Pampered... Or not?

Posted in Mar 28, 2011 in Straits Times, a woman was photographed carrying the backpack of a soldier walking ahead of her. Since then, the picture had sparked off a heated debate about whether the current generation of youths, also known as Gen Y, is too pampered.

Most netizens were critical of the soldier, but a handful still gave him the benefit of the doubt, suggesting that he might have been injured. Personally, I think that the soldier was too soft and pampered, and not instead, injured. From the picture, I can see that he does not seemed to be suffering from any serious injury. If he did suffer from a slight injury, he should still be in the right condition to carry his own backpack. If he is in a war, an injury is inevitable, even if its just a scratch. And in that case, nobody would be able to help him carry his own backpack as they have to carry their own too and there would not be any maid to help.

I strongly believe that the soldier is just too soft and pampered. If he finds it too heavy, then I think that he did not receive enough training. Last year, during my OBS camp, I had to carry a backpack filled to the brim with filled bottles, clothes, rain coats, tentage parts, cooking pots, food, sleeping bags, other people’s stuff, and trek for 15km around Pulau Ubin. And I do not think that his backpack contains so much stuff. And if I can do it, so can he.