When I first came home, I greeted my colleagues "good morning", and asked how they were whenever I stepped into the office, and would get enough dirty looks to spoil my day.
I hold doors for strangers who either think they are automatic doors or give me strange looks. I give up my seats on the train to those who needed them more, and people would stare so hard that the offers would be turned down almost everytime.
When FAMILIES with children gathered around to watch someone being bashed up, without doing anything to intervene (they actually cleared up enough space for the assault to continue!!), all I needed to do was YELL at the attackers and all scrammed.
I don't know what my people are made of. They can be so inconsiderate, callous, agonizingly selfish and territorial it makes daily living here a dread (that's why I get out of my shell only once a month). And they can't seem to stop the cycle of frustrating one another to death!
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Kindness Month is kicking off on April 4 and organisers want to bring their message into homes and offices.
Even though the idea of showing kindness is a simple one, organisers said it takes more than a catchy jingle to change the social habits of people.A survey was conducted last December to find out how much weight Singaporeans gave to being kind and gracious, and how well they fared in each of these areas. The overall result was a mere 58 out of 100.
The survey also found that six in ten people, out of 500 respondents, were not too impressed with the level of social graces around them.
"As drivers, Singaporeans are rude — they take advantage, break the rules when they can, it’s a me—first attitude," one man said.
But surprisingly, most Singaporeans were not too upset over the behaviours of others in the food court. These include failing to return food trays and leaving tissue paper packets or umbrellas on seats to indicate that they have been taken.
One lady said: "’Choping’ seats with tissue paper is fine, especially in Raffles Place because everybody else is doing it — it’s like the culture here. Of course at times, it can be quite embarrassing to do that, but we really have no choice. We’re only given one hour for lunch!"
The Singapore Kindness Movement wants to get the young started on the courtesy drive.
Koh Poh Tiong, chairman, Singapore Kindness Movement, said: "We’re not perfect, but I’m an optimist. I’ve got full faith in Singaporeans. I think, generally, Singaporeans are a bit shy to be expressive.
"I noticed that when my son opened a door for a lady, some of his friends said, ’Why are you doing this?’. But if we can teach children at a very young age, it’ll become second nature to them."
The organisers hope that through celebrity ambassadors and public outreach initiatives this year, they can encourage more people to show kindness.
4 comments:
Generally Singaporean are behaving like Chinese but a much laid back version. So, we have a fusion of Chinese and Western culture, plus a bit of indoctrination from LKY. So, we're also Kiasu (afraid to lose). But i've grown to like them. They took good care of me when i first came to singapore as an immigrant. But then, there's not much difference between M'sia/Singaporen, perhaps M'sia is minus the kiaso aspect. Chinese from both side of the causeways are also a rather tolerant bunch, nevermind that we can be a bit irritating at times.
In fact, i ended up marrying a Singaporean.
Hahaha...Sage, I KNEW you'll have something to say! I felt like I was writing to YOU when I was putting up the post LOL!
I like my country, and I adore LKY (I'm serious, his biography is one of my favorite books), that's why it's sad to come back to a bunch of very unhappy people.
I would have married a Singaporean had I not met D LOL!! But D's the funniest. He's still putting a very artificial "la" at the end of sentences. I had to tell him that in certain contexts, he has to use "meh", "mah", "leh" etc. My attempt to get him assimilated has been futile - people can still tell right away he's not local. :-)
Oh, Sage, I was born in M'sia too. Wonder if we're from the same kampong...LOL!
I spent the first 3 years of my life climbing trees and sleeping in chicken dens when the adults were not watching. I can't believe I climbed trees as a toddler.
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