CONFESSIONS

Here's something I wrote just minutes before our plane touched down at Changi...

Reflections of a world host…



It’s all over and done now, and I’m on a red-eyed flight back to Singapore.

To say that I’m not sore about losing would be a lie.

Especially when we had the most visibility and best presentation at the bid.

The only things that comfort me right now are these:

1) We ran a close one with Sweden;
2) We were way ahead Australia and Japan;
3) Everyone who watched us (including the Europeans) thought we had the best presentation with a truly UNIQUE concept.

Considering this was our first time we ran for a world scout event, I’d say we did pretty well.

We showed them, and we showed them good.



The world now knows that Singapore is a force to be reckoned with, and not some small island that “doesn’t stand a chance of winning”.

If we had won, this would’ve been publicized, and everyone would know what we’ve done.

But because we didn’t, this will stay under everyone’s noses.

No one would know what tough competition we were; no one would know how bloody capable we were; no one (especially Singaporeans) would know we were IT.



The thing about us humans is…we always attach negativity to the word “lose”.

It’s like…most would think “oh they lost to the Swedes”.

But the truth of the matter is: We were the biggest winners of the entire conference.

And that’s why I want the whole world to know that we lost to the Swedes.

Because if you know what transpired in that seven days in Tunisia, you’d know that there was nothing more we could do to garner more votes.



Perhaps I was the biggest winner.

I was thrown into something I wasn’t sure I was capable of doing, and I did it.

Doing it was such an emotional experience for me that after we finished our performance, I walked right out of the conference hall and started crying.

Everyone around hugged me and told me how good I was and all…

They didn’t get it.

I wasn’t sobbing because I thought I did horribly.

I was crying because I went out of my comfort zone and made myself and my country proud.