For starters, I have absolutely no idea why I have taken to doing something I would have pretty much condemned as i do towards institutional bureaucrasy and child labour, but heck, if this were to be some decent means for me to vent that pent up anger/frustration buried beneath the goody, diplomatic mask I wear everyday, if this verbal vomit is therapeutic, so be it.
This weekend has been totally put to waste. I was so planning to do something constuctive, so planning to... till some weirdo virus had to get my throat after a miserable 2 coconuts, and award me with some dementor-kiss-like fever. I'm sure the majority of the working population (we will comment on how pitiful a lifestyle each one of them leads later) would concur with the pain of having to lose the chance for a break in between two hamster-on-the-wheel like weeks.
Alright, before I forget, let's talk about the pitiful majority first. In fact, for a good while i have forgotten the existence of this huge lot of army ants populating our beautiful planet called earth. I even taught myself to look at the more beatiful side of these humble creations of god, but alas, the illusionary cloak would have to remove itself one day, but to reveal the antonishing, thunderously loud fact that - ANTS ARE STILL ANTS!
I have been working in an organisation known to many as the Singapore Armed Forces, more popularly known as Serve And Fuckoff. Disillusionment set in during the months following the initial Incubation Period of BMT (Basic Military Training) and OCS (Officer Cadet School), as life transited into the Post-Incubation Period
*Incubation period - A period when nobody thinks
*Post-Incubation Period - A period when you find out that nobody thinks
A recent allocation of jobs had me ended up in this place where perhaps no-one in the organisation would hope to be associated with - The NDP Office (National Day Parade), and i found myself existing as the only enthusiastic soul in a graveyard of soulless drifters. "Wasn't organising NDP supposed to be something to take pride in? Wasn't your job, your profession supposed to be somthing you execute with passion?" I exclaimed in mild exasperation to the clockwork gnomes in my office. Most ticked past in their programmed routines, while one, i presumed short-circuited a few days back, turned around and answered, "Let's get it over and done with".
As the fact that i was working amongst clockwork gnomes sunk in, I made a last flailing effort to make a few bold suggestions to spice up this year's celebrations (bold only in a capacity i have sufficient expertise, and experience to handle), only to be promptly rewarded with a dashing "Let's not add trouble to what we already have!"
A little pondering would help us zoom out into a situational overview of this "disease". Why can't we find the enthusiasm in SAF fellas as we can in school children? Why can we only find such enthusiasm in those doing "media publicity" (a substitution to the fantasies a lonely soul conjures for himself in his flea infested camp bunk with FHM and his leftie). The answer is simple - No refresher, No incentives and No brainer
No Refresher: NDP is a year in year out event, and the same people are made to repeat this routine every year. Tell me, do you get excited taking the same bus to work everyday? or using the same brand of shampoo every night? The answer's rhethoric
No Incentives: Does SAF pay you an ounce more your a good NDP? well you might get a few more dollars to your performance bonus, provided you tread carefully for the rest of the year (the weightage of the whip in SAF is 10x that of the carrot).
No Brainer: SAF openly encourages their employees to be the thinking soldier... blah blah blah, but does all that chain of command shit allow us to effect our thoughts? Thinking is no doubt good, but without execution of ideas, it is more likely we all end up in mental constipation. If I have to spend 1 week gathering data and information and typing a proposal, 3 weeks to get the proposal to the agenda for discussion by the main committee, 3 weeks to obtain the answer (and the answer might even be a simple NO), in addition having to break up my planning to Plan A and B just so that i can react to the YES or NO after 7 weeks, and also as welfare for commanders so that my kanchiong spider direct boss from dying of a heart attack along the weeks of anticipation, WOULD I STILL BOTHER TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL, WOULD I EVEN BOTHER TO THINK OF ONE?
I'm tired now, this muttering shall be continued tomorrow...
