ku10

I’ve ranted on the suffocatingly serene, the grinding vanilla of the corporation and of the Singaporean society that magnifies it. But, the situation’s not unforgiveable. Let me explain.

For a moment, I’m going to step in front of myself and look back. This corporate way helps define me. My identity comes from my desire to resist it, from my modest disgust with it, from my —in short, what I am is how I react, and this is what I’m currently reacting against. The corporation lets me feel unique; it’s my fount of individuality.

In a perverse way, it galvanizes me to be me—it prods me to seek out new music, interesting art, intriguing movies, and all that other hipster crap I’m into. Of course, I do these foremost because I like ‘em, but snug in my subconscious is the threat: stop and lose what you see as yourself.

Imagine that the whole world has the same values you do. Everyone thinks what you think is great; everyone praises your decisions because they’re their own; everyone has your morals and shares your delights and your disgusts, you taste and your thoughts. How would you define yourself? You wouldn’t—definition comes from difference.

Yes, I don’t squint when I look at the bright side, because I’m out of here in a year and my many colleagues aren’t. But that, itself, is part of the point.

Do I think bland complacency with life is bad? Do I think that living a secure but pointless life is bad? Do I dislike peeling myself away for pennies so that others may profusely profit? With my best brief black-and-white Bush-ness, I’ll say “sure.” But are these things really?

Don’t praise mediocrity, but appreciate it.