Night Training / Geylang Rampage...

Hah!! Why am i not surprised?!?! Today's night training was over by 645.... now i know why people loooove going back to reservist training. True, it was kinda tough today, with me having to wear my SBO + helmet and get hot and stink, but it was well worth it. I mean.. u can't possibly spend ALL of your time eating at canteen breaks and playing pool rite?! Haha.... and our night training... simulated in the dark cloudy time of 530pm... sure took alot of imagination from all of us but i don't think anyone there was complaining!! Anyway that's the toughest item i have for this week so it's back to slacking for the rest of the week liao...

Headlines on the newspaper for today and yesterday were in regards to the Geylang Rampage. NO... it's not about a horny dude going at it with the many prositutes there, but rather it was about this drunk driver who managed to knock his car into 9 vehicles while coming out of a carpark and kill 2 of his friends at the scene... even running over one of them TWICE. Really really sad if you think about it. On the newspapers this past 2 days, it's been all about how the accused managed to do what he did and the alcohol test that he failed... most of Singapore would be condemning him already, including me... but amazingly, the family of the victim, whom i would have thought would be baying for the driver's blood, have already forgiven him and even went out of their way to console him as he attended the funeral. The victim's wife has mentioned that there's no point being angry as what's happened has already happened and bearing grudges would be making things worse.

True, the fault clearly lies with the driver for drink-driving and what he did cannot be condoned. However, looking at the reaction of the family, and of the driver who almost broke down crying, it all tells us how powerful forgiveness really is and why less and less people are willing to do so. This family, in the most extreme of circumstances, have acted very graciously, keeping in mind that the driver was a very close friend of the victim. Why can't there be more people who would act in this manner and realise that revenge leads to nothing?

"To err is human, to forgive, divine." - Alexander Pope


Note: I do hope that this incident serves as a reminder as to how dangerous drunk-driving can be, so for those of you who DO drink and drive, please do not forget your responsibility on the road as the lives of others are very much in your hands.