By Alan Ho Chok Chan
Don’t get me wrong.
I am not jumping onto the Olympic Gold bandwagon.
Neither do I cherish hanging on to Schooling’s coattails or bask in his glory.
Olympic Gold Medal
An Olympic Gold medal for Singapore is of course, rare as the Dodo bird, a marvellous achievement that people of my generation never dared to dream of witnessing. Herein lies the jubilation.
But a world class achievement, whether it be a Nobel prize, a Pulitzer, an Olympic Gold, or any world First, in Medicine, Science, Art, or Technology, is never the result of luck, chance, or an act of God.
It represents the culmination of years of effort and toil, sometimes lifelong ; brave and stout hearts need to overcome countless hurdles, and failures, all the while staying focussed, dispelling insults, derogatory remarks, criticism, discouragements, even social ostracism. Always plodding on, believing in oneself, and taking the long, tough road forwards…
Then the day arrives when he achieves the unachievable, and the accolades begin…
The victory, success, or breakthrough, at the end, seemed simple, effortless…and he can only show the world a wry smile. No explanation would suffice, only he understands –the sweat, the tears, the frustrations, the toil…
I believe the only person who deserves to rejoice and celebrate is he who wears the laurels.
A party of one.
But of course such is not the way of the world.
I am gladdened that the first Olympic gold may spur other aspirants on to other super-human efforts, in whatever field of endeavor, and bring glory to this city state.
And that, is the true significance of this victory.
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Gold
As the nation basks in the afterglow of a golden triumph, allow me to ponder on a subject close to my heart : GOLD.
Why gold ?
To snide remarks by critics who believe gold rightfully belongs in the mouth (dental fillings), around the neck (jewellery or Olympic medals), around the pinkie (ring), I counter with these rhetorical questions as repartee :
Why is the winner’s medal always minted in gold ? (Why not steel, copper or titanium ?)
Why is the mythical treasure at the end of the rainbow always a pot of gold ( and not coal, coffee or curry chicken?)
Why is the colloquial expression : “as good as gold “ accepted by all who hear it?
Since antiquity, gold has always been treasured, hoarded. Kings use it to sponsor wars, expeditions, build powerful dynasties. The mining of gold was strictly controlled.
The Bible has more than 400 references to gold, the most famous of which must be the destruction of the golden calf by Moses’ tablets from Mt Sinai.
Since gold was mined in the time of Pharaohs it has always been treasured and regarded as the ultimate store of value.
The first gold coins in circulation was minted in the time of Croesus, king of Lydia (modern day Western Turkey )
Gold is malleable, divisible, and indestructible.
As a medium of exchange it is acceptable universally. It is essentially Stateless money.
Accepted by all states but owned by none.
Anybody can own it, but nobody can claim exclusive proprietorship.
Gold is the ultimate currency, the universal store of value.
Paper Currency
Even when paper or fiat currency was invented, it was pegged to, and wholly exchangeable with gold. This is known as the gold standard. First started in the British empire, eventually in the 1950s, 59 nations accepted the gold standard and issued paper currencies in proportion to the amount of gold stored in the national vault.
A nation can only print as many dollars as the amount of gold it kept in its vaults. Thus in good times, the money supply correspondingly increased to facilitate trade, nation building and other activities. In economic downturns, the money supply shrinks, this reins in spending, encourages hard work and savings. The gold standard thus offered a natural system of checks and balances. And economic cycles are not subject to violent booms and busts, or prolonged downturns and depressions/deflations, except in a world war.
In post World War ll, the US emerged as the strongest nation, with the strongest currency, and its central bank carried 70% of the world supply of gold. So, naturally, what it said was Law. And the greenback, pegged at $35 to an oz of gold, (up from the price of $20.67 per oz before the Depression, it took a presidential order by Roosevelt to re-peg the dollar to gold ) ,is 100% redeemable. Hence the term coined : as good as gold.
This paved the way for the greenback to replace gold as the universal currency.
Written on 16 August 2016 to commemorate Singapore’s first Olympic Gold.
Dr Alan Ho Chok Chan is a Paediatrician in private Family Practice. He also spends time golfing, swimming, playing tennis, wine tasting, playing guitar and singing. He is also a bibliophile and voracious reader.
