ANGSTY ADULTS ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT
I am so happy because my primary, secondary and polytechnic school mate Jason came for the Good Friday evangelistic party. Initially, he had things on and couldn't come, but surprised me on Wednesday when he told me he could come.
He had asked me, out of the blue, a month ago about the time and venue of church service but was unable to make it because of his choir commitments on Saturdays. Talk about God drawing him; we haven't even talked or looked each other up in 3 years.
He was previously at Hope of God church, my previous church, but backslided due to lack of discipleship and difference in beliefs. But today, he renewed his commitment to read the Bible and pray. Praise God!
However, he still needs prayer as he would have to give up choir if he were to attend our church service. And I think it's a sacrifice he will find hard to make.
Anyway, today I really want to discourse on angsty adults on public transport. I have been involved in 3 conflicts and witnessed 1 on public transport, all due to noise irritation.
I remember about one and a half years back, some church members celebrated Sister Wan Ping's birthday, if I'm not wrong, at one of the Kenny Rogers restaurants in town. To get there, we had to take a bus.
So the ten or more of us alighted the bus and started chattering in high spirits. We were not aware that our voice levels were quite high and irritating to the people around us. The next thing we knew, this 30+ year old lady sitting behind me and Silvestre started to scold us for being noisy.
She told us, in the most uncivil tone anyone could manage, to shut up. Silvestre turned back and remarked how rude she was, and an argument ensued. I just kept my head facing the front because I didn't want to ruin the day. I thought if I didn't speak up, she would soon be embarrassed and stop. But she did not.
So I turned back and mustered all the politeness I could and told her, "Lady, if you had told us nicely about how we were too noisy, we would have shut up. But you talked to us like we were your dogs."
What she next said made me realize that she was not mature at all. She argued, "No, that's not the way I speak to dogs." Talk about missing the point; she was arguing for the sake of arguing. I bet she was waiting the whole day to prey upon primary school kids to pick on and bully.
Not only that, she created more noise and trouble than the ten of us did with our chatting. She next continued to threaten to bring us to the police station. I never knew talking on the bus was an offence punishable by the law.
I was so annoyed and angry I told her "Please do not go to hell" as I was getting down the bus. The lady chirped in response, "I won't". I know I should not have said that at all but I was really awestruck at her behaviour.
Here was an adult human being who was supposedly many times more mature than us and was supposed to be a role model for us to emulate. Yet, she had not the courtesy to remind young erroneous ones their mistake. All she did was try to be judge and punisher, as if youths are not worthy of respect and kindness.
The second bus conflict I had occurred on Good Friday as I was going home with my ex-schools mate Jason. There was another female newcomer Jennifer and we conversed with her. She said she stayed in Woodlands and I asked her for her block number.
She said it was 850 and I told her I used to live at Block 864. She told me her block was just beside mine. That's when I started asking a series of questions, with hand gestures to indicate various places surrounding the HDB estate on a virtual map, to pinpoint her block location.
We sort of had a debate as I did not recall Block 850 as being next to my block. I was sure the next block was 858. And Jennifer definitely had a problem with directions and maps as her descriptions did not match the surroundings. So we kept this on for 10 minutes, not realizing that we were getting loud and people were getting irritated.
Then this Malay uncle, about 40 years of age, scolded us in a continual string of words. The paragraph below is all that he said in one breath and in an incensed and sarcastic manner.
"Do you know you're blocking that lady from walking on the aisle? You keep pointing here and there. If you really want to find out where 850 is, just go there and find out for yourself la. Why argue and debate?" There was more bits and pieces of what he said that I cannot remember. But I knew he was not really trying to teach us lessons that would make us more pleasant youths.
We just kept silent, though I would have rebutted in a second a few years ago. I had learnt my lesson and would not stoop as low as the uncivil trying to uphold a civil cause. I was not angry with him at all, just appalled at why he reacted in such an extreme manner.
Why had he not told us sooner that we were being a nuisance? We were not aware that we were a nuisance. Instead, he tolerated us and tried to be a 'good man'. But as the irritation level grew, the dam would not hold back the flood of anger anymore. It just burst out in torrents with great force.
What he was doing was not what a good man should. I have never understood why adults lacked the guts to just tell you nicely as soon as you got irritating. Instead, they stored up for themselves immense anger and insulting words.
They did not solve the problem well and seemed as if they were waiting for us to be irritating enough so that their could give their self-righteous rebuke and speech about how we should act.
Enough of bus conflicts, I'll be moving on to MRT ones.
About one and a half years back, when Ru Xiang was in the hospital, Lu Wei and me went back together after visiting her. I had brought my guitar and it was midnight. We then had a crazy idea to play the guitar on the train.
So we played and sang, not realizing how wrong it was for us to do that. After a while, this 20+ year old Roman Catholic guy came up to us and told me, "If you were not singing songs about Jesus, I would have punched you."
At that moment, I almost had the urge to send the guitar crashing on his head. It seemed as if he was ready to murder anyone committing the slightest mistake. I'm deeply convinced that I was in the wrong but even the wrong deserves grace.
And I did not appreciate his religious biasness. So you mean a non-Christian guy playing the guitar would have been beaten up by you? How hypocritical your faith and love must be if you do have not even the slightest compassion for the lost.
He proved that he was not trying to ease the irritation of the other passengers by only telling me those words when he was about to alight at his stop. We had been playing for at least 20 minutes. This guy was merely a cowardly, selfish and self-righteous person who wanted to vent his irateness.
Next up is an incident I witnessed. I was on the MRT and there were these 4 secondary school boys crowding around and listening to rather loud and irritating Chinese music from a handphone that belonged to one of them.
As I looked to see the reactions of other passengers, this secondary school girl, a tomboyish gangster, started blasting Hokkien gang songs so loud they made the boys' behaviour seem totally decent. The air was filled with the irritating chants of "Yo ah yo, yo ah yo", like the soundtrack of the movie "15" by Royston Tan.
I was wondering how anyone could be so insensitive, joining in to add to the noise pollution. But what I heard next totally shocked me.
Soon after, 3 of the boys left and 1 remained, still listening to music. Then this girl called her friend and asked him where he was. She told him she was reaching Woodlands and asked him to board the train. She said sarcastically that there were these boys who were being inconsiderate by blasting music and now only one is left.
She actually told her friend that she blasted those songs to show him that she was irritated by her actions. She said something like, "Since he play his music loud, I also blast my music la." She asked him to come up and follow her to beat up the guy.
All the while, she spoke in earshot of the guy. She deliberately described the situation loudly to let the boy know that she was talking about him. And she spoke violently with expletives so vulgar that I felt I was a saint during my secondary school days.
Just let me say a word in fairness. The girl was at least twice more of a nuisance than the boy. And she too was a coward. She only dared to make that phone call after the 3 boys alighted. And she actually wanted to pick a fight, not right a wrong.
The following questions come to mind as I think about these 4 situations.
How can I have respect for adults and be receptive to those who are correcting me when their intentions and methods are not right? Are they picking a fight to show their self-righteous wisdom or showing their righteous wisdom by righting a wrong?
How are their actions teaching us to be more civil? Don't they cause more trouble? I will not be surprised if one day these 'kind-hearted' people get beaten up by those they tried to 'counsel into truth and morals'.
First of all, is repaying evil for evil the right thing to do? Why do people not give grace for people to repent? Why do they only look at things from their self-serving perspective? They were all once insensitive and foolish youths too.
And finally, how are they teaching us to be better persons and uphold moral civility when they transform into teachers with the worst and most uncivil tones and mannerisms? Practise what you preach.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but even persons committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder does not deserve a sentence of death. Ignorance of how irritating we are is no excuse for our behaviour, but it was an unintentional act not deserving of strong rebuke.
Give us a chance so that we will give others a chance in the future. To whom grace is given, grace will be given out by the same. I would really like to hear someone correct me if I am wrong and perhaps looking at things from my own perspective.
James's New Jokes(Funny) and Riddles(Not-so-Funny)
1. What did the dumb blonde shout as she was eating a slice of pizza?
Ans: 'Oh, no. I just ate a Hawaiian.'
2. On which road should you never set up shop?
Ans: Dun-earn Road
3. What kind of meat(skinny or fat) can be found lying on the wall of the butcher's freezer?
Ans: Skinny meat, cause it's lean meat
James's New Lame Conversational Lines
1. I tried to hit you, I tried to hit you, but I missed you.
2. I went to dinner with a girl on a date. The date was 27th March 2007.
3. I don't want my steak too well-done, but not too-badly done either.
4. Why did I fail sit-and-reach? I do the sitting very well.
5. Yes, shop assistant, you can help. I'm too illiterate to read the price tags and sizes.
6. Bye! Seiyu(See You), Takashimaya, Wisma Atria.
7. God is awesome! So is He all or some?
8. What I often say to Debra: "Stop poking me. I'm not a Pokemon, I'm not wearing a polka dotted shirt and we are not playing poker."
9. Why is this barley so diluted? It's barely barley.
10. What I say to people who ask for a treat: "I'll treat you well."
11. What to say to someone who falls near you: "Be careful, don't fall for me."
12. What to say to someone who hits you to make him/her stop: "Stop hitting on me."
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