ST Reflection 2009 – Secondary 2NA/Exp

Q1) in the last line, what did the writer mean by suggesting that “he may have found more porcupines than rats?”
Q2) what’s worth giving up your life for?

Q2) I would rather devote my life in accomplishing my dreams than defending the country itself. I admit that I myself is one of the “rats” who are scared of dying while defending my country, but I have my reasons .Firstly, I do not have any confidence in Singapore’s armed forces as we Singaporeans are not big in numbers and if any countries invade us , all of us wouldn’t hold our ground for long , so why bother defending our nation when it is ready to fall apart when an invasion occur and turn our nation into a fiery abyss when you could immigrate to a better environment and enjoy long lasting peace?. Another reason is that I think war a waste of time as it can occur for months, or even years. If you chose to leave the country, maybe you already had a successful career. By the time the war had ended, it left families broken and sorrows. The biggest reason why I would decline fighting for my nation is that war is time of destruction, you may have thought that we just go to the war and shoot the hell up the invaders or get shot at, but actually war was more than a time of killing. Every time you aimed an enemy during the war and pulled the trigger, the bullet doesn’t just hurt him and killed him, it also destroys his family and his future. Since the governments are the one who decides to have war then tell them to go to war instead, we are the one who suffers under the government who decides to have war and I think that since they are the one who are responsible then they should bear the consequence, I am not stating that Singapore government should go to war but the government who is responsible for war example if there is one.