The Empty Society

With reference to Today newspaper, 31/05/2010.

He is the oldest GRC member in Singapore, and the longest. Mr Tan Kim Hong, 72, has served the community for five decades since the 1960s. Being the witness of the changes that Singapore experienced over the past 50 years - from the merger to the IR, Mr Tan says that “GRCs are not what they used to be”.

In the past, Mr Tan says, GRCs are not a group of professionals or businessmen. They are just a small group of energetic teenagers who have the passion to help the community - from repairing the roofs of neighbors, helping a Auntie transport her groceries, to helping the neighboring town building a structure or raising funds for a neighbor who is in financial difficulties.

Much has changed. Today, a GRC is a organization of business-like professionals who constantly complain about the lack of time to help. Today, GRC is a place where “volunteers” enter to secure for their children positions in good Primary Schools, as well as for businessmen to expand their contact list. Today, GRC’s efforts may not be always appreciated. Whenever goodie bags are given out, many resident would say, “Like that only??”. Today, the GRC is indeed not what it used to be.

Mr Tan’s witness really reveals the constant struggle in all of us as human beings to choose between the calling to exercise important values such as gratitude to the society, kindness to our people in our community and constantly seeking personal benefits such as money, positions in Primary Schools for our children, and time. Sadly, the order of the world has indeed shifted from the former to the latter, with the increasingly fast pace of our society today.

I have no qualms with the shifting order and how people are adapting to it. After all, who can survive in this fast society without paying attention to money, time and other more practical needs? Who can spend time helping their neighbors, when they are in shortage of money and food? However, who can be truly happy in this fast paced world? “钱乃身外物” Indeed, values that can carry us through our whole life such as the true passion to help others when they are in need, are more important in the era of ancient China history.

However, it is not true that this ideology is not practical in our modern day society. Look around us, Mr Tan, community volunteers, fund raising organizations - they do not die of starvation. In fact, they seem to do be doing better than many of us! Indeed, do onto others what you want others to do onto you. The fact that kindness begets kindness will last forever and this will never shift with the increasing pace of our society. This will in fact be more true especially in our modern society - where people are cold and selfish, and they lack nothing - not money, not time, but love and kindness.

People are constantly lost and depressed - look around us, we have seen many cases of actors and actresses committing suicide just when they are at the peak of their career, take for example, 张国荣. Why? The reason - they lack kindness, warmth and love in their life.

People nowadays are abundant in physical and materialistic needs, but short on emotional needs. They are constantly feeling a deep sense of emptiness in their hearts, and no matter how they try to numb themselves with work, play and parties, this emptiness will not go away.

Therefore, it is vital that as fellow human beings, we should constantly show our love and kindness to one another, no matter the way - through talking, helping etc. Only through that way, can our society be a more perfect one - one that is both physically and emotionally adequate.

We Slept with Our Boots On

Someone once said, "War is a delight only to those who have not experienced it". Indeed, when we are young and innocent, we may find war a fun subject of play, something we always look forward to be involved in. However, it does not take long for us to open our eyes to the reality of war and witness the cruelty of it.

And that is exactly what Steve Carlsen is trying to bring out in his poem "We Slept with our Boots on". Steve Carlson is an ordinary soldier who has experienced 3 years of war. He joined the United States Army in October 2000 and went to Infantry Basic Training, and Airborne School in Ft. Benning Georgia. He then reported to D Company 1^st battalion 504^th Parachute Infantry Regiment. 82^nd Airborne Division in Ft. Bragg North Carolina. He deployed to Kosovo in November 2001 as part of peace keeping operations. He Deployed to Afghanistan in of December 2002 where he participated in combat operations. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 2003.

Well, he may seem like an ordinary soldier, but it is exactly, being an ordinary soldier that allowed him to experience the worse of war, and the cruelty of fighting your own kind. The theme and central idea Steve is trying to bring out in his poem is that once you are involved in war, you are eternally scarred, and will lose your innocence forever. This was clearly brought out in the line "Everyone loses their innocence when they carry gun".

Steve Carlsen is a experienced poem, as can be seen through the techniques he used to bring out the theme he wants to convey to his readers. Firstly, let us look at the structure of the poem. Steve's poem is seemingly untidy, with no clear structure at all. Also, the clauses are very short in the poem, most are just 3 words: "30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit". This creates a extremely fast paced poem, and Steve uses this to show fast paced war is - you are either fighting for your life, and running for your life. It is just so terrifying that you can't settle down. The moment you have settled, something suddenly pops up, and you have to defend your life again.

This is also brought out through the story line of the poem - the poet and his comrades running and fighting for their lives. They were so afraid and unsettled, that they don't even dare to take off their boots when sleeping. This, being put as the title, further emphasizes the terror of war.

The setting is in a battlefield, somewhere between Pakistan and Afghanistan, as the poet wrote "Hindu Kush". The first line also shows how "They unloaded the dead and maimed right before our eyes".They probably referred to the enemy, and the enemy might be miaming their dead comrades to make sure they are dead. Therefore, this setting may be one of a lost battle on the poet's side, and he and a few comrades were probably the few who survived. Hence, they had to fight and run away, for their lives.

The POV is mainly 1st person POV "I" with occasional switches to "We". First, the poet would show his own personal feelings, emotions and actions, and then he would proceed to show a collective action by using "We". This is probably to link "We" and "I" together, to show that his terror, his feeling of injustice is also shared by everyone who is involved in war, and they experience exactly the same thing as him. Hence, this poem may be representing the emotions and feelings of all involved in the war, and gaining our sympathy for them.

The use of language is smart. For example, the writer uses the line "baptized in fire" to show the hopelessness and cruelty of war. As we all know, baptism is a tradition whereby all Christian have to be submerged in water before being saved. This is a symbolism of being washed of our sins and having hope for the future. However, in war, there is no water, so it symbolizes that the poets sins of killing accumulated in war can never be washed and forgived. This brings out the cruelty and sinfulness of war. Also, instead of having hope, the writer is "baptized in fire". This shows how hopeless, cruel and torturing war is, to the point where it defies convention.

Another possible interpretation: baptism is a tradition for Christian to gain a new life by washing away their old sins. However, in war, the only thing the poet can do is to defend his own life through "fire", which is fighting with guns, but not water. This illuminates the terror war brings to soldiers, especially ordinary soldiers like Steve Carlsen.

Other techniques being used include the repitition of the word "and". "I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more ... Dirty and tired and hungry and scared". The constant use of "and", show how never-ending, dreary and tiring war is. The soldiers have to constantly do something in order to save their own lives.

In conclusion, I think Steve Carlsen is a great poet. He uses much technique such as repition of certain words, symbolism and vivid imagery. His poems are always open to many interpretations like the phrase "baptized in fire". Furthermore, he experienced the most basic of war itself, and this story shown through the poem is a very true and honest depiction of war.

Indeed, war is a cruel and terrifying thing. It is also meaningless terror - after all, it is just human vs human. In the end, nothing is gained, only precious lives are lost, and families separated. I can only summarize my personal response in this one quote, "Older men declare war. But it's the youth who must fight and die! Mankind has to put an end to war, or war would put an end to mankind".

Jonah Heng 2P105