Yesterday, while we were making our way home from Bishan via MRT, Ace rushed into the MRT the moment the doors opened and quickly went in, sat down and said, "CHOP!" to chop a place for his slow mother who strolled in after him...
When I sat down, I congratulated him for becoming TRUE BLUE SINGAPOREAN.. wahahaha.. cos he has finally internalized the Singaporean trait of being KIASU.. and since he is by nature, KIASI, he has become true blue Singaporean!
We had a good laugh about it...
Just before we boarded the train, Ace was watching this short video clip called "Stop Pretending" which was made by some students of a school... so Ace asked me what does it mean to be "stop pretending"..
I told him it is a gentle reminder for people to stop pretending to be asleep or busy and be aware when people who need the seats more are around.. like pregnant women or elderly folk.. so that they can stand up and offer their seats to them...
"Yes, cannot pretend to sleep.." Ace repeated...
I asked him what would he do if he were in the reserved seat and someone who needs it more came along? "I will stand up and give up my seat..."
Then I asked him.. what if he were standing and had no seat to give up and there was a person who needed the seat who came along and the one sitting in the reserved seats was pretending to sleep.. or maybe even really sleeping, "What would you do?" I asked him.
"I will tell him..." And I thought he would say something like he will tell him to stand up... Instead, though, my son said...
"I will tell him, 'I know you are pretending!'"
Wahahahahahahahahahha
I told him if he said that the other person might get angry or upset since they might NOT be pretending and really be tired...
"A better way, mummy feels, is to wake the person gently and point out to the elderly person who needs the seat and say something like 'excuse me, could you please give up your seat to the old uncle?' because that is polite and pleasant..."
So he agreed that is what he will do.. hahahaha... remains to be seen if when the time comes, will he do tat? I think it really takes courage to go tell the person nicely to give up their seat...
Not used to direct confrontation, most Singaporeans are not so good at that... so they try to overcome the feeling that they must do something by taking photos of them and posting on the internet BUT that is the chicken's way of dealing with it I feel... the outcome of posting a photo does not help anyone except to help the poster feel a little less guilty for not standing up for the person who needed the seat..
Only if the person goes up and gently reminds the other one to give up their seat will the old man get his seat... and both the one who reminded and the one who is being reminded will get a chance to do "what is right" and do something kind.. which brings a smile and a nice feeling for all three of them and the people who are watching:)
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