Way back, one thousand years ago, in 1974-75, when I was in the Navy (Vietnam), our troop transport ship, the USS Dubuque, docked in Singapore. I'd never seen such a wide variety of human beings before. I mean there were Indians (East), Chinese, Koreans, Africans, Australians, Filipinos, Thailanders, etc., etc. -- all "getting along" without regard to color, caste, or even economic "circumstances".

Yeah, yeah. I know Singapore has changed drastically since then. It's now considered an acutal authoritarian, even repressive, island-nation.

But just for those briefs moments (we regularly sailed into Singapore Harbor), it was a beautiful thing.