Goodness Gracious Me
The Government would like to promote this culture of graciousness amongst the people of Singapore. But is such a lofty aspiration even possible?
You seriously don’t need to peer very deep for a shitload of examples that showcase our ever-prevalent exhibits of selfishness and lack of civic mindedness.
You just need to wake up and turn your head. You may not even need to leave your house. Sometimes your neighbor blares the stereo as though the whole block is some kind of nightclub. And let’s not get started about weekend karaoke sessions at home. The government should notify those guilty parties that prolonged noise pollution can drive the mind insane.
Knives are still readily available in every sector of our sunny shores.
On any given day, you’ll be able to see an elderly person looking forlornly at the young able bodied person curled up in the seat specifically allocated for the needy on the bus. Sometimes, the young person shyly pretends to sleep. While the more thick skinned blatantly cement their large ass in the seat and have no shame whatsoever.
Or some pregnant woman having to do an impromptu pole dance on the train in an effort to keep her balance.
Some sales personnel have such poor attitudes their mannerisms are able to incite hate rallies. For goodness sake, it’s your blardy rice bowl. Can’t you at the very least put up an act so I will be more willing to part with my money?
I also pity people in the service sector. Look at the amount of complaints that rain down each day. Often, the complaints stem from an isolated chronic bunch; stingy with praise and super enthusiastic with airing their grievances. They’re never satisfied with whatever is presented to them.
And what about the people who refuse to learn from the recent pandemics and stubbornly continue to spit on the ground and everywhere in between? Although Lao Lee strongly recommends water preservation and active recycling, I don’t this comes close to his original intentions.
Clearly, any respect for anyone except ourselves has nose dived. And since the carrot and stick approach is unable to produce any clear improvements, I propose the following name and shame tactics.
Firstly, to ensure the seats allocated for the needy on public transportation serves its intended purpose, the government should empower station or bus inspectors the authority to take a picture and very (very) vocally instruct the person to leave the seat. The picture would then be on display near the top-up machines for all to enjoy.
Rude sales staff should meet their doom with punishment also. By all means, counsel them and allow them to keep their jobs. However, since lessons must be learnt, make them wear underwear over their head while working.
Neighbors with repeated audile deficits will need to soundproof their homes. Simple.
And chronic complainers should be identified and this information disseminated nationwide. And once they’re up to their nonsense again, the companies involved should be given the authority to just tell the involved a kindly, "fuck you". With a smile of course.
We are, afterall, aiming for a more gracious society, aren't we?
