I was watching a video posted by a friend about the current wildfires raging in California, threatening thousands of homes and hundreds of thousands of residents. The images can scarcely be believed – they look like something out of a Hollywood movie. Ironic, then, that the fires are threatening Hollywood itself.
I just want to stop here and say that I wish the best to all the residents and people who are affected by this great, and unfolding tragedy. May you and all your loved ones be safe, and may your communities rise out of the ashes, perhaps literally, stronger and more united.
On another note, it got me thinking, I really live in a very safe and comfortable place – Singapore. People talk about how clean the streets are, how safe it is to walk around, even late at night. But I suspect few people appreciate another important aspect about Singapore – due to our geographical location, we are spared just about every major type of natural disaster there is out there.
We don’t get hit by typhoons and hurricanes.
We don’t get hit by tornados.
We don’t get hit by tsunamis.
We don’t get hit by floods.
We don’t suffer from drought (though water sufficiency is an issue).
We don’t get hit by landslides.
We don’t get hit by volcanic eruptions.
We don’t get hit by earthquakes (we do feel them, though).
And of course, wildfires.
The biggest problems we’ve faced over the past fifty years of our existence as an independent country are choking haze from fires in Indonesia, and the constant and growing threat of rising sea levels. Apart from that, nothing severe.
Singapore has a mild climate, in relative terms. It’s constantly hot and humid, with the humidity reaching insane levels on occasion, sometimes over 90% (!). I’ve had foreigners tell me that when they walked out of the air-conditioned area in Changi airport to catch a taxi, they felt like they had hit a brick wall – the heat and humidity was unbelievable.
We do get torrential rain sometimes, with localised flooding, but nothing of the sort seen when a hurricane or typhoon hits. We get crazy lightning storms, but because we’re so urbanised, there’s always a tall building or two nearby to catch the lightning.
For those unfamiliar with Singapore’s geography, we’re an island located in the South China Sea, at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula. Because we’re surrounded on all four sides by huge islands and land masses, and being so close to the equator, that protects us from all of the natural disasters mentioned above.
So with such a comfortable existence here, not to mention the first-world economy, high-quality medical care, affordable public housing and transport, as well as the availability of jobs and a wide variety of food, you’d think Singaporeans would be the happiest people on the planet.
But no, we complain a lot.
Yes, there are legitimate annoyances to living in Singapore. Trains breaking down. Buses being overcrowded. Dangerous drivers. Rude people on the streets. The occasional crazy neighbour. Pressurizing school and work culture. However, that’s really just par for the course. Nothing more or less than a typical major urban centre. Far better than some I’ve heard about, too.
So all things considered, I would say anybody living in Singapore is very blessed. We get clean and safe streets, free of pestilence and disease. We get clean, drinkable water, free from taps in all public buildings like shopping malls, while almost 1 billion people in the world don’t even have access to clean water, paid or otherwise.
I’m very, very grateful to have been born in Singapore, and to be still living here. It’s not a perfect country, far from it, but it’s still pretty darn good.