Category: Inspirational

Make It Right For A Better Ride!

Remember singing to the catchy tune “Train is coming! Train is coming! You may start queueing~” by The Dimsum Dollies in 2010? This time, the Gracious on Public Transport campaign is back to remind us not to be unpleasant commuters to one another!

Since we are confined to such a small space in the duration of our travel, we are all ‘in the same boat’, so why irritate each other with talking loudly (it’s not the market), blasting your music (ever heard of earphones), or blocking others’ entry (so that you can have more space is it, grr)?? And the number 1 ultimate crime: not giving up your seat to those in need even though you’ve spied them from the corner of your eye the moment they stepped into the train.

The campaign this year aims to cultivate travelers’ graciousness through poetry, reflections and calligraphy submitted by fellow commuters of different ages, but they are all advocating the same thing; kindness on public transport.

I first saw the posters at Bishan’s circle line station (I take the train quite often), and this was the very first poster I saw that caught my eye.

I was attracted by the Chinese calligraphy and after reading the words, I realized that I was standing right in front of the door in order to read the poster! So I immediately stood to the side of the doors. I guess such reminders are indeed needed, especially when commuters are all tired and occupied with hundred and a million things on their minds, we tend to not take notice of such minute details. Whether we are blocking others’ exit/entry, or whether the next person boarding the train needs the seat more than we do.

I then checked out more posters at ‘We Keep Your World Moving’s FB page and here is my favourite!

I find this super relevant because every time I gave up my seat to someone else, I would feel embarrassed/shy as though I’d done something wrong!! This is because the person would thank me profusely, and the rest of the seated commuters would stare at the commotion (and suddenly I’m promoted to a small heroine. Okay that’s being overly dramatic). And perhaps growing up in an Asian society, taking credit for something isn’t really part of our nature, even for something as trivial as this. So this poster struck a cord with me. It also has a catchy rhyme! :D “DON’T BE SHY, GIVE IT A TRY!”

Check out the entire collection of posters here.

And also join the “Make It Right For A Better Ride” Twitter contest and stand to win a pair of movie tickets! More details on http://on.fb.me/betterride.

How to transform from a girl to lady.

I was reading October 31′s issue of TIME magazine and there I found an article that intrigued me. Apparently there are schools in the world called ‘Finishing schools’ that will put ladies through a course of strict etiquette, dining, serving, and manners etc so that they all turn out to be perfect, refined ladies at the end. Most of their students are princesses, and daughters of Presidents and Prime Ministers. But now, in order to pick up business, they have turned to cater to professional career women who deal with international clients and associates.

Pardon me for being a country bumpkin and my coarse background, for I did not know such places exist at all! And you could not have imagined my excitement at learning of their existence; my head was literally screaming, “Sign me up! Sign me up!”, because of course I dream of living in a castle and have immense wealth that I have to hold afternoon tea parties and entertain guests to no end.

source

Click to read the article here.

But alas, despite my desires to learn to be more refined and lady-like, I think I will be quite stifled if I have to be prim and proper every minute of my life.

Start doing things you love.

Today, I want to share a story that Hammy told me some days ago.

.

.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once there were 2 friends, who lived on the 80th storey of a tall building. After going to the market one morning, they reached their void deck only to realize that the lift is under repair. Being young and energetic, they decided to take the stairs as that is the only way home.

.

The first 20 storeys were a breeze, they even joked and laughed on their way up. Even with their bags full of grocery, they were able to make it up without much difficulty. And they reached the 20th level.

.

.

Next, the journey to the 40th level was a tad more strenuous. They were perspiring, and getting a little breathless. When they reached the 40th storey, they stopped for a rest. They realized that they might have to leave some bags of grocery and belongings behind in order to continue their way home. So they made decisions of what to bring home along with them, and what to discard. Then they climbed on.

.

.

Reaching the 60th storey, they are out of breath. The friends decided to drop more baggage, and encourage each other to press on. For they are almost home!

.

.

Finally, after 80 levels of steps, they are home. He reaches into his pocket… and sadness and despair overcome his face, as he realizes that the key was left behind on the 40th level.

.

.

.

.

.

.

END OF STORY

.

.

This story is about life and dreams. When we are young and ambitious, we have a lot of dreams. Dreams of becoming successful, accomplished, and recognized. Dreams of becoming a writer/singer/designer/stylist… we set out to fulfill these dreams with our vitality and enthusiasm. We race ahead in life with full force.

.

.

Then when we are adults and more responsibilities set in, we make decisions on priorities in our lives. Family versus career, reality versus dreams, regularity versus uncertainty. Life takes a slower pace as children arrive, or even just cutting back on all that pursuing of ‘silly childhood dreams’ to enjoy some quiet time with a partner. Often, we are lulled into simple contentment as life becomes a stable routine.

.

.

As age catches up, after all the hustle and bustle, we often look back on our lives and realized that there is still this dream, left behind half a lifetime ago, not yet fulfilled because it was forgotten. But there is no way of turning back and reliving life again.

.

.

So the moral of the story is, don’t let go of your dreams. If you have that one dream still pending somewhere behind your mind, take the chance to do it ASAP!

.

.

.

.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So as I was thinking about my dreams, I realized that I don’t know what I want to do in life! Then I saw what Erica wrote on Twitter,

.

.

“It’s about having a dream, and making it come true.

So what happens if you do not have a dream?” 

.

.

Haha yeah, what happens?? It’s not being too lazy to think, but just simply clueless of what I want to do in life despite cracking my brains over it. Especially when I’m going to graduate in a year, I have to think hard about what I want.

And everyone around me is also facing the same problem, because we’ve been asking each other what we want to do after graduation, and some of us just don’t have an answer yet.

So if you don’t have any idea what you want to do in life yet, do read on.

.

.

Miraculously, I found my answer in the form of a self-help article online, “How to find what you love to do” by Briankim.net. And before reading, I was quite sceptical that it would really help me to discover my life path as it claims, but surprisingly I did come up with something!

.

.

Step One: Write down a list of your skills and interests.

Here’s mine,

.

.

.

.

.

The lists are not extensive, nor are they impressive… cuz I just wrote the more prominent ones that I can think of. I laughed at myself when I wrote ‘Tweet’. Haha, but tweeting can be considered a skill right?? I mean, some people don’t even know how to tweet! Lol..

.

.

.

Then now for the most important question,

“What would you love to do on a daily basis utilizing both your skills and interests that will add significant value to people?”

This question is the key to determining what you want to do in life, after taking into consideration of your skills and interests. Haha cuz you may love to sleep and your skill is sleeping, but that doesn’t benefit anyone else! Haha so obviously you can’t do that for a living.

.

.

.

.

Of course I would LOVE to do all these on a daily basis! But I probably can’t, because I still owe the bank a lot of money for school fees. So I might have to take up a regular 9 to 5 job till I have repaid my debts. I also think it would be good to have a diploma/degree in social work, so I can contribute more.

At least now I know where I want to end up, I can have better plans on how to get there. I’ve been searching online for more information on how to help lonely and abandoned elderly in Singapore…

.

.

I am writing all these down because I’m going to graduate soon, and when I start work, I’m going to be pulled into the crazy rat race and be working my ass off. I’m afraid that I might forget what I dream to do here on earth, and this post will serve as a reminder. So maybe 10 years down the road, when I become sick and tired of life, this post will remind me of my passion and purpose in life, and I can work towards my dream again =)

.

.

There’s no harm in trying this simple exercise, and you might be surprised by what you come up with, so just do it! Haha..

 I hope this activity will help you as much as it helped me. Bye!

She had, but now lost.

Gonna be a wordy post as I recount Hammy’s and my encounter with an old lady today. If you don’t like words, you may skip it, but it would be nice if you hear her story too.

.

.

Anyway today, we met a lonely old lady at a HDB void deck while walking back from Old Airport hawker centre. When we saw her, she was having violent spasms and lost hold of her walking stick. For a moment, she leaned backwards and was almost going to fall, Hammy and I quickly ran forward to grab hold of her. We aid her back to the bench at the old citizens’ corner where she walked from.

.

.

She was apologetic while explaining in fluent mandarin that her spasms are due to overactive nerves and not on purpose. The spasms come and go as they wish, and she has no control over them. We asked her where she was going and she said she was walking to Old Airport to buy a button and a new pair of slippers.  Hammy and I immediately voiced out our worries, it’s so dangerous for her to be out alone and what if it happened when she was crossing the road or anything? Plus the path to the market is not short, and she still needs to cross a road where there is no traffic light. We offered to walk back to buy the stuff she needs for her but she refused.

.

.

Then she revealed her story.

.

.

She had actually ‘ran out’ of house while her daughter-in-law was not at home to take a breather, and would very much like to walk to the market and buy those things herself. Ever since the spasms got worse, she has not gone out and not spoken to anyone, because her daughter-in-law doesn’t speak to her at home. Then at that moment, she almost broke out into tears when she thanked God for letting her speak to someone today, because speaking to someone means that she would have to exercise her vision/hearing/thought processing, and she’s actually gaining a lot from speaking to us. We were touched by her gratefulness, and we stood there listening to her under the void deck, for about 2 hours…

.

.

She said that earlier on, someone at a nearby coffee shop said her that her spasms are faked, and she felt so insulted and upset, because she truly had no control over the spasms and it hurts her deeply that people despise her because of that. She admitted that she scolded that person for she was wronged, and she has dignity. And once she spasm-ed and fell onto a grass patch and couldn’t get up.

.

.

She used to have, but now have lost most of her possessions in life. She was married to a man who got rich and then divorced her to be with another woman. She used to be a dancer (even showed us a photo of her holding onto trophies), but now have to deal with the spasms. It pains us so much to hear her degeneration. . But despite that, she kept repeating that she is grateful enough that she is able to have 3 meals a day and thanks God for that.

.

.

We tried to persuade her to go home and not go to the market anymore, but when we walked away towards Hammy’s house, we peeped back and saw that she was already making her way to the market. We spied on her until she reached a place where there are more people, so if the spasms decide to start again, somebody would be in close proximity.

.

.

Sigh, it’s really disheartening to hear old people having to suffer such things when they should be at home, surrounded by grandkids and family, enjoying their love and care. But a large portion of elderly in Singapore do not get to have that luxury. Or even when they have the opportunity to be taken care of at home, they might not be treated with the amount of respect that they deserve. They are old, but they are not without feelings and dignity. They are humans too. It’s not a good feeling to be forgotten and treated without respect. I would like to urge the younger generation to not have gerontophobia – fear of old people, and start by talking/listening to your own grandparents more. Show them that you love them and gain from their life experiences.

.

.

In her eyes, we saw humility, gratefulness, and a dignity to live life, whatever it throws her. We took away her entire 77 years of life experience with us, and walked away with more life lessons than we can ever have with our 21 years of life. And 2 hours is not all that long to spare.

.

.

I think my narration didn’t do the encounter justice. There’s just so much to say, I wished I had a videocam with me then I could share what she said with more people.  I wonder how are my own Gramps, who are thousand of miles away in Canada.