this house is not a home

when i was young i liked to count the number of flags hung out by families during national day. i would stand by all the windows in my house and count as far as my eyes could see, and it is quite far, considering i'm on the 21st floor.

well, that was when i was young and had nothing better to do (the internet was not discovered yet). as i grew older i stopped counting, but have always took notice of the flags. they seemed to get fewer and fewer in number.

this year it seems to be at an all-time low, not just around here but everywhere i go it's the same. is this a passive-aggressive reaction of the nation towards our government? the unhappiness has certainly been brewing for years now.

aside from all the glitz and glamour of the government-made national day parade, do we really care enough to celebrate our nation's birthday? i don't think anyone bothers. it's just a public holiday, nothing more.

from what i see online (not sure if i can trust the internet), the americans really love their fourth of july independence day and all the celebrations related to it, something that has its roots deep within their tradition.

how many decades would it take before singaporeans finally see this country as something to be proud of and something worth celebrating?