As his fingers moved independently on the keyboard like little dancers on a black dance floor (tic tac tic tac), his mind began to wonder back some 2 years and 4 months ago. 12th January 2007. That was the last time he saw his pink IC, and also a big part of his freedom.
To anyone else, 12th January 2007 wasn't a day worth taking note of. Its not a special day, nothing much happened, there wasn't a bomb explosion, or a tsunami, or earthquake. It was just a normal day. Yet, on this normal day, this young man's life took a big turn. He still remember he was wearing white. A white polo-T and a pair of jeans. In the morning, he was with someone he loved. And that someone he loved accompanied him on a bus (a long bus ride which he wished had lasted forever) to Pasir Ris. They said good bye at the train station and that was the last time he was allowed to love anyone.
He met his family at the shopping centre nearby and then together, made their way to the island also known as Pulau Tekong. And that was where he last saw the pink card until 2 years and 4 months later. "Put your IC in here and we will give it back to you later." From then on, he turned green.
Recruit, Private, Corporal, 3rd Sergeant, 2nd Sergeant. Lets do a little fast forwarding here. The life of a green man can get a little boring at times, and besides, there are other people who don't like green men to talk about their green lives. They say its a secret. A secret that all men in this nation knew.
So this green man went about doing his green things for 1 year and 10 months. And just when they were about to give him back his pink, he decided to stay green somemore. The other green men he worked with went about getting back their colours, and he just simply stayed green. Quite a number of people were surprised. They say its a crazy thing to do. But somehow, the green man seemed to enjoy his green life. Because to him, it was not so green afterall, other colours managed to sneak their way into his life.
A multi-coloured man on the inside, a green man on the outside. Thats what you can call him. He stayed on, for another 6 months. And during this 6 months, he thoroughly enjoyed himself. Green didn't seemed like a bad colour afterall. Thats when he slowly realised, green is a colour. Like pink, yellow, blue, orange, green is actually a colour as well.
Today marks the end of the 6 months for this man. Today is the day this man got his pink back. But he didn't feel too much of a difference. Perhaps, just perhaps, he has discovered that pink and green are just a part of a million colours there are in this world. And he is glad that he was green once.
However, one thing is for certain today. He is free. Freedom has found its way back to him, or he has found his way back to freedom. There was no longer the need for him to wake up at 4.50am to go to the green place, or have his phone by him 24/7 in case other green men needed him (although it became a habit for him to have his phone by him 24/7).
A free multi-coloured man, jobless. He has another 3 months before becoming a not-so-free multi-coloured man, and he is intending to do the following in this 3 months:
- Finish FFX, FFX-2, Kingdom Hearts, FFXII (if Her Highness Eleanor the Graceful decides to lend it to him)
- Get his fitness back and this includes: Swimming, Soccer, Cycling, Running, Gym.
- Read ALOT.
- Catch up and fellowship with his friends.
- Help his region with the region event.
- Hold the biggest (and probably the only) birthday party in his life.
- Maybe teach tuition in case he runs out of money to spend.
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