A wonder, no wonder: A stone cold glare

A wonder, no wonder

Friday, September 04, 2009

A stone cold glare

It was just recently that something was brought to my attention.. which.. kinda ties up to what I've been meaning to write about ever since it happened.

Recently, Mel and I were on the MRT, as usual, (or "The Tube" as my English cousins call it), and just generally ranting about those not giving up their seats, as usual, to those who need it the most. Mel was making comparisons of the culture in Beijing and how some things could be probably adapted into our MRT culture. After which, some brave soul decides to pip up the stone hard courage to talk to us and said:

"Excuse me, I heard about what you two were saying about Singaporeans and I was thinking about it. I got something to say as well"

Well, having said that, she promptly told us in a hushed tone that it wasn't the Singaporeans at fault with most of these MRT shenanigans. According to her, she maintains that the foreigners are the ones who constantly break the rules so to speak. This surprised me (and even more so, Mel) who told her: "Excuse me, but I think you've obviously been sitting on different trains than us". Touché.

But that's what's really at hand isn't it? It's not the question of whodunnit, foreigners or locals, but it's more the question of how can we improve. The problem in the first place is identifying the problem! Now, I'm not all perfect but I consciously try to own up to what I did and then address the issues as much as possible, so help me God. The curious thing is that this aunty - a living, breathing example of the everyday commuter who suffers the same injustices as the rest of us, can refuse to own up on behalf of the collective Singaporeans who break the rules of social etiquette on the MRT! That's just it. Failure to actually identify the problem in the first place! No wonder the daily MRT commute is always frustrating for most people.. not because of the quality of the MRT, but because of the people around you. The MRT quality's great by the way! Proudly, best in Asia me thinks. Wish I could say the same thing for the people.

Issue is this: People just refuse to own up and take social responsibility. Or simply, people just refuse to own up to reality. It's always "It isn't my fault!". Well, as (former) President Clinton said once "It depends on what "IS" is." My point exactly. It depends on what is! If reality is that you are at fault then there's really no going around it is there? That's the thing. Some people are like that really, who refuse to own up to reality and still persist to live in their own made up fantasy that they're always right somehow, someway. Like MRT aunty. Like someone in each of our lives we have experienced at least once before. Hell, even ourselves even! I said it the last time I wrote, I said it before and now I'll say it again. "It's not my fault" heard that one before? Singapore idol boy, aunty on MRT, and other various infamous people who we've all come across one time or the other. well, I say, one time is one time too many!

Disclaimer
Wait.. I digress. I clarify my last entry was about A BUNCH OF people who:
A) Flood my facebook with status messages (approx. 3 of them)
B) Flood my facebook with game messages about some Farm and some Zoo and some fishing game (approx. 7 of them)
C) Casual bloggers who talk about where they went
D) All examples were metaphors pertaining to me and my experiences. Any and all relation to anything is merely conincedental. If you - somehow - find what I say - somehow - targetted at any one single person or you, then you're a very, very sad individual.

Now, for the benefit of those who think that I'm in no position to comment because of my non-existent street cred.

AND/OR

Those who feel that I'm going all high and mighty, coming from a vaunted position of hallowed values and systems imbued into me.

AND/OR

Those who think that this (and for that matter, the rest of my entries) are direct insult shots to the heart.

AND/OR

Those who think I'm making references to my faultless and pristine upbringing, shamelessly gloating about it and making you feel all crummy inside:

I say two things:

1) I am not in a position to judge and I am not. Problems we are guilty of, me included. I merely comment on issues that surround all of us in our daily lives, me included. If you think I'm judging or directly insulting you or doing a good self-blowjob of highlighting my holy values then it's one of two things:

- You're an idiot.

- You're a sad, sad, defensive, sensitive prick.

2)This.

Today's Song: Sweetest Goodbye - Maroon 5

MRT Watch: New trend: Share priority seats! Share the blame! Share the shame! (more to come soon!)

Confucius says: A wise man no play leapfrog with unicorn.

In totally unrelated news: I found her name! Singapore Idol contestant:
Mae Sta Maria. My prediction: Mae's in it to win it!

posted by The Als @ 2:07 am

1 Comments:

At 1:58 pm, Ying said…

In your own words.

BEST ENTRY EVER.

OMG the lolcatz pict & the Confucius say is freaking hilarious la! :D

Yes. Stupid, irresponsible aunty.

As I said it before, one will ever improve unless one first find the courage to own up to one's mistakes.
Failure is the mother of all sucess.
But if an individual cannot be brave enough to accept his own role in his own failure, that person can never improve.

Or rather Singaporeans specifically.
Youth Olympics coming up.
Let's see how gracious you idiots can get by then.

(Wo ziu she xi huan Beijing ying!!!!!!!)