Call to arms

Life's thread is pretty attenuate, isn't it?

Despite being pulverised by more law suits than what you can find in a dry cleaner's, Mr Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, the closest man we have to a Mandela, had finally succumbed to a physical ailment.

You could have thought his spirit must have been broken by the vicissitudes that life (and a certain political party) had thrown at him.

You could have thought he would have dug a hole and hid himself from the menacing gleam of a sharpened metaphorical hatchet.

You could have thought he would be suffocated and buried under an avalanche of neverending debts.

But that man refused to bow. Refused to go down on bended knees. Refused to be intimidated.

I saw him before selling his books. I was touched with the gravitas and dignity he possessed then. I marvelled at his unflinching conviction to make it right, for the country that he loved.

Sadly, his was a clarion cry that was not heeded or taken note of in a hypnotic propagandistic cadence spun by the white shirts.

Our lives are getting harder. Every single dollar is painstakingly eked out amidst the wobbling foundations of our jobs. You think twice before you spend. Bills are criss-crossed in red, and your billfold is emptying faster than Mas Selamat on steroids.

The only thing of value we have these days is our dignity. And that vote, we have in our hands.

I can't make things right on my own, and I am helpless - a mangy (under)dog with a whimper of a bark.

But many people can make it right - if only we stop for a while and think.

Many men have died for their country before, and Mr JBJ too passed away fighting for a Singapore he loved.

Life's thread is attenuate and all tyrannies will fall - there has to be a chink. That chink is possible; medical care may be advanced but it cannot fend away the hatchet of The Grim Reaper.

When the card falls, the house of cards will collapse - and for that to happen, you, with the valuable vote, will have to play a part.