An unexpected act of kindness

Got on the MRT today and saw an act which made me have renewed hope and faith in my fellow Singaporeans.....the train was crowded with people going on to their various Sunday appointments and meetings, an old lady got on at the next stop and 3 (yes THREE!) people stood up to offer her their seats.....

Whoa!

So much for the ugly Singaporean....think I heard a dying croak right there on the train....Maybe all those reminders to give way to the pregnant, the kiddies and the elderly are finally getting through our collective mindsets.

Of course, there are still the rude, pushy people who seem to fear that the train will leave without them. It never ceases to amaze me that some folks can happily wait at the side before the train comes, but once the doors are open, will push their way into the carriages against the hoards of people trying to alight! Don't know about you, but whenever I'm one of those hapless people trying to alight, I'll stand and block the way till the rude folks figure out that I'm not getting off till they give me room to move! Hello??? didn't you learn Physics in school??? Two things of equal mass can't occupy the same space at the same time, you know!

Why do these people exist, I don't know! and worse of all, they often have kids with them and they'll be teaching a whole new generation of Singaporeans how to be as rude and stupid as themselves! Always makes me think that the Gahmen should administer IQ tests on folks before they'll allowed to procreate....

Rant over, I'll savour the sweet memory of the day I saw three people forget that we Singaporeans are supposed to be rude, and gave up their seats for an old lady....

The eternal spirit

War in the Middle East and Sri Lanka, earthquakes, the aftermaths of bomb blasts and tsunamis, children beating up their aged parents, a man raping his maid and then saying it was consensual...

Sigh.....

That was all in the Straits Times this morning. Talk about having a dose of reality together with my morning coffee and yoghurt (decided to be a good girl today and eat yoghurt since I didn't gym this morning ;-) ). I'm already depressed and it's not even 8am yet!

But is that really all that is happening in the world today? Where are the stories of people rushing into burning buildings to rescue a stranger, volunteers in Africa fighting for the lives of those starving to death or dying of AIDs, or stories of people giving up an organ for a loved one or even a mere acquaintance? Or something as simple as an elderly man giving up his seat on the bus for a pregnant mother? I believe, I want to believe that such stories outnumber the disasters and the stories about how people are cruel and evil.....but the latter will always be more newsworthy than the former and hence will always dominate the papers.

Maybe we should petition the local papers to set aside a page each day for good news....news that will inspire and encourage, news that will help us become better people and better citizens of the world? We are better than we think we are, more courageous, more noble and more courteous that we choose to be. All it takes is for each of us to reach within ourselves to find that memory that we are all the same, inside, where it counts. Only then can we reach beyond ourselves to the person next door, in the next country or towards a stranger in another land half a world away.

Am I an optimist? Yah, maybe. But it's a good dream to have, isn't it?

Football withdrawal symptoms

Emptiness in my heart, a chill in my soul and vacant days in my life....what can this be but the withdrawal of having absolutely no football to watch for the next 51/2 weeks until the start of the EPL season 2006-07! Urgh!!! Think I'm going to go crazy...might even start watching S-League football! which is the local equivalent of the EPL but almost a million light years away....think our top footballer couldn't even get a place on an English League 2 team!

OK, OK, in my profile, I also said that I am a Churchill fan, so maybe I should talk about him for a bit while waiting for the start of the football season again....

Actually, I don't really know that much about Churchill, but I do admire what little I do know about him. He seemed to be a flawed genius-leader (never to be mistaken as a "servant leader"!) who was able to rally and inspire his countrymen during war-time, but could never seem to get the country working together in peace-time. Some of the most famous lines in the English language were spoken by him, immortal lines such as "we will fight on the beaches etc etc we will never surrender!" (hey, I'm a fan, not a fanatic, ok? I don't memorise lines anymore since I left school a few years ago ahem! :-P). The thing I admire most about him is that he was a patriot to the core and was very passionate about defending the English nation from the potential invasion he always saw as just lurking off the English coast. While in peace-time his speeches were perceived as war-mongering, in war-time, they were re-interpreted as prophetic and prescient. Ain't that always the case?

Oh Zizou how could you???

Glory and victory were within your hands, eternity in the making. But you chose to mis-use that head of yours, instead of plotting and planning a final assault on the weakening Azzurri, to direct it on another man instead of the ball. There can be no excuses made for you, and now there's a blot on your career that can never be erased as you have now retired from club and international playing.

The Azzurri were not the better team, it was a very even match. The only difference that when it came to penalty kicks, they converted all of theirs while the Bleus miskicked two of theirs. The Bleus must now leave for home with empty hands and sickened hearts, of how close they came to glory, but for a instance of madness from their leader, and 2 instances of misaiming from the foot soldiers.

When I've recovered from my disappointment, I'll remember the spectacle of an amazing game, one that saw two equal and matched titans sparring for 120 mins. This was a game that will join the rest of the legendary World Cup matches as one of the greatest ever played. Too bad it will always be linked to the sending off a legend.

Oh, Zizou!

If only you had kept your head......

World Cup Fever!

Tonight is THE night! Yup, boys and girls, tonight will see the crowning of the new football kings who will rule the planet for the next 4 years.

Many of us fans might still be shell-shocked at the demise of Brazil, England and Argentina, all the traditional favourites...I'm still a bit heartbroken that my beloved Brazilians did not survive the resurgent and incomparable Zizou and his Bleus...still, the game was justly won by the Frenchies....sigh...

Anyway, I'm not too blue cos tonight's final is going to be colossal! Two tight defenses led by strong midfielders and a sole striker in front....Going to be amazing if everyone plays to his potential. And I've always had a soft spot for the Azzurri who have some of the best looking and droolsome players in the world!

However, I'm rooting for the French who are the underdogs tonight! Why? Because I would like to see my darling Thierry score the winning goal that will result in the French lifting the Cup for only the second time in their history. Darling Titi didn't succeed in leading the Gunners to Champions League victory so I'm praying that he won't be disappointed tonight. Also, I would love to see Zizou ending his career on a high. Such an amazing player who has dazzled us all for so many years. It would be a fitting end and the jewel in his cap for him to lift the cup tonight after inspiring his team to rise above the critics to stand tall as the World champions.

Who will win????