phase 1
The turbulent waters have set itself upon me.
In turmoil I am,despair I am not.
Hope as it should be
Whirling in my thought
Just a whisker's length to doom yet I triumphed.Donated to 2 Catholic JC girls asking for donations with their tin cans PURELY due to my innate samaritanarian nature,nothing else.Such overwhelming joy to be the one taking the initiative to help others,instead of waiting to be approached.Also,I have been advising people this entire week.Kryshelle for her distressing woes,Sylvia for her PI,Jeremy and Najeeb for their PI too.Not that it matters whether they reciprocate in the future.Help extended is just help appreciated,for I empathise with the situation of asking for help,but to no avail.
This is going to be a long post,I tell you.Got back my O levels certificate and met some of the Canberrans back there,together with the other teachers.Quite exhilarating it was.Well,there is still the class picnic tomorrow and I am unsure if I am going.Because it is SEMBAWANG PARK.Just sounds so plain and morose.Guess that the excitement has got to be injected by us in order to make up for the bore.
Now that the dust has been settled,it is my turn to reminisce.The abstract source of "inspiration" for this journey back down memory lane is none other than the tin cans cum donations.So,here it is,the lousy essay I wrote last year.Based on a true and real incident.As real as your beliefs can get.
Apathetic or not?[05:52:01 AM]
It was a typical day.Like any others,I strolled grudgingly with exhuastion taking its toll on me towards that dreaded MRT station.There was the usual Junior College students in groups crowding the stands,engrossed in their heated conversations about some test questions.And as per normal,some flag raisers armed with tin cans blocking the entrances of the station.Wherever I turned to,human activity was robust.I managed to shove my way into the station and entered the electronic gate.
Monotonous riding on the escalator was in agreement with my fatigue,drowning me into drowsiness.Another expectedly boring ride home to bukit batok from yio chu kang,or so I thought.Striding my way towards the "standing bay" near the marble seats,an extraordinary sight garnered my attention.A man clad in an awrily plain white t-shirt and dark brown short pants was clutching his crutch tightly,trembling as he did so.People looked,but turned away after a short while.
1 minute.Not long after,the train screeched to a halt and rested on its laurels.Singaporeans,regardless of race,language or religion,expressed typicality of their nationality by pushing their ways into the overcrowded train.Kiasu,or so they call.The speakers then announced the closure of the train doors shortly.It was then that the word "apathetic" struck me.I was thunderstruck at that sight.The very vision of that man slogging his guts to get to the train.He came towards the direction of the train slowly,but very tediously.His efforts were so heart-rending,yet not so after all.For it was apparent that the passengers looked on "helplessly" and grimaced at his sight,not willing to give way or offer some space for the poor man.He walked on,each step slower than the previous,strength getting weaker,hope diminishing by the second.Yet everyone just watched on.Apathetically.Unsympathetically.Unfeelingly.But Singaporean-ingly.
People were still forcing their way into the train,past caring about the man.After all,why should they bother?He is just an abnormal person with difficulties and there are many dozens they face everyday in mrt stations and bus interchanges asking for donations.The man had truly turned invisible at that phase of time.I knew he had hoped so as well,as the despaired face tells it all.People simply walked past him seeing his state but not offering any help.Just as cruelly,expectedly,and apathetically,the train shut the doors behind him.He was about 20 more inches to the door.
The door had not shut the exposure to purely wind itself from the travel of the train later on;it had also shut down the door to sympathy and empathy.Tears had welled up in my eye.It was sore and painful.I turned around and saw the indifferent faces,each indulging in ignorance.Definitely,ignorance is not bliss at this moment.It is not always true.I could not believe the reactions of these people in masks just now.It was purely insanity.Not able to bear the pain any longer,I got off at the next station and bid the apathetic society goodbye.
-----The generation today is scary.Extent of this horror extends to their apathetic nature.They could pretend to deceive others by restraining their kind selves and selfishly care for their own gains,but are they able to deceive their own consciences as well?Without love,compassion, and trust, the hope for a better world will be bleaker than ever before.
Love,
Alex Png
4e1 2005
Canberran
Tjc-ian
In turmoil I am,despair I am not.
Hope as it should be
Whirling in my thought
Just a whisker's length to doom yet I triumphed.Donated to 2 Catholic JC girls asking for donations with their tin cans PURELY due to my innate samaritanarian nature,nothing else.Such overwhelming joy to be the one taking the initiative to help others,instead of waiting to be approached.Also,I have been advising people this entire week.Kryshelle for her distressing woes,Sylvia for her PI,Jeremy and Najeeb for their PI too.Not that it matters whether they reciprocate in the future.Help extended is just help appreciated,for I empathise with the situation of asking for help,but to no avail.
This is going to be a long post,I tell you.Got back my O levels certificate and met some of the Canberrans back there,together with the other teachers.Quite exhilarating it was.Well,there is still the class picnic tomorrow and I am unsure if I am going.Because it is SEMBAWANG PARK.Just sounds so plain and morose.Guess that the excitement has got to be injected by us in order to make up for the bore.
Now that the dust has been settled,it is my turn to reminisce.The abstract source of "inspiration" for this journey back down memory lane is none other than the tin cans cum donations.So,here it is,the lousy essay I wrote last year.Based on a true and real incident.As real as your beliefs can get.
Apathetic or not?[05:52:01 AM]
It was a typical day.Like any others,I strolled grudgingly with exhuastion taking its toll on me towards that dreaded MRT station.There was the usual Junior College students in groups crowding the stands,engrossed in their heated conversations about some test questions.And as per normal,some flag raisers armed with tin cans blocking the entrances of the station.Wherever I turned to,human activity was robust.I managed to shove my way into the station and entered the electronic gate.
Monotonous riding on the escalator was in agreement with my fatigue,drowning me into drowsiness.Another expectedly boring ride home to bukit batok from yio chu kang,or so I thought.Striding my way towards the "standing bay" near the marble seats,an extraordinary sight garnered my attention.A man clad in an awrily plain white t-shirt and dark brown short pants was clutching his crutch tightly,trembling as he did so.People looked,but turned away after a short while.
1 minute.Not long after,the train screeched to a halt and rested on its laurels.Singaporeans,regardless of race,language or religion,expressed typicality of their nationality by pushing their ways into the overcrowded train.Kiasu,or so they call.The speakers then announced the closure of the train doors shortly.It was then that the word "apathetic" struck me.I was thunderstruck at that sight.The very vision of that man slogging his guts to get to the train.He came towards the direction of the train slowly,but very tediously.His efforts were so heart-rending,yet not so after all.For it was apparent that the passengers looked on "helplessly" and grimaced at his sight,not willing to give way or offer some space for the poor man.He walked on,each step slower than the previous,strength getting weaker,hope diminishing by the second.Yet everyone just watched on.Apathetically.Unsympathetically.Unfeelingly.But Singaporean-ingly.
People were still forcing their way into the train,past caring about the man.After all,why should they bother?He is just an abnormal person with difficulties and there are many dozens they face everyday in mrt stations and bus interchanges asking for donations.The man had truly turned invisible at that phase of time.I knew he had hoped so as well,as the despaired face tells it all.People simply walked past him seeing his state but not offering any help.Just as cruelly,expectedly,and apathetically,the train shut the doors behind him.He was about 20 more inches to the door.
The door had not shut the exposure to purely wind itself from the travel of the train later on;it had also shut down the door to sympathy and empathy.Tears had welled up in my eye.It was sore and painful.I turned around and saw the indifferent faces,each indulging in ignorance.Definitely,ignorance is not bliss at this moment.It is not always true.I could not believe the reactions of these people in masks just now.It was purely insanity.Not able to bear the pain any longer,I got off at the next station and bid the apathetic society goodbye.
-----The generation today is scary.Extent of this horror extends to their apathetic nature.They could pretend to deceive others by restraining their kind selves and selfishly care for their own gains,but are they able to deceive their own consciences as well?Without love,compassion, and trust, the hope for a better world will be bleaker than ever before.
Love,
Alex Png
4e1 2005
Canberran
Tjc-ian
posted by ~LeE~ @ 5:55 PM
.jpg)
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home