite believe that this blog has been running for almost six years now. It seems like only yesterday that I started out this blog to post photos from my year on exchange. Time passes so quickly when you're not looking. The passage of time has allowed me to invariably track how my life has progressed vis-a-vis this little island I call home and to see how the themes of each National Day photo has developed beyond the snapped date. Maybe in another six years, I will look back on this photo and re-evaluate this post?

This year's National Day photo is inspired by Arbite, which is quite possibly the highlight of my year thus far. I like lego bricks for the simple reason that there is a uniformed functionality about them; each brick is capable of interlocking and integrating with another by itself without the need for adhesives or a keystone. The result of this wonderful "socialistic" feature is that there is no special brick, per se. Every single brick can stand on its own and every single brick is capable of being part of a greater collective.

In a way, I think this little lego structure here represents a snap shot of our society. There is a school of though that the concept of "Nation" is no more than a social construct, held together by a social contract which is evidenced by an aggregation of people sharing a common belief or ideology. Such a social construct may not be that obvious in "old" countries where there has always been an attachment to the land. However, in a country of migrants like Singapore, I cannot help but find this definition of "Nation" highly seductive. I dare say that our social contract is entering a phase of renewal, where it needs to be re-examined and to some degree re-defined. And it is this redefinition that will provide for many interesting years ahead. Looking around, I see many people who unlike me were not born in Singapore but still call this place home. Increasingly, we find these first generation Singaporeans or new Singaporeans (not to be conceptually confused with NEWater) becoming our neighbors, classmates, colleagues, customers and perhaps even our lovers. Increasingly, we also find ourselves complaining or knitpicking about these neighbors, classmates, colleagues, customers and lovers in a way that we might not have, had they not been first generation Singaporeans.

In this photo, the newer bricks unlike the existing red and white ones are of a different colour. The very fact that these new bricks are able to interlock and integrate with the existing red and white bricks suggests that these new bricks have in some way subscribed to the basic tenets of our social contract; like it or not, these new bricks are very much a part of the structure now. Only time will tell whether this interlocking will form a strong and stable structure. It will be interesting to see what form this structure will take, or what our new social contract will be. But regardless of the outcome, one thing is for certain; the new bricks do add colour and variety. And this is something we should heartily embrace. Happy Birthday Singapore!