"Dear Future Singapore Social Studies Students", Stephanie Chan
before you get to the chapter entitled ‘overcoming’
before you start memorising the root causes of the recession of the 20s
before they teach you where to place the words ‘resilience’ and ‘unity’ in your essay question model answers
before you learn how to answer questions like ‘what can we learn about national identity from this’
before you analyse the straits times cartoons about masks and exercising,
before you are reminded to give thanks that you will never know the pain of of hours-long supermarket queues, of bubble tea rationing
before you learn how to use words like ‘community’ in your short answer questions,
before you give thanks that barely any Singaporeans got sick
before you are taught about how the heartlands were kept safe by the phone cameras of masked vigilantes
before you are taught that singing from our windows
was what really saved our nation
before you write "however, our healthcare system worked perfectly for our 3.9 million citizens"
before you start on that 25 mark essay on how our leaders’ foresight and strong governance kept us alive
before you are taught about the smiling sacrifices
of home bakers and nurses and delivery riders
before you are taught that we had ‘no choice’ but to house people in the conditions we did because that was just what they were used to in their home countries
ask them, how many beds could they fit in a single room?
ask them, what did it take for them to finally pay attention?
ask them, exactly how much violence was allowed, that allowed this to happen?