I personally feel however, that hosting the YOG was like a realisation of a dream. Growing up, we've always joked that Singapore was too small, doesn't have enough stadiums, infrastructure, space etc. to host a major event like the Olympics. We could only watch from our TV screens and think about what it would be like to be in the midst of many, watching the Games unfold and begin before us.
Well that's not true anymore. Hosting the YOG has certain symbolic meaning behind it. It is an indication that we have come of age, that we've gotten one step closer to bringing a dream home.
Image taken from Boston Globe, The Big Picture
and as to the question of whether we have built roads to nowhere, that answer depends on how we use the facilities in the future now that they are readily available. I personally think that the stadiums built would be great for school meets. Going further, maybe we can even generate public interest in inter-school tournaments and have spectators for some inter-school competitions. (we already publicly air Junior College debate sessions, so opening up inter-school sports tournaments shouldn't be too far-fetched an idea)
3 comments:
Nice take on the YOG by a certified economist:)
Its funny how the people who often knows the least talks the most. Guess at the end of the day, we positivity is a pretty rare commodity.
KP
fwah! i hope to be a certified economist but that looks to be a few more years and a job market paper away!
heh but really i think i'm just lucky to have the opportunity to see that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side.
Well lemme put it this way - its a poor hedge if i bet against you eventually becoming one:)
Grass is everywhere but the colour one sees in dependent on the mindset. Sometimes, or well, in my experience it's actually most of the time - an extra ordinary circumstance is required to change a persons thinking/actions.IMO too, rather than looking for a best patch of grass, we're really better off thinking ourselves as world citizens rather than a denomination of people limited by geographical boundaries.
If we pushed back into time,to the 50s, 60s 70s, each era had its difficulties and the patch of grass anywhere was pretty small (e.g. oil crisis, dollar instability, threat of nuclear war was the reality). I think people sometimes forget how much bigger this patch of grass already is in context of where we are today.
(and having said that, some places there isn't much grass at all, so we'll have to imagine its there.....)
Thanks for your latest post. I was dying for someone to actually dig out the figures and 'argue' it cohesively for once!
KP
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