March 1, 2009
Leaven life with love
By Lee Siew Hua
The other day, someone observed that drivers are giving way a little more on our roads.
I was intrigued. Now, I try not to sap my spirit with too many complaints. But uncouth drivers? Seriously outsized irritants, all of them.
So, naturally, Robert got my attention. He went on to describe the kindness of strangers at an East Coast food centre.
Absentmindedly, he overpaid at two stalls. The hawkers were eager to return the cash. At a third stall, he was 40 cents short of the $7.40 bill. But the hawker pleasantly waived the shortfall.
Then when a handicapped singer made the rounds, diners got up to tip him.
I was wondering if the national push for a kinder, gentler Singapore was bearing fruit against the odds.
Or maybe we are starting to look out for one another in the recession.
Robert surmised that love is in the air.
He was telling his stories last Sunday in church, where the ideal of love is easily and freely articulated.
Yet, unbelievably, the word was also bandied about during the Budget debate.
'Let me comment on this element of love,' MP Cynthia Phua told Parliament. 'Right, L-O-V-E.'
She was making the point that civil servants can adopt the love approach to humanise policies.
Catholic High School principal Lee Hak Boon, she said, gives students freedom to choose O-level subjects they enjoy. 'He knows that there will be more work for his teachers and administrative staff, with a total of 100-plus combinations,'' she said.
'However, because of his love for the children, he took that bold step.'
He is mindful of each child, apparently, trusting him to speak his mind.
She told me later in an e-mail: 'He is different.' He constructed a 'longkang' for Primary 1 and 2 children to play with guppies, for instance.
'To catch guppies, one cannot rush but must be gentle and that is not the children's strength,'' she said.
When I called the principal, Mr Lee surprised me by saying from the outset: 'We do everything with love.'
The line is emblazoned on walls, and love is practised by teachers.
He was unabashed to talk about love, though most Singaporeans would squirm.
I suppose we are so greatly task-oriented - in or out of the civil service - that passion, emotions and the human touch are missing when we deal with each other. Living in a big city amplifies our reserve, and we can be cold.
It takes supremely confident and capable persons like Mr Lee or Madam Phua to imagine that love is possible in the public domain.
Wonderfully, for Catholic High, love yields results. Of the 43 top students islandwide who sat for the GCE O-level examinations last year, 12 were from Catholic High, with all scoring nine straight A1s.
Love makes anyone go the 'extra, extra mile', Mr Lee reasoned.
Even this year's Total Defence campaign is tinged with love. It personalises defence by asking: 'What will you defend?'
Its online video contest spurred people to think beyond military firepower to what they deeply cherish and will protect.
Small children, job security and being heard by the Government have been named.
These are forms of loving Singapore. I've always felt love is forceful and not frothy. It's stronger than armies and this campaign takes that line in its way.
Recently, I was very excited about moving home to Singapore after a decade-plus in the United States. But it was also sobering to realise, before I stepped on the plane, that I did not really love Singapore.
I did not like Singaporeans or rather the side of us that is kiasu, prideful and exceedingly me-first.
So I was easily unimpressed with the country, world-class or not.
As I re-immersed myself here, that subtly changed. I can't fully explain it, but I re-bonded with wonderful friends and family who are, after all, products of this land at some level.
I am rediscovering Singapore, and see that under the gloss and success, we yearn for it to have a soul. A nation is vastly more than an economy.
Along the way, I heard of a Love Singapore Movement. I was amused when I Googled and spied this on the Ogilvy site: 'God had an image problem. Could Ogilvy help?'
Some years ago, the agency created playful print ads and TV spots for a network of 150 churches.
The ads were soon banned by the Singapore Government, Ogilvy recounted, which proved to be a PR bonanza.
'Ogilvy gave the voice of God to various magazines, banners, transit posters, shopping mall videowalls, T-shirts, give-aways and postcards,'' said its website.
''SMS from God' was offered to cellphone users, and an unprecedented one in four signed up.'
Controversial, yes. But cult status and international awards followed. Love finds a way.
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