Innocent Exuberance

I grew up believing. I believed that my country is a benevolent parent who gives unconditionally. I loved listening to the national anthem, the slow unadulterated one and given the right moment, I truly loved.

I grew up in a mission school, in the grittier side of the city. I had friends where the colour of your skin did not matter. We had role models whom dispensed discipline and education regardless of whom we were, yet awareness of the cultural differences are always taken into account. We got curious, we asked, we found out. We played together, formed cliques that did not look racial at all, we were always one. We grew up together under the same umbrella of faith and hope, of the politically-correct side of the world.

We were confident of the vision laid out oh so nicely to us. By 2020 we will be at the top of the world, the place to be, a not-too-small nation role model to the world. And nobody will be left out. We were a juggernaut so unstoppable. The nation was truly confident and we all walked with a skip in the stride.

But it was a castle of cards, built on pretense of grandeur. Form over substance.

As we lost the innocent exuberance of our childhood, we saw things and slowly the belief faded.

I still want to believe. Do you?