Journal entry in War

When I first joined the army, my head was full of glorious images. Images of me killing and destroying anything that stood before me, images of me achieving glory, of me being welcomed home after the war as a hero! When i first joined the army, I felt that my country would finally be able to get back at the French,the Russians and the British, to carve out an empire in the east! When i first joined the army, the only thing in my head was victory.

But now, all I see and feel is doom and dread. Will I survive the next offensive on the Soviets? Will I live, will i still be intact, mentally and physically? I don't know. I want to flee, I want to run away and hide until the war had ended. However, I can't. For my country, I have to die, I have to fight till my very last breath. Is it worth it? I don't know. If I die in battle, will I be remembered by anyone? If I survive and live to see Mien Fuhrer victorious, will i be recognized as a hero who risked his life for his country?

Before the winter, everything went fairly smoothly. We had crushed the weak soviets under our feet in less than a month and we would have been marching into Stalingrad in a week. However, Mother Earth turned her back on us. She unleashed her fury on us, harsh cold swept through our ranks, blizzards tore through our armies like artillery attacks. The soviets had retreated but Earth had began her attack.

For weeks, we were under attack from Mother Earth, her powerful winds and freezing hail buffeted us. We were poorly equipped for winter. Mien Fuhrer had expected the war in the east to be over by August. However, the blitzkrieg had failed and we had to endure the harsh winter with barely any warmth or supplies.

Worse still, from what I had heard, the Soviets had taken the time when we were immobilized to start a huge manufacturing campaign. If the sources were correct, their production rate was more than 3 times ours. Impossible! Gott! If we did not move fast, the Soviets would crush us in a matter of time.

However, we would be resuming our offensive tomorrow. I pray that i would survive, I pray that we would win the battle and achieve glory for Germany, for Deutschland! 

Singapore the plane, not the bus.

Many people nowadays are referring to Singapore as a bus. A bus that needs a good driver to drive the Singapore bus to success and a bus that needs a co-driver to slap the driver if he falls asleep. However, this is a FALSE ANALOGY. Singapore apparently, is not a bus that anyone can drive. It is a plane.

Singapore is a plane that requires a skillful pilot to drive it. The pilot must be able to foresee all problems ahead and make preparations for it. For example, when the pilot sees a storm or a hurricane coming , he must be able steer the plane away from the storm. Even if the plane is caught in the storm, he must be able to steer the plane safely out of the storm. This can be compared to leadership in Singapore. Good leaders will be able to foresee problems that are coming and be able to avoid the problems and challenges. This will in turn ensure that Singapore or any other country will be able to do well economically. With a good leader or leaders, Singapore will be able to brave through economic crisis too.

Can Singaporeans cope mentally with natural disasters?

During the past few months, there were devastating natural disasters around the world. The natural disasters include the earthquake in Christchurch, the earthquake and tsunami and Japan. Both of these natural disasters have devastated affected areas. However, people in these places were able to cope surprisingly well with these disasters. In Japan, there was very little looting reported and many people were helping each other. In Christchurch, there was also very minimal looting. However, if such disasters were to hit Singapore, would Singaporeans be able to cope well with these disasters? The answer is a definite no.

Many Singaporeans can be defined by a slang word "Kiasu", which means scared lose. Even during non-disaster periods, Singaporeans have been shown to be pushing and shoving in shopping centres to get their hands on the best goods. Many Singaporeans also do not spare thoughts for other people's needs and only cater to their own needs. Thus, if an earthquake or tsunami hits Singapore, Singaporeans will thus demonstrate their "scared lose" spirit and cater to themselves first. This would thus result in many cases of looting happening around Singapore as people only care for themselves and not for others. Thus, they would not spare a thought for the shop owners and only steal for themselves.