This post is on my heritage and dedication to my home country, Singapore.
Singapore
As you know from my introduction, I am a full Singaporean - borned and bred in Singapore during the 1980s. I was educated in Singapore universities, traveled aboard for work, lived in Austria and and now in Shanghai. I would say my life has been more than fulfilling and very enriching.
When I lived in Austria, I always tried to interact with the locals even though my german and austrian dialects were quite limited. I remember an amazing conversation with an Austrian who is my grandfather's age. When he asked where i was from and I replied "Singapur". He got excited, way excited... Turns out he used to travel in Southeast asia during his young days and actually came to Singapore, a British colony in 1960s. Back then, Singapore was just a sleepy town. The economy was bad. People had no jobs. Singaporeans had to travel the causeway to Malaysia to work because the malaysian ringgit was worth 3 times more than singapore dollars. Now, i know that there are malaysians around. 
All this happened because of this person and his team
Mr Lee Kuan Yew was the first Prime Minister of Singapore. In 1963, Singapore merged with Malaya Federation and form Malaysia. When Singapore was asked to leave the because of racial riots and political pressure, Lee Kuan Yew cried on national tv. Men don't cry easily. But when men cry, you know that he is very much in touch with his emotions and stress. The country's future and hopes weigh heavily on this man and how this man is going to manage a country with absolutely NOTHING. At that time, most of the international media was skeptical of Singapore's future because we were nothing , surrounded by not-so-friendly neighbours and had little allies in the region. He and his team implemented bilingual education, opened up the economy to attract foreign investment, built proper housing, blah blah blah. When I got to know news of him passing away in 2014, i shed a tear for him. I know that the world will never ever see a great man again. Even though many media and politicians from the west may give critics like how this man was a dictator and there is no freedom of press and speech in Singapore, blah blah blah. But the truth is I never felt like that in Singapore. On the contrary, i always feel safe back home in Singapore - no worries about gun shooting, daylight robbery, rapes and what-not. It has a very low crime rate. I always have access to all kinds of information in the internet in Singapore and also read critics and trolls of Singapore government in facebook, twitter and all kinds of social media. How is that no freedom of speech then?
Why I feel blessed and lucky
I am a fourth generation Chinese Singaporean. My great grandfather escaped from China, Fujian perhaps during the end of 1800s (just my estimation). I never knew why he moved from China and made his way to Singapore. Never knowing his full story or getting to know his story from my grandfather is one of my regrets. I imagined his story like maybe there were no food during famine or no jobs in Fujian. Maybe he was cheated and sold as laborer to Singapore. Maybe he suffered a lot. His migration laid down family roots in Singapore. When I was little, i took everything for granted. It was when i started to travel outside of Singapore and lived in different places that made me realise how Singapore was very lucky. Singapore had no resources, no jobs, no proper housing, no sound education system, a population of mostly illiterate and diverse migrants and locals - chinese, malays, indians, eurasians who are mostly illiterate, but luckily we had Lee Kuan Yew and his team.
My existence
I am now aware that my existence and also my presence in steemit stems from a few points in history:
- My great grandfather migrated from China to Singapore during the 1800s, produced my parents and then me
- The british colonised Singapore in 1819, set up schools and produced Lee Kuan Yew.
- I am a product of Lee Kuan Yew's implemented bilingual education system which enables me to communicate in English and Chinese fluently and effortlessly.
Of course, there are many points in history in time that happened that lead to my existence. Like how my dad got to know and romanced my mum and juicy stuff happened and then there is me. On the other hand, I often ponder upon myself if the above 3 events did not happen, where will i be. Will there be butterfly effect? I don't know.
I hope this little story have touched you in one way or another. Last but not least, a quote i would like to share:
“I hold that a strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations."
Beatrix Potter