Singapore - A Kind Nation. (standard:Inspirational stories, 1311 words)
Author: girl2love	Added: Aug 05 2006	Views/Reads: 3167/2084	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
My experiences on public transport that have touched and changed my life.

Singapore - A Kind Nation. by Alicia Ong. 

Now, whoever said Singaporeans are unkind, selfish, uncourteous, HAS TO
BLOODY EAT THEIR WORDS. Up till now, there have only been rare 
incidents where I witnessed selfishness. You know, there is a lot of 
love in this world. Yes, even in Singapore. Especially in Singapore. 
Where we get crticised and pin-pointed for being kaisu, kaisi, and all 
the other negative things people generalize as "typical singaporeans". 
But, really, take a good look around you. Is everyone like that? Maybe 
someone is just having a bad day. So they become cranky. I'm sure that 
nobody is always nasty to others. I believe that people have good 
hearts in them. I really don't get why people only focus on the 
negative things that happen. One single bad experience, you'll 
remember. But, what about something good that you saw happening? That 
made you smile? Made you feel good the whole day? 

Personally, I feel that Singaporeans are kind and good-hearted people.
Here's the statistics. Just in 2 days,I saw at least 5 people help 
someone else on the bus. I saw countless smiles and small gestures that 
made me feel so warm inside. 

I don't know about you people, but when I frequently take 852 in the
mornings to school, I almost always see this blind man. (Now, there is 
nothing wrong with being blind, and I am sure he is a lovely person, 
this is just to illustrate my point.) He always sits on the first 
sideway seat at the front of the bus,right behind the driver. Being 
blind, he has no way of knowing where the bus is currently. Given that 
there are traffic jams sometimes, he can only estimate the journey, but 
never really know for sure. I know bus drivers are friendly, and they 
help the blind to take public transport. But, sometimes the bus driver 
may not have the time to help, as he is busy concentrating on driving 
the bus safely. 

I have seen countless different people who aid this man in getting off
smoothly and safely at his stop. Once, a lady ran all the way from the 
back of the bus to tell the blind man to get off. Today, this lady sat 
next to me. I smiled at her. 

Today, in the morning, I saw another blind man take 852. An elderly
woman who noticed his cane asked him kindly, "Do you need help getting 
off? Where is the Where is the bustop you want to get off at?" He 
responded warmly, and said "Thank you. Sometimes I am scared I will 
miss my stop. I do not want to trouble the bus driver because sometimes 
he might be busy, you know? Then he might forget." The elderly woman 
had to get off before the blind man. So she actually asked everyone who 
was sitting nearby, "who would help this man?" And a working lady 
raised her hand and nodded. 

As the stops went by, there was nobody sitting near the blind man
because they had all gotten off. The blind man looked very lost, 
because I think he sensed that nobody was there, and he was worried he 
would miss his stop, but did not want to bother anyone. The lady then 
switched her seat and sat next to the blind man, and she sat there, 
chatting to him. The blind man smiled. When it came to his stop, the 
lady guided him to the front of the bus and helped him get off, before 
sitting down again. 

I was sitting near enough to hear and see everything. At that moment, I
felt for him. Not feeling sorry, but feeling for him that he was 
actually worried about such things that people normally don't think of. 
Then I made a resolution. When these people need help, and I am around, 
I will help them. Sometimes when I make the move, someone gets there 
before me. So, I sit back on my seat and watch. And I feel so touched, 
and so proud of Singaporeans. And in no way did the thought of 
Singaporeans being unkind ever cross my mind. 

On the way home today, I was at the MacRitchie Reservoir bustop. (the
inner one) Now, a lot of people use the bustop because it's very 
prominent. When I alighted at the bustop to change buses, I walked to 
the front of the bustop. I looked around the bustop. I saw a mother 
carrying her child, and while waiting for the bus, they were playing 
together, and that made me smile. Then, I looked around some more. 

It was then, that I noticed that there were a few blind people standing
together very near the edge of the bustop. At first, I thought there 


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