Thursday, February 01, 2007
Personally, I believe that Singaporeans are a pretty considerate and gracious lot. Be it on the bus or in the train, whenever someone needs a seat, meaning the pregnants, parents with troddlers, elderly, handicapped and people with heavy carriers, I would dare say that a general of 85% to 90% chance of them getting seats. The commutters offer their seats to these people. Be it human instinct or even if we are "educated" by the government to do so, we do offer what we can to them on public transports. However, witnessing an incident on the train yesterday makes me wonder.
This pair of mother (in her 50s, 60s) and daughter (late 20s, early 30s) boarded the train and the daughter just simply stare at this lady sitting closest to the exit while the mother was shifting to the centre of the cabin. There were a couple of commutters who were about to offer their seats when the daughter pulled the mother to stand in front of the lady she was staring. The lady then stood up and offered her seat. The mother took it and then the daughter just leaned against the panel next to the seat.
I know it was rather rude of me when I accidentally made a rather audible comment, "Wow, like that pressure people to give up seats."
First, it was the stare that obviously was indicating, "I want that seat."
Then, it was taking the offer for granted. Not a sign of gratitude. No smile. No "thank-you".
Third, this is just a personal conclusion. The daughter was a lazy one. She simply wanted to lean against the panel, hence not wanting her mother to move to the center of the cabin where people do want to offer their seats with a smile.
Something comforting.
At the other side of the cabin, seats were offered to two elderly with a smile on their faces and smiles and "thank you" are being returned.
I think it's very important that appreciation is shown, a smile, a nod or thank-you. Even if campaigns on graciousness go on and on, and people are just offering their help because they are "told" and "educated" to do so, the probability of the success for such campaigns will be very low. People can just pretend that they are in a rush or simply asleep.
Face it, this is a two-way communication. As long as one party does not want to respond, nothing can be done. I believe that graciousness is something that we can ought to practice, however, one should not take this for granted, for if this was to happen, graciousness does not exist.
