Monday, December 05, 2005
The Island
Emerson said this of nature: “There is never a beginning, there is never an end, to the inexplicable continuity of this web of God, but always circular power returning to itself. Therein it resembles his own spirit, whose beginning, whose ending, he never can find, - so entire, so boundless.” That’s just beautiful, isn’t it? That the whole of nature, the universe, of God, is intertwined with us mere beings; that in knowing nature, we know ourselves.
Spent the day in Pulau Ubin. Great place, still seemingly untouched by mercantile civilization – save for the bike rental shops and seafood restaurants. But really. The pace of life is so much slower, the smiles on faces more genuine, the freedom intoxicating. Alright, alright, exaggerating a tad bit. But amidst the groans of butt aches, leg aches and what naught, the scenery was amazing. Nature in all its wonders. Truly feeling alive in our tiredness. For city bums like us, everything was fascinating; the mudskippers, the school of fish nibbling on the chip, the monitor lizard, the lady bird, the incredible number of mosquitoes, and much more. I could have just sat there by the water and stoned, maybe forever. Indeed – so entire, so boundless.
It’s so hard to believe that this part of Singapore was so different. We even started talking about which GRC Ubin actually belonged to, and whether the islanders were allowed to vote. Or about how the school kids got to school everyday – was there a special school ferry for them to mainland every morning? It was just difficult to find common ground with life as we are used to.
Who’s to say what life is really meant to be? Yes, we’d like to think the islanders would have it much better if they were to move to the mainland. Better standards of living. Higher levels of affluence. Whatever else. But for every thing that is given, something is taken.
And I’m sure they wouldn’t have their island taken away from them even if they were promised the world.
Emerson said this of nature: “There is never a beginning, there is never an end, to the inexplicable continuity of this web of God, but always circular power returning to itself. Therein it resembles his own spirit, whose beginning, whose ending, he never can find, - so entire, so boundless.” That’s just beautiful, isn’t it? That the whole of nature, the universe, of God, is intertwined with us mere beings; that in knowing nature, we know ourselves.
Spent the day in Pulau Ubin. Great place, still seemingly untouched by mercantile civilization – save for the bike rental shops and seafood restaurants. But really. The pace of life is so much slower, the smiles on faces more genuine, the freedom intoxicating. Alright, alright, exaggerating a tad bit. But amidst the groans of butt aches, leg aches and what naught, the scenery was amazing. Nature in all its wonders. Truly feeling alive in our tiredness. For city bums like us, everything was fascinating; the mudskippers, the school of fish nibbling on the chip, the monitor lizard, the lady bird, the incredible number of mosquitoes, and much more. I could have just sat there by the water and stoned, maybe forever. Indeed – so entire, so boundless.
It’s so hard to believe that this part of Singapore was so different. We even started talking about which GRC Ubin actually belonged to, and whether the islanders were allowed to vote. Or about how the school kids got to school everyday – was there a special school ferry for them to mainland every morning? It was just difficult to find common ground with life as we are used to.
Who’s to say what life is really meant to be? Yes, we’d like to think the islanders would have it much better if they were to move to the mainland. Better standards of living. Higher levels of affluence. Whatever else. But for every thing that is given, something is taken.
And I’m sure they wouldn’t have their island taken away from them even if they were promised the world.
# posted by Mel @ 10:20 PM 
