It was not long ago when I last took the public transport. There was an incident which I witnessed and left me feeling very disgusted and I was regretful of my actions.
That day was a Thursday and I did not have any CCA trainings on that day so I took the fastest route possible to reach my home in Tampines. I boarded bus 171 from the bus-stop on the other side of the road and went to Newton MRT. At City Hall station, I was quick enough to “charge” across the other side of the platform and lucky to find an empty non-reserved seat in one of the cubicle. Naturally, I sat down and rested my tired legs which supported by body for the past half an hour.
When the train reached the Kallang station, a grumpy looking elderly woman walked into the carriage I was in. She was carrying two big bags of what seemed like vegetables and meat to me. Before she was walked in, the whole carriage was filled with the loud and not very polite conversation between two teenage boys who were sitting on the reserved seat for the elderly, disabled, people with toddlers and pregnant woman. It was as if the old lady was their strict discipline mistress. When the old lady stepped in, the two teenage boys stopped their conversation instantly and put on two very big ear phones and blasted the music into their ears. They pretended to sleep in order not to give up their seat to the old lady.
The old lady stood next to them, placing her groceries on the ground of the MRT and leaned her body against the plastic transparent “wall” separating her and the teenage boys. One of the teenage boys did a stupid action, which got him into trouble. He opened one of his eyes and looked around to see if the old lady was still around, before “waking” his friend next to him. The old lady saw this and took her chance; she went to them and asked them politely if it was okay if they gave up their seat for her as she could not stand for too long. The teenage boys looked at her and asked if she could wait until they reached their station before giving up their seat. The elderly woman glared at them in disbelief and just shook her head in disappointment. She muttered something in dialect under her breath, which means “Parents are not doing enough to educate their children”. I looked at the elderly woman and felt sad for her, but I did not do my part to help by giving up my seat.
After this incident, I think that the teenagers action reflect the failure the education their school and parents gave them. Respecting the elderly and helping the young are one of the very important values the Chinese uphold. The teenage boys obviously did not have any of these. However, criticizing them is not correct, as I, being a witness, did not do anything to help the elderly woman. I feel that by doing this, I have let my school and parents down by not being able to carry out what they have taught me. I shall make a constant effort next time, by giving up my seat automatically when I see an elderly person come into the same public transport I am taking.
This is truly a common sight in public transport all the time. There may be a couple taking up the reserved seats and refuse to give them up when asked. Many of these cases have been placed on STOMP. Glenn, you should also have taken the initiative to offer your seat to the old lady. The other time when I took the bus, it was packed and due to the fact that the bus was a new SMRT bus, there are four seats in the front which are reserved. When I board the bus, there was a young couple taking up two of the seats. Then, when the bus arrived at Orchard Road, there were a lot of people who boarded the bus. There was this old uncle with a cane who boarded the bus. He clearly has trouble walking. However, the couple refused to move even though the old uncle's age may be greater than the couple's combined. In the end, it was the third person who was seated who gave up his seat to the old uncle. One thing to take note of, the couple was about 20 years-old while the third seated passenger looked like he was approximately 40+ years-old. I hate to say, but there is seriously some problem with the upbringing of the new generations of kids and I feel that the new generation have become weaker and weaker, needing to seat down on the reserved seat even when the train ride takes about ten to fifteen minutes.
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