Considerate: To be or never taught to be?

I've decided to check in here first before dinner. I think I'm going to suggest watching the long over due "Chicago". It has been sitting at the corner of my desk since the 5th of October 2010. Yes, that's an awfully long time for something to be sitting on my table. Especially considering I had borrowed it from someone. Today's thing that dumbfounded me the most was this, were we ever taught to be considerate to another person's feelings or have we just decided not to be considerate to another person's feelings? I take it that most of us are confident in the knowledge that yes, we were taught to be considerate of someone else's feelings in primary school. All those numerous Moral Education lessons. I don't know what they are calling it these days but those days, it was called Moral Education (ME).

Of course we weren't only taught to be considerate towards other people. It is after all, Moral Education. So we were taught to be morally up right individuals and so be able to contribute to society. But nowadays, I think we have begun to slacken in our attitude towards others. Yes, I still have faith in mankind. I'm not one of those who have totally lost it. Although I admit that not everyone I meet reaffirms this faith in mankind, I still believe that the few of us out there are enough to make a higher power think twice about destroying the lot of us. But our attitude towards others really needs to be improved upon. Maybe we should all be attending a monthly if not weekly briefing on Moral Education.

Many things around Singapore today point out the glaring fact that we, people in general, are not being considerate enough, courteous enough, friendly enough. There are the posters on every bus and every train that asks individuals to give up their seat to someone else who needs it more. There are those 'please give way' signs at the entrances of trains that encourage us to give way to exiting passengers. There are nationwide movements that encourage us to smile even! Why do we need this? I think it may have to do with the fact that we live in an extremely fast paced society. Or perhaps, because we also live in a world 'that never sleeps'. We're rushing from place to place, from job to job, from activity to activity. We fail to realize that in our rush to get somewhere, we might have accidentally stepped on someone, bumped into someone, failed to help someone.

I've read a story before, about how this teenage boy had cleared out his locker on Friday to go home. As students, we know that when the last bell rings on Friday, there is virtually nothing that can stop us from escaping the prison we've been forced into since the wee hours of the morning. Students ran, jumped, laughed, shouted as they ran out of classrooms and into the halls. They were bumping into him without a care. They did not care that as they bumped into him, he dropped all his books onto the floor. But someone stopped to help him pick it all up. And invited him to play with them since he was a fellow classmate. They became best friends. On the day that they were graduating from college, he pulls his friend asides and thanks him. For he had wanted to commit suicide during that weekend. He had cleared out his locker so his parents wouldn't have to do it for him. And if he hadn't stopped and helped him or invited him for a game, he wouldn't have lived to graduate from college.

How much good we could do if we took the time to spare a thought for the people around us. Though, yes I'm veering off topic. Just today, I saw a student tap his attendace and then left the lecture theatre. He did not even step fully into the lecture hall. That's not just being rude, that's also being inconsiderate to the lecturer's feelings. I mean, how would you like if someone did something to indicate to you that he did not want to even come for your lessons? I'd probably feel very offended and unhappy.

Well, it seems I can't drag on any further as life calls. I'd be back soon. I hope. Till next time! Toodles!