hit the ground running.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

It's been a long time.

Heya. Will use whatever time I have now (read: none) to bloggalittle bit.

SMU Rugby had its first ever match today, against NTU. We're weren't expecting to win - quite far from it actually. We were actually hoping to not lose that badly, given the relative inexperience and lack of training of our squad. And well we did just that. 27-0 read the imaginary scoreboard at the end of the game, and I would've been happier had I not turned in a shocker of a performance. But well, still trying to pick up game experience in a new position, so hopefully the game next week against NUS will be a better one. NUS will be a tougher proposition than NTU though, so I'd better be up to the mark then.

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Now, on to what I wanted to write about yesterday.

I was in the MRT yesterday and it was one of those rare occasions that I'd gotten myself a seat. Oddly enough, it seemed that every stop we passed by produced a couple of elderlies who obviously needed the seat more than myself or most of those around me. So being the civic-minded SMU student I hastily gave up my seat to a slightly hunched elderly gentleman. I was also pleased to observe that contrary to what I'd expected, many others also gave up their seats to the other aged passengers.

So, everything's well right? What's there to write about?

Well there happened to be an elderly couple left without seats after the frantic bout of music-less musical chairs, and to my dismay, no one offered them seats even though it was pretty clear that they weren't in the best of shape. What made it worse was that the people right in front of that pair weren't even pretending to sleep! They were happily chatting and joking away, seemingly oblivious to the situation at hand. They weren't the only culprits. The others in the vicinity feigned ignorance or picked at their fingernails or just stoned.

So what's the whole point then? Isn't this just another day on the MRT?

Well it didn't take long for me to realise that all of those who'd given up their seats were youngsters - ie. around 18-29 years - whereas those who'd kept theirs mostly looked well above 30. So really my main point is, you always hear comments and complaints that our generation doesn't respect authority and that we don't know what hardship is. The way I see it, the 30-overs are just being self-righteous.

So what if we haven't lived in poverty? Does having lived through tough times give you the right to be pratty and insolent and inconsiderate? Does having experienced riots or water shortages mean that you can push your way into an MRT through a crowd waiting to alight? Here's a hint - no. I agree, those of my generation have never experienced real physical hardship. But the struggles that we face are of a totally different kind, one that previous generations will fail to grasp.

Our generation now has to deal with competition in the academic and professional world like never before. I feel that along with the development of our country, so do the climate and expectations surrounding its youths change. Right now we're economically and politically stable, and the focus for us is to excel academically to push the nation further forward. We all have our hardships, and while I acknowledge that the trials facing my generation seem flimsy - we're not gonna die of thirst if we don't study hard - the fact of the matter is that it doesn't matter in the end.

I don't know where my post is headed because I haven't really thought it out, and my head's still ringing from the one or ten knocks that I received just now. But after all the ranting and raving, I think that all I really want is for our country to just turn into a gracious society. Singaporeans are too self-absorbed for their own good, too concerned over penny-pinching and their own rights to think about others. It's about time we realised that there's more to living than "me" and that if you really think about it, as an individual we're all nothing.

9:54 PM