Was recalling the days when I was still onboard the ship, gripping over every moment as the ships dips her head into the sea, sending waves and wind-blown seas onto the bridge windows.
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The typhoon had everyone onboard worried. The Captain then, didnt really show it. But he was on the bridge for as long as I could remembered.
My sea-sick stricken crew asked me, 'Arent you sea-sick?'
'Sea-sick? I guess I am more worried about the ship breaking up than thinking that I am sea-sick.' was my reply.
It rings true, this is one of the few rare times that mind does OVERCOME body.
The sight of a 300m long (6 Olympic swimming pools end-to-end) flexing in front of your eyes and containers wavering in the strong winds and rains belting down is something I would NEVER forget.
It only makes me realise how Mother Nature wins... eventually.
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SGeans have it easy. They are brought up in the lap of luxuries and comfort. They never have to worry once about impeding typhoons, unexpected earthquakes.
The first and last civil defence exercise proved my point. SGeans were more concerned over the inconvenience it brought than the intangible lessons it brings to the subconscious mind.
'aiya...make me late for work' 'aiya... not realistic... why bother' etc etc were but some of the attitudes that our fellow citizens have.
When was the last time you attended a Civil defence exercise in your neighbourhood? Have you ever attended CPR courses, fire-fighting courses before?
Antipathy - A strong feeling of aversion or repugnance - is best to describe our fellow citizens.
Not all are, but a whole majority is. They seemed to have forgetten what the Hotel New World incident back in 1984 is.
I firmly believe that the young generations of today have no clue what the Hotel New World incident meant to them.
I was then in primary school then. I remembered almost every hourly the news on every media channel was on the incident. Nobody ventured out much that day.
To those whose family members died in that fateful accident, I believe that those scenes will haunt them till they draw their last breath. It was a first calamity for SGeans. It was an accident waiting to happen.
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(to be continued)
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