echelon
the whole society revolves around the structure of society being divided into several echelons, or in laymen terms, some may prefer to call it the class of society, or rather social status.
characteristically, they are divided into the low, middle and high. for the lower echelons of society, the people there may be complaining of the problems they face as a result of social stigmatisation. more often then not, they are constantly requesting for the abolishment of such a social structure. but seriously, as much as humantarians may want it to be abolished, it cannot. It is a social structure that exists because of our meritocratic society. There will always be things thrown at you, but it is your prerogative on whether you want to find the best option to save yourself, and perhaps even push yourself to get out of the lower echelons of society.
Ironically, the higher echelons of society are also calling for the social stigmatisation to end. Plainly for 2 reasons. The first, to show that they really care about the society after it has given so much wealth and status to the rich. The second? It's just to show how bored they are. Only the nothing-better-to-do segments will attempt to remove the social structure currently present, ultimately removing social stigmatisation. Not that i am making this up, but just think... The higher echelons of society are usually the more educated and literate part of society. If that's the case, how would they not know that abolishing such a social structure cannot be done and that social stigmatisation cannot be removed. My definition of the removal of social stigmatisation is when even the lower echelons of society are invited to join fanciful parties, and made to show that they belong. And that cannot be done.
Imagine a hobo showing up at a fanciful party with his ungraceful eating manners. The thought of hobos going to parties just to stock up good food so that they don't have to search through rubbish chutes for rotten and stale food will disgust anyone present at the party. But can they be blamed for such mannerisms? They simply cannot. For they are just ensuring that they can survive another day.
The problems of the lower echelons do not begin with the mere problem of monetary gap between them and the rich(higher echelons). And the sad fact, their problems will not be solved even after they manage to earn a decent living for themselves. Be it monetary or non-monetary aid, judging from current policies being formulated and carried out, they may be helpful to the lower echelons of society, but it is not enough. I'm sure the Government has heard enough of people complaining that the aid the lower echelons of society receive is not enough. But I'm here to state my point.
I'm in fact happy when i hear that the Government has put in place healthcare(Mr. Khaw Boon Wan) and several education laws since a long time ago to help bridge the gap of the poor and the rich. But being happy is not enough. I want to see policies that is enough to make me grin, smile and laugh for 3 days straight. And to summarise the use of formulating such policies, they are meant to give everyone a similar starting line of life. A starting line which gives us many opportunities to maneuver between the several echelons of society. This objective is something that I couldn't have asked for more. But, the current problem now, is that we are all not at the same starting line.
On paper, education and finance etc., the lower,middle and higher echelons are rather similar. The policy of compulsory 16 years of education, the giving out of monetary rebates and aids to help solve the financial woes of these people are some of the policies that will make me smile. But I will not laugh or smile for 3 days straight. For I realised an apparent problem. Let me address this issue in the point children, since my age is rather close to those of children and would be better to relate to them. For children, family is most important to them. Reason being, they are new to this world and do not have many friends whom they can relate to yet. Or rather, i might think that this applies to adults also, where in this harsh world, there are not many people whom you can trust. Therefore, family is in fact a place where they fall back on. And on the basis of family, the children of the lower echelons of society are on the losing end and on that front, they do not start at the same starting line of life as us.
Generally speaking, good relatives are very rare in the lower echelons of society. In fact, in the many segments of society, there are not many good parents. But for the middle and higher echelons of society, they are rich enough to hire personal nannies or tutors to sort of 'parent' their children. While children of the lower echelons of society have the same material starting line as us, they do not have the same moral starting line as us. They do not belong to a conducive environment for their learning. They often have parents which are disruptive in their learning, and will often distaste their children's thirst for learning. (I choose to believe that all children have a insatiable thirst for learning) No matter how insatiable their thirst is, it will eventually disintegrate as their family becomes too disruptive for their learning. These children from a young age have to learn to adapt to their disruptive parents, who might love them, but do not know how to love them.
What I am suggesting is more family bonding activities to be held for the lower echelons of society. While some may say that the number of such activities are already enough, but i beg to differ. Many of such activities have been held in several HDB or private housing estate. But the participation rate from the lower echelons of society is meagre. And in such activites, perhaps more focus and emphasis is to teach parents how to love their child, and ultimately creating a conducive environment for the child. The problems that such activities face is that the poor families have to fight nail and tooth to survive by the day, and they often do not have time for such activities. And in their words, they do not have time to delve in such useless activities. I believe that families are the building blocks of society, thus, the Government should seek to undertake the role to bring more of such families to participate such teach-you-how-to-love-your-child activities. Let them see the benefits on such activities, that such activities will only make their family a more bonded one that can see off all problems, and to allow their children a fairer starting line position in the race of life.
Disclaimer:
I wanted to type this down because I suddenly have the nerving thought of me falling into the lower echelons of society. This is a harsh world. And the very next day, I might fall into the lower echelons of society without me knowing.
For those who have seen this blog post, please attempt to replicate this and ensure that these thoughts hit the right people. For people other than Singaporeans reading this, please attempt to convey this to your respective Governments. For Singaporeans, please replicate this and attempt to bring it to the attention of the Singapore Government. And i'm very sure that being the citizen oriented Government they are, I'm sure they will do something about this.
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