The Long and the Short of it.
Ok, I still consider myself a relative newbie to this whole blogging thing. I haven't even been doing it a year. I have my blog and I have my cat's blog. Yes, my cat has a blog. Trust me, it's far more popular than mine.
I also follow a lot of other people's blogs (see my favourites there on the right) and a whole bunch of cat blogs. Yesterday, one of the cat blogs run by a pair of sisters who foster cats reported that a cat that had been adopted out to two sisters had been taken to the AVA (kind of like animal control) by the father of the girls who had adopted the cat. The reason was that the kitten had been going to toilet inappropriately. The conclusion to the story was that the father told the people at AVA that the kitten was a stray, and the AVA people going with this information and following protocol put the kitten to sleep before the Fostering Sisters could rescue the kitten. It's just appalling, I know.
I don't know the Fostering Sisters, I don't know the Adopter Sisters, I don't know any of them, but I got to know their animals through the Fostering Sisters blog. This kitten was not even a year old. The Adopter Sisters had arranged a new home for the kitten because of the complaints from the father.
The news of what happened broke my heart. It brought back that familiar feeling of why some things in Singapore are so bad, so ignorant, so wrong. How some mentalities still have not changed. To think that the father did that to his own daughters is probably the worst part of the story. I believe that the daughters are lost to the father now, I can't even imagine how that feels.
We had dogs all growing up and we never treated them like property. Many of my schoolmates in primary school, even secondary school never had pets and were afraid. Afraid of dogs and cats, other peoples pets. Granted, one should always be cautious around animals you are unfamiliar with, the fear that was instilled in those people was something else. As you know, fear can make people do things they normally wouldn't.
I know not all people from Singapore are not like that, obviously, I'm not and I'm from there. I know many people who are not. Everytime I go back though, it becomes more apparent why I left and why I will probably never go back. It's a shame. I love my country but I just don't like it.
I also follow a lot of other people's blogs (see my favourites there on the right) and a whole bunch of cat blogs. Yesterday, one of the cat blogs run by a pair of sisters who foster cats reported that a cat that had been adopted out to two sisters had been taken to the AVA (kind of like animal control) by the father of the girls who had adopted the cat. The reason was that the kitten had been going to toilet inappropriately. The conclusion to the story was that the father told the people at AVA that the kitten was a stray, and the AVA people going with this information and following protocol put the kitten to sleep before the Fostering Sisters could rescue the kitten. It's just appalling, I know.
I don't know the Fostering Sisters, I don't know the Adopter Sisters, I don't know any of them, but I got to know their animals through the Fostering Sisters blog. This kitten was not even a year old. The Adopter Sisters had arranged a new home for the kitten because of the complaints from the father.
The news of what happened broke my heart. It brought back that familiar feeling of why some things in Singapore are so bad, so ignorant, so wrong. How some mentalities still have not changed. To think that the father did that to his own daughters is probably the worst part of the story. I believe that the daughters are lost to the father now, I can't even imagine how that feels.
We had dogs all growing up and we never treated them like property. Many of my schoolmates in primary school, even secondary school never had pets and were afraid. Afraid of dogs and cats, other peoples pets. Granted, one should always be cautious around animals you are unfamiliar with, the fear that was instilled in those people was something else. As you know, fear can make people do things they normally wouldn't.
I know not all people from Singapore are not like that, obviously, I'm not and I'm from there. I know many people who are not. Everytime I go back though, it becomes more apparent why I left and why I will probably never go back. It's a shame. I love my country but I just don't like it.
posted by singaporegrrl at 9:56 AM
4 Comments:
i'm sure it's just the older generation. all my friends there have dogs! and there are bad eggs everywhere. take heart! :)
I have the same sentiments as you, having stayed overseas for 5 years, and coming back to singapore was a huge huge culture shock for me. I was so depressed for a few months before I could adjust to people's different way of thinking here. Am starting to like some of the things around here...but given a chance, I won't want to live here.
As a Singaporean, I am sad that you have portrayed your home country in such a bad light when you know for a fact that these incidents are a small minority and incidents like these happen in all countries.
I do not have the privilege of an overseas education and have spent my entire working life in Singapore. I do however interact with foreigners almost on a daily basis and spend a week in a very poor country in South Asia monthly. I can say that I am glad to be a Singaporean and that through efforts of our own, we can always strive for the better. And this does not happen overnight. It may take one generation but it will nevertheless happen if we try.
This is a little off-topic: I understand where you're coming from Kerry, the culture in Singapore evolved faster than it's people, thus the huge difference in the way of life. Everything must be free, everything must be cheap and at the same time good. We've been partially westernised to a degree that we act that way too. It's so sad.
Think about me, I'm stuck in this hell of a hole with genetic cesspools and people complain every chance they get instead of working towards what they want.
And kxbc, we're all glad to be Singaporeans, we always are. We just don't agree with how things go at present in our supposedly garden city. And it won't take a few generations to change. It might NEVER change judging from people's present mentality. Oh yeah, we're striving alright, striving to drown an ocean! Let's see how that works out.
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