Uniquely Singaporean

I was browsing through the Straits Times today when a writer who wrote into the forum had her letter published. It caused me great amusement and the occasional wry smile and chuckle as I pondered over her thoughts and could not stop agreeing with her. These is an excerpt from her article ~

Why is jaywalking a crime when cyclists can ride with impunity on footpaths and endanger pedestrians? .... Why are dog owners not fined for littering when they allow their dogs to defecate, without cleaning up the mess? ..... Why are smokers given such a hard time when motor vehicles and jet airliners spew more voluminous quantities of carcinogens and chemicals into the air around us everyday? .... Why am I required to wear a seat belt in my own car when our public buses do not even have one fitted for the driver? ..... Why are employers still rejecting and retrenching people over 40 years of age when the birth rate is so low that the number of young people joining the workforce is insufficient to replace the older workers?

Which actually brings to mind another email my sent me, written by a Mr George Carlin

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.



I should consider being a hermit, I'm sure I can sort out more problems that way.