Don McLean's American Pie was the kind of song that had me captivated, and had me close to tears at some point. Well, closer to tears than most other songs. The only other candidate was "Cat's in the Cradle"
The significance increased when I read a full explanation of the lyrics' meaning, at least from some other layman's point of view. It seems that a few sources interpret the song as an account of the social change America went through in the 1960s. After the golden 1950s, it was a mad descent into the 1970s, while in between there was Kennedy's assasination and the Vietnam War, among other chaotic events. America of Don McLean's childhood had been beaten into the dust.
Nevertheless, I have to stop and think- was the 1950s that great, or was McLean simply an innocent child incapable of understanding the world's complexities at that time? Was the 1960s that terrible, or was it that McLean had grown up and had seen the ugliness of the world? I can't comment. I haven't even set foot in America.
However, perhaps a similar "American Pie" syndrome can secretly manifest in some of our lives. For me, if I were to name Singapore's Golden Age, it would be the 1990s. To me, it represented this nation at its clean, orderly and prosperous best. The later part of the next decade up till today, Singapore has been comparatively unrecognisable. Crowding, dissent (especially on the Internet), lots of people from other lands. While I don't want to be xenophobic it is hard to establish a social connection with people with strange jarring accents that disturb a peaceful ride in the train.
Of course, this is confounded by the fact that my "Golden Age" happened to be my childhood and thereafter the "Dark Age" is the initiation into my 20s.
Graduating soon. On top of concerns about MBBS and residency another hidden concern is the disruption to the tight knit family life.
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