这是所谓的“城市压力”吗？

A lot of people commented that Singapore has changed a lot in the recent 5 years. 2 Integrated Resorts (IRs), the new Marina skyline, a newly looked Orchard Road, F1, etc… Singapore has really progressed a lot, especially in these few years. There are construction almost everywhere, and a number of old buildings have given way to the new ones.

Despite the rapid development, recent flash floods, crowded public transport and rising housing prices start to make me wonder: Are we trying to do too many things too fast? Do these show that the fast-paced development has started to take a toll on the infrastructure? The stress gets to the people as well, and this is exemplified by recent shocking videos of various people scolding others on trains (granted, this might have happened before in the past, but these days with the advent of video camera phones, things spread quickly.). There is even a constant need to remind us to love our train rides and to make way for alighting passengers, when the latter action should be a natural one. Perhaps, we are too stressed to get onto the train to make way for other passengers. Maybe, we simply don’t have reasons to love our rides. Have we actually been progressing too fast?

On a side note, even kids are not spared from the stress. A startling article in the Straits Times yesterday mentioned that some Primary School students who are sitting for PSLE start their day as early as 6.30am for remedial lessons. Gosh.. I used to happily read the papers and munch my breakfast during at that timing when I was a student. In the report, it also pointed out that some students now are being kept in school till 9pm for revision everyday. If I were a student now, I definitely wouldn’t want that to happen to me. If the poor student stays quite a bit of distance away from his school and his traveling time takes about an hour, he would only reach home at 10pm and he would need to wake up early to next day and the whole cycle repeats itself. Is this healthy for the students?