Taking things for granted

A social phenomenon?

I had the chance to share a lift with someone living on the 8th floor. He's about 25 years of age, tall, dark, with both hands free and wearing a "Jungle Confidence Course" T-shirt (ok, so he's not afraid of the trees and the creepy crawlies). This is what happened:

I entered the lift first, and pressed my floor's button. He came in after me and immediately lay his back against the lift wall, away from the button control panel.

Him: 8th floor (loudly), please (softly as if he's talking to the ant crawling on the lift floor, and looked down without any eye contact with me)

Me: (Pressed his floor's button and rolled my eyes)

Upon reaching his level, he stepped out without any word of thanks.

Fine! I'm being petty and whining over such trivial matter. But a lot of young people these days are so full of themselves. They live in a "I, Me and Myself" world. What is the root of the problem? Parents? Peers? Media? Or our "favourite" culprit, the Government?

A matter of upbringing?

Scenario 1:
On the NEL today, I saw a 4 or 5 year old boy running around on the train carriage. Suddenly he slowed down and walked towards a lady and tried to twist her nose, as if it was a door knob. That lady simply brushed his hand away, without an expression nor a word of reprimand. The boy grinned and continue to run around the carriage.

I supposed that lady is the mother of that boy. So why did she react in that way? Was it right to not disciplining the child there and then? Or has she given up on him (his discipline)?

Scenario 2:
It was a Math workshop for parents. Strictly parents, no children. However, a few parents brought along their kids (around 3 to 4 years old). Fine! They may not have adult supervision at home and hence they brought them along. However halfway through the lecture, one of the kids became restless and started to talk rather loudly and playing noisily with his water bottle on the table. The mother is so engrossed in my colleague's lecture that she was actually oblivious to her child's behaviour. Strangely, my colleague's lecture was so captivating that all the rest of the adults were also oblivious to that restless kid.

I'm proud of my colleague who delivered such a captivating lecture. However I am even more proud of the parent audience who displayed such high tolerance of noise and utmost graciousness.

So are the above examples of good parenting? (Yah, so what's new?) I may not have the right to judge them because I am not a parent myself. But I am sure if these kids are not taken to task, they will be climbing onto the heads of every adult and soon when they grow up ...

"...We are Singapore, Singaporeans. We are Singapore, SINGAPOREANS..."

* Yay *

( --___--"')

Hey, but I'm still proud to be a Singaporean, ok? Really! I'm just skeptical about the "future" of our nation, something which I'm trying to mould.

A matter of speaking up and standing for your rights

If all of us us were to play our part in speaking up and standing up for our rights, will such social "misbehaviours" be condoned in our society today? Will our society be a much better place for us to live in? So what is stopping us from doing so? Most of us are well-educated (generally in these times), well-informed and too well-conscious of ourselves (and pride) that even though we think we are right, we do not have the courage (or worst, can't be bothered) to stand up. Just how many of us would dare to speak up?

I would if I'm in a really bad mood (though that is not a good excuse). Once I told off a teenager who was blocking the path of outgoing train commuters at the MRT station. I can't help it. She got a shock, the people around me looked shock, and so was I. But it felt good inside *grin*.

Try it. Maybe the world can be a better place. If there is a job position for a public invigilator or whistle blower, i'll be the first applicant! It will then not be just moulding the future of our nation, but the present of our nation too.