Say what, PM Lee?

Difficult night. Menopausal, I suppose.

Busy afternoon at advice charity dealing with, amongst others, a disabled, breathless but ever so polite Iraqi, a tearful Brazilian woman bullied at work, a mother facing repossession, Kosovan man who felt he was being badly treated by a local council, etc.

Thankfully husband had dinner ready when I got home. What a nice change!

Feels like I'm coming down with a cold. Bah!

And then I read PM Lee pays tribute to NSmen with $100m of vouchers in which he 'described NS as "a universal rite of passage" for every male Singaporean, noting that it had become a national institution'.

Does that sound familiar? Didn't someone just make that point recently? O! It was me.

Here's the rest of what I could find on Straitstimes online:
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National service is a defining part of the Singapore identity, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as he called on younger generations of Singaporeans to do their part to defend their country and understand the strategic realities it faces.

PM Lee on Monday paid tribute to the more than 900,000 men who have served the nation, as he announced $100 million worth of vouchers and free NSmen club memberships to recognise their efforts at a dinner that capped year-long celebrations of 45 years of national service.

He described NS as "a universal rite of passage" for every male Singaporean, noting that it had become a national institution. He also praised NSmen for serving faithfully.

Mr Lee added that he was "cautiously optimistic" that the region will remain peaceful, but warned that Singapore cannot take its present peace for granted, and stressed continued efforts to build up the Singapore Armed Forces and Home Team.
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I wonder if PM Lee was inspired by my letter or that he, too, had been thinking anthropologically and decided to use Van Gennep's concept of 'rite of passage' to make his point.