I think I must be going through the 'anger' phase of accepting that I have cancer. First of all, I am really pissed off at the person who has given me his or her sore throat.
This is my pet peeve about Singaporeans. They have all been to school, learnt about germs and viral transmission - and yet, there they are in their hundreds (or thousands if it is Saturday on Orchard Road, or the Ministry of Sound) hacking, coughing, sniffing copiously. But will they go home and recover before they infect everyone else? Hell, no. I've got a germ, let me share it with everyone. Can't they be kiasu and less sharing about their germs, like everything else? What about the person coughing away and still saying,'No, I'm ok, I'm not ill.' Good grief.
Why cannot we be a more gracious society, like the Japanese? If they are ill, they venture out all masked up. That's consideration for you. Is there some sort of national pride in spreading as many germs as possible? Being a highly germified nation? The most germs per capita? What are our other favourite Singapore benchmarks? Did we not learn anything from SARS?
The second peeve today is the phrase; 'Oh, he's a not a bad person, just weak'. Are we supposed to excuse bad behaviour, back stabbing, victimising, because some is 'not a bad person', just weak? Oh, never mind, he is well intentioned. What do they say about the road to Hell? How often has anyone cut you that kind of slack? There is right and wrong, and all of us know where the line is. It's what we are taught in our cribs, it is adult society that teaches the fine art of excuse-making and dissembling.
Let's stop making excuses for bad behaviour, for wrongdoings by spinning this into the 'oh, he's just weak...' line. Too much spin doctoring from the Bush administration is rubbing off on to us. Bomb the hell out of an entire region and call it justice, rather than hegemony and vigilantism - wild west, cowboy-like, misguided do-gooding that has skilfully (evily?) spin-doctored violence and mayhem into holier-than-thou virtue. (While the world - disappointingly - stands on the sidelines).
Let's respect ourselves and our moral judgement a little more. Let's call a spade a spade - a creep (weak, nice or otherwise) is a creep, as is a backstabber, a lousy manager, a poor leader, a lazy subordinate, a poor team-player, a liar, a fair-weather friend, a coward, a selfish pig, etc. No more excuses and white-washing!
By the same token, let's celebrate (loudly) the positive in our lives - the loving mother, the solid friends, the mentors, the guides, the supports. Give thanks for all that is good and positive, generous, caring.
Life's too short for excuses, bleatings, and anything that is second rate. Do not put up with it any more.
This is my pet peeve about Singaporeans. They have all been to school, learnt about germs and viral transmission - and yet, there they are in their hundreds (or thousands if it is Saturday on Orchard Road, or the Ministry of Sound) hacking, coughing, sniffing copiously. But will they go home and recover before they infect everyone else? Hell, no. I've got a germ, let me share it with everyone. Can't they be kiasu and less sharing about their germs, like everything else? What about the person coughing away and still saying,'No, I'm ok, I'm not ill.' Good grief.
Why cannot we be a more gracious society, like the Japanese? If they are ill, they venture out all masked up. That's consideration for you. Is there some sort of national pride in spreading as many germs as possible? Being a highly germified nation? The most germs per capita? What are our other favourite Singapore benchmarks? Did we not learn anything from SARS?
The second peeve today is the phrase; 'Oh, he's a not a bad person, just weak'. Are we supposed to excuse bad behaviour, back stabbing, victimising, because some is 'not a bad person', just weak? Oh, never mind, he is well intentioned. What do they say about the road to Hell? How often has anyone cut you that kind of slack? There is right and wrong, and all of us know where the line is. It's what we are taught in our cribs, it is adult society that teaches the fine art of excuse-making and dissembling.
Let's stop making excuses for bad behaviour, for wrongdoings by spinning this into the 'oh, he's just weak...' line. Too much spin doctoring from the Bush administration is rubbing off on to us. Bomb the hell out of an entire region and call it justice, rather than hegemony and vigilantism - wild west, cowboy-like, misguided do-gooding that has skilfully (evily?) spin-doctored violence and mayhem into holier-than-thou virtue. (While the world - disappointingly - stands on the sidelines).
Let's respect ourselves and our moral judgement a little more. Let's call a spade a spade - a creep (weak, nice or otherwise) is a creep, as is a backstabber, a lousy manager, a poor leader, a lazy subordinate, a poor team-player, a liar, a fair-weather friend, a coward, a selfish pig, etc. No more excuses and white-washing!
By the same token, let's celebrate (loudly) the positive in our lives - the loving mother, the solid friends, the mentors, the guides, the supports. Give thanks for all that is good and positive, generous, caring.
Life's too short for excuses, bleatings, and anything that is second rate. Do not put up with it any more.
posted by Simone @ 10:36 PM
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