David Tan's Little Corner 

Home About Me Photo Gallery MayflowerBibleStudy Views & Comments Stories Cyberguides Computer Lessons Other Websites Visitors' E-mails Bernard's Wedding Shanghai Apartment Happenings Townsville School Tembusu Greetings Videos Songs

 

My Two-cent Worth View  

3.  Short-Changed

You probably have read in the newspaper’s forum recently about a reader criticizing dog owners for shirking their responsibility of taking their dogs out for some exercise.  He thought it was wrong of them to ask their maids to do this duty.

  In response to this complaint, another reader wrote that some maids, instead of exercising their dogs, tied them to a tree branch in the park and used the opportunity to enjoy a chit-chat session with other maids there…

  I’m not really interested in who should take the dog out regularly for a walk or what the maid should or should not do in the park. 

 But this afternoon, I found a similar happening more bizarre… more thought-provoking. 

 On my way home, I saw a maid with an old man in a wheelchair beside her.  I have seen this maid pushing him to the park a few times before.  On this occasion, instead of going to the park, the maid parked the old man at my neighbour’s gate and she and my neighbour’s maid were sitting on a bench beside the gate.  And what the heck were they doing there?  Well, the two Indonesian maids were talking and watching a mobile phone screen and not paying any attention to the old man. But the maid was supposed to take him to the park to get him some fresh air! 

 Why did the old man keep quiet?   I looked at him more closely.  His mouth was half open with the lower jaw hanging down loosely.  Obviously he was a stroke victim and incapable of talking and protesting.  And the maid knew it!

 After about 5 minutes, I came out of the house.  The maids were still chit-chatting happily and the old man was still staring vacantly into space.

 Dogs get bullied by maids.  Old people, especially the invalids, also get short-changed.  Whose fault is it?  What can be done?

23 January 2010

               2.  Are We Ugly Commuters?                     

 I have been to Washington twice.  On both occasions, I went to see my daughter who was working as a senior officer in Singapore Embassy. My wife and I stayed with her for about 40 days on each visit. 

During my stay there, my daughter was unable to take leave and therefore could not take us to places of interest in and around Washington except on weekends and public holidays.  My wife and I would therefore go shopping and visiting places on our own.  Most of the time, we would travel by Metrorail (we call ours MRT), the most convenient and cheapest means of transport.

 Our train rides in and around Washington DC  were always smooth and pleasant.  In fact we had only kudos for its good and efficient service.  I also want to compliment the commuters riding on the Metrorail train. Unlike many of our inconsiderate  Singaporean commuters, they do not push and shove themselves into the train when the doors open.  The elderly passengers are sure to be offered a seat. This is because those sitting do not pretend to be sleeping and are kind and caring enough to promptly give up their seats to the elderly ones.  Over there, you also do not see passengers talking loudly on their mobile phones or see children playing and running all over the place.

Many Singaporeans have yet to learn to behave themselves in public places, especially on the bus/train. 

A gracious society is not determined by how rich the citizens are, but how kind and caring they are towards their fellowmen.  Besides amassing wealth, the government should also educate its people to be considerate and caring.  Exhorting them to work hard and make more money is not enough.

You can judge whether Singaporeans are gracious or ugly by the way commuters behave on the train.

 

1.  Dog Lovers and Dog Owners

There are three types of dog lovers:

  1. They love dogs but they don’t keep them.  They would if they have the time and a house big enough for their pets to move around freely such as a compound house.  They would rather forego the pleasure of seeing their pets jumping up and down with pleasure on seeing them coming home because these true dog lovers think it is not fair to torture their pets by confining them in a cramped place most of the time.
  2. They love dogs and keep one or two.  They have the time to take good care of them.  They know that dogs are their best friends but not necessarily friends of their neighbours and passers-by.  So these dog lovers train their dogs to behave themselves so that they don’t bark unnecessarily, especially at night and early in the morning to disturb their neighbours.  They respect the rights of their neighbours. 
  3. They may or may not be dog lovers, but they keep dogs anyway.  They know they have the rights to keep dogs but many of them ignore the rights of their neigbours to have peace and quiet.  They are selfish and inconsiderate.  

If your neighbour is a dog owner who also respects the rights of his or her neighbours, you are lucky.  You can listen to the news on TV and sleep peacefully without being disturbed by his dog/dogs.  If you are "sway"(unlucky), you get one who enjoys listening to his dog barking.  You either go and tell him off or suffer in silence.  If you do the former, you are in trouble.  Reason?  Well, you are sure to end up quarrelling with your inconsiderate neighbour.  Why?  Because your neighbour is not a kid.  His ears are sharp enough to hear his dog barking but has chosen not to stop it from barking.  The word “consideration” is not in his vocabulary.  He will argue that dogs are dogs and they bark, and: "Dogs have the right to bark, you know!".  One thing leads to another, and you may end up calling the police to stop the noise pollution.  But you can be sure that the matter won’t end there!

I have a neighbour who belongs to the third type: the one that has no consideration for his neighbours.  He keeps three dogs.  In the day time, when he is around, the dogs behave themselves.  But the moment he leaves the house, the dogs start fighting among themselves.  They bark at every dog or cat that passes by, and another dog next door would join in the "chorus".  In addition to this noise, one of the three also enjoys howling.  The howling would start out of the blue, and each howling session would last about one minute. This would happen at least 10 times a day.  At night, whether this dog owner and his wife and children are in or out, the dogs have their freedom to bark and howl. 

What can we do to these so-called dog lovers?

We have dog centres where dogs are given the training to behave and do tricks.  I think it is more important to train dog owners in Singapore.  The department issuing dog licences should have courses available to teach first-time dog owners how to be considerate and responsible.  They should sign an undertaking that they would restrain their dogs from “harassing” their neighbours with incessant barking and from dirtying their neighbours' main gates with urine and faeces.   Only then would they be licensed to keep dogs.