While waiting for a cab I can flag down from my place, I saw an old Indian man appearing a few meters away, apparently waiting for one as well. Since the cars were going through him first, I was resigned to the fact that he'll get to flag a cab first, even though I was already waiting before he arrived.
He eventually got one, and I shrugged. Typical Singapore, I thought. People going about their own business, not giving a damn about other people...
...until the cab he rode on suddenly stopped in front of me, and I had the shock of my life.
He asked where I was going. I told him I'm going at the City Hall area, and he offered to share the cab with me since it was on the way to where he was going. And suddenly, I found myself inside a cab that I've surprisingly shared with an old Indian man from down the street.
His name was Dhariwal (I hope I spelled it correctly). He was an old man, about 50-60 years old. He works as an IT specialist, and he has a son in law who worked at market research before moving over to consumer business. He told me about his work before in manufacturing, then moving into IT when Singapore started focusing on business management.
He felt bad because I was waiting for a cab first, which was why he offered me a ride. And from the moment he told me that, a lot of thoughts flashed before me.
For me, it was a wake up call, as well as a sudden realization of how selfish our society has become. We're just focused inward, mostly only on ourselves, that we forget that we have to have the presence of mind to respect other people's rights and privileges.
It's partly not our fault. Our social structures make it hard for us to care about other people. Most of the time, if we're not careful, we wouldn't even be able to take care of ourselves. There are lots of things to pay for in order to live a decent living (house, car, insurance, taxes, etc.). We need to give our time and effort to acquire them by working hard. And if we thought that was all, we have all these external pressures forcing us to buy more, borrow more money, or else we'll be left out of the community we live in.
Life is very tough, and for many of us, because it's too tough to care for ourselves, why be bothered about other people?! If I can grab an opportunity presented to me at the expense of others, who cares right? The person was stupid, not qualified or not lucky enough, so to bad right?
As difficult as it is, we can't be contented with caring just for ourselves. Other people are people too. We need everyone to be happy and contented in order for all of us to be happy.
Even though life is difficult, it doesn't take a lot to be nice to other people, to make them feel better. It's a simple matter of giving your seat to someone who needs it when riding a bus or train. It's about following a queue in an orderly fashion, and to settle agreements with compromise instead of by force.
Dariwal's case was the perfect example. Just being concerned about me waiting for a cab by asking me where I was going and exploring the possibility of sharing the cab made me feel good the entire day. Imagine if each of us would do a simple nice gesture like that everyday, then the world will be a better place.
So to Dariwal, my regards and compliments to you. I hope you live a good and happy life, and I hope you continue to show other people how life is supposed to be lived; by caring for both ourselves and for other people.
layman
PS. the picture above is not him. It's the only picture I can find that best represents him. :)
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