Us (Singapore) watching the USA, UK and Ukraine from a distance...

Ovidia--every other Tuesday I've been trying to finish a draft--after a reshaping shift because apparently Americans won't be uncomfortable with a 'Rubber Tree' mystery and no, there's no such thing as an 'Eraser Tree'. So... a quick shift and I'm now working on the 'Rose Apple Tree Mystery'!

Which makes these jambu doves very happy--

These sweet birds don't just love rose apples ('Jambu' is the local name for rose apples) but the pink blush on the male's chest matches the colour of the ripe fruit.

But it just shows how much influence America has on the rest of the world and I wanted to write about how hopeful the world feels right now, with all the news coming at us from the USA (pre-November Election info is really uplifting), the UK (anti-racists rising to defend the narrative) and Ukraine (where a tiny nation is still holding out against Goliath). It's all very far away from, yet hugely impactful on us here in Singapore.

Anyone who's heard of Singapore knows we are a really small country. And we just celebrated our 59th National Birthday last Saturday, meaning we're a really young nation too.

But it's not all about fireworks and sky divers. We've come a long way since 1965. As our Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said. '... since 1965, Singapore has changed, people have changed, two younger generations have grown up. Now, we are in a country that is safe, secure, prosperous, stable and united' and we have to stay that way,'
This year though, it was the first time it rained on a National Day, since the first National Day in 1966.

People usually credit the 'chilli bawang', onions and chillis skewared on a satay stick, that's supposed to prevent rain from falling.

But this year it did rain earlier in the day, just not long enough to disrupt events.

Yes, our 'worries' are small, relative to what people in other nations (think Gaza and Ukraine) are living with.

And we get joy in small things too. When 17 year old Max Maeder earned Singapore's first (and only) Olympic medal in kitefoiling, it was announced at the National Day Festivities and both President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong congratulated him for giving Singapore a beautiful birthday gift.
I heard he was devastated at only getting the bronze, but he's already inspired a lot of people. Yesterday in the park by my home, two young girls and a boy showed me their 'kitefoiling' training, using an umbrella and a skateboard. They looked like they were nine or ten years old--well, they have four years until the next Olympics!

But the thing about being really small is, 'when elephants make love or war, the grass suffers'. Our survival depends a lot on what's happening in the world around us.
And that's why the news coming out of the USA feels so hopeful right now.

My experience of America comes mostly from Mystery Conferences. Mystery readers and writers are really lovely people, so I've had a very positive impression, despite their former President who, after declaring his intention to be tough on China, recalled the American ambassador to Singapore (no, we're Not part of China).

That's been cleared up. But still, the prospect of that President returning wasn't pleasant, so the groundbreaking swell of support for the other candidate has been great. And it's made me see that not all conservatives feel the same way as he does.

Can I say I believe America has had some really great Republican Presidents instead of dwelling on the recent worst?
Lincoln, who abolished slavery
Roosevelt, who steered the country through the industrial revolution and built the Panama Canal
Einsenhower, who connected the country with interstate highways
and Reagan, who held the USA together and provided a stabilising point for us in the rest of the world as the USSR dissolved.

But now I'm really hoping that the world will see the USA elect a Democratic President who will work to return America to the ideals it was founded on, and that America will again become a beacon of liberty and justice for all--both within and beyond her borders.

(after the November elections, if we still have an embassy in America, maybe we could send her a pineapple? Traditionally, when moving into a new house, you take the pineapple and roll it all over so that your new house will be prosperous and abundant as long as you inhabit it)

But then again, given the chilli bawang didn't work this year maybe not...

The news from the UK is positive too, as anti-racists rise up against violence and in Ukraine, Russia might be coming round to the idea that a sustainable peace would serve the Russian people better than a long drawn out war of 'quick' conquest.

Again, it's not our business, but it's hard not to feel lifted by the positive energy in the world today.
(And yes, back to writing...)