Tattoo Power for Kindness!

A few days ago, a Friend of 50 years shared with me a story over dinner.  Her lady friend was comfortably seated on an MRT train when a pregnant lady boarded the train.  She stood up to give her seat to her but before she could take it, a young man rushed across her and took the seat.


The young man settled down and started to wear his earphones and began watching a show on his iPad, completely ignoring the pregnant lady in front of him. It was obvious to him, and everyone else around that just-vacated seat that it was meant for the pregnant lady as the one who gave it up was still on the train, now standing next to the pregnant lady.

Unfortunately, no one spoke up for either the lady who gave up the seat or the pregnant woman who was meant to be the beneficiary of that kind act.  It was a classic case of the bystander effect. The kind lady who gave up the seat then spoke up.  "Hello," she said ever so gently, "I gave up the seat for this lady, not for you," pointing to the pregnant lady standing next to her.  There was no response as the young man was fully absorbed with his iPad.  "Hello!" She said again, this time more assertively.  The young man looked up as if surprised and retorted, "What's your problem, woman?!"

She was completely taken aback by such utter rudeness and unreasonableness.  She was trying to find words to respond to him, when a heavily tattooed man, came up from nowhere, stood in front of the young man and pointed his finger at him, accompanied by a typical threat in Hokkien.  Simply translated, he was told to give his seat to the pregnant lady or else...

To the great amusement of the two ladies, the young man jumped up instantaneously and literally walked away with his tails between his legs.

This story reminds me of a quote attributed to the infamous gangster Al Capone of Chicago.


As the face of kindness, I am often asked if kindness is still relevant in our society today.  More specifically, I am told that it is not relevant because kindness appears weak and therefore taken advantage of in this dog-eat- dog world.

For that reason, when I was interviewed by Susan Long some years ago for the Straits Times, she titled the piece Kindness with Muscles.

I was also asked by the folks who were concerned about scams in the charity world to write a piece which I titled Cheated by Kindness.

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman, speaking at the Clean and Green Carnival pointed out that in spite of all the efforts, we are not making much progress in keeping Singapore clean.

Many of us who are seeking to keep Singapore Clean are very frustrated by the lack of progress. The soft approach does not seem to work. Perhaps it’s time to try the Tattoo Power in enforcing the law against littering in a more concerted, intensive and sustainable manner.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is priority/reserved seat an entitlement?

Image
Photo: I don't like to squeeze on the MRT Facebook Last week, I took the MRT and it was quite packed. I am a senior citizen and I had hoped that someone would be kind enough to offer me a seat, as has happened before. But not this time. I was standing in front of a younger lady who was seated on the priority seat and busily engaged with her smartphone. I tried to make eye contact with her but chose not to verbally request for the seat. I took the opportunity to do a personal experiment. She looked up at me momentarily, but quickly returned to her smartphone. At the City Hall MRT, we both alighted. I gave way to her as she made her exit and I followed. Quickening my steps, I caught up with her, smiled and said, “Good morning. May I ask you a couple of questions?” She returned a smile and said, “Sure.” I asked her if she would give up her seat to someone in greater need, like a senior citizen. And she replied, “Of course, I would.” I then gently announced that I was the Senior
Read more

Neighbours by Chance, Friends by Choice

Image
Some of my friends have asked me why I have stopped blogging. The truth is I have been busy writing my book Through the Valley: The Grace of Ageing and Dying Well . Now that I have completed it, I will try to blog more regularly. Please accept my apologies. I am a champion of good neighbourliness and have been promoting the idea that we can be friends by choice even though we are neighbours by chance. Over the years, I have reached out to my neighbours by organizing Let’s Makan and initiating greetings and other social contacts to develop friendship. And what have I to show for my effort, you may ask. Truth is, there is latent kindness in all of us – waiting to be unlocked by simple initiatives of reaching out with a smile, a word of greeting, a simple conversation and an opportunity to have a drink or a meal together. Here’s how my neighbours have responded to us: One evening, I came home after work only to find that my wife was not in and I did not have the house key wi
Read more

Unleash the Singa in You

Image
After more than 30 years of service, first as the Courtesy Lion and then as the Kindness Lion, Singa has stepped aside. As Singapore’s mascot for kindness, Singa’s letter calling on real people to step up brought an unprecedented depth of discussion on the topic of kindness. Whether on social media or through letters to the press, Singaporeans were eager to share why they felt Singa should stay or go. There were also serious questions asked of the state of graciousness in Singapore. Press and blogs on Singa's resignation It is evident that kindness still matters to people and that is an encouraging sign of our potential for pro-social change as a nation. The conversations that took place were important in helping us to take stock as a people, and set the tone for how we can move forward in our quest for a kinder society. In his 30 years of faithful service, Singa served as a reminder of the positive values we should constantly strive for.
Read more