National Day - How did I spend it?

Its the National Day on 9 August. Most people are probably at their home watching the parade, or some even watch the live parade at the Padang. What I did was just treat it like just any other holiday, staying at home during the day, and going out at night. You can say that I am not patriotic, or I just simply do not care.

In the past, when I was in 6 years old, still in kindergarten, I was quite patriotic. I asked my mother to buy the Singapore flag and hang it in the balcony. And I did it for almost every National Day, until about the time when I was primary 3. I think the reason for doing so was because of the teachers encouraging us to do so.

However, as I grew older, I could not be bothered to hang up the flag during National Day. This is probably because as I grew older, I thought about it. There was nothing to gain from hanging up the flag, and the most common reason, that is me being lazy to do so. I am quite selfish, aren't I? I doubt most of my friends hang up their flag on every national day, unless they hung them up permanently, which most Singaporeans do so. Our citizens' patriotism towards the country has diminished every year.

One of the causes may be because of the National Day Parade, in which I feel they are all similar every year. The dances, the marching of the soldiers are all almost the same, and I think the reason which Singaporeans want to watch them is probably because of the fireworks. However, though we do not show our love for the country openly, it does not mean that we do not care about our country at all. We are still patriotic, but its just that it has decreased over the years. In conclusion, patriotism should not be over emphasised, as it will not really affect the country that much. Patriotism comes naturally, but there's no need to show it openly.