Comfortably Numb

Just sitting in my room with my headphones plugged into my laptop, listening to Pink Floyd's David Gilmour wail about becoming comfortably numb, put a few things into perspective for me. What was troubling me was, of course, our MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) system. Having been stricken with 'live extremely far away from school-itis' for the past 3 years, I'm forced to suffer a nauseating 45-minute ride to school by train every single morning. That coupled with being crushed like sardines, albeit we-dressed ones, and the occasional sniffling passenger who happily shares his mucus with anyone within a 2-metre radius, it's a wonder I'm not a health wreck.

But apart from my superficial troubles, it's another issue about riding on the MRT that bothered me greatly. You see, we've had these extensive courtesy campaigns, and that short annoying period where they played courtesy trailers over the train speakers which prompted many irate passengers to write to newspaper forums to simply 'remove that damned sound!' But being Singaporeans, we refuse to comply with courtesy campaigns. It's almost as though we've been told not to litter so many times, that we go out of our way to turn our sandy beaches into garbage fills, resplendent with bright red aluminum cans and frilly tissue paper (and the occasional used condom).

Therefore, following the same line of Singapore logic, 'please move to the centre of the train to make way for passengers' roughly translates into, 'please crowd the doors, and we're giving bonus points to those who sit on the floor during rush hour'. Reverse all the other tag lines of the MRT courtesy campaign and you'll understand what I'm getting at. It's amazing how many 'infringements of courtesy' I notice in that 45-minute ride to school. These range from shamelessly rushing into the train (probably knocking down a few people along the way) just to get a seat, to the surreptitious aversion of the eyes or faked sleep that most able-bodied Singaporeans are guilty of when an elderly/pregnant citizen steps into the train.

It's become so bad that once while I was standing right in front of an empty seat and had already begun the motion of sitting down, someone who had just got on the train made a Marion Jones -like dash and plonked her precious derriere on the seat. The rudeness was so confidently executed that I could not help but marvel at her ability. I flashed her a sarcastic toothy smile, to which she responded by burying her face in her bag. With shame, I hope!

Do away with courtesy campaigns, I say, and hire courtesy train marshals instead. These big,burly men can then haul inconsiderate Singaporeans off the train.

Now, if only they could do something about those people who keep falling the path of the trains...

::Yusuf::

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