Friday 29 August 2014

Stop Being a Bully

Being in the public exposed me to all sorts of scrutiny. I don't get offended when people comment on how I look (eg. "she's ugly", "there are prettier girls out there", etc) or mistake me for someone else. I usually just roll my eyes at those comments and forget about them the very next moment.

But I do get offended by rude comments. I don't like rude people.

Here are some examples:
- Commenting on how they want to pleasure themselves. Totally inappropriate and unnecessary. I always get the impression that these men are sexually-deprived.
- "She looks like a pig, horse, etc" Erm... are you sure you know how to differentiate humans from animals?
- VULGARITIES. Simply shows how uncouth you are.
- Insulting other commenters, nationalities, race or religions. These people have absolutely no respect for others.

There are also other comments that my fellow YouTubers and bloggers have received, calling them names like "slut", "asshole", "jerk", etc. Really? If you are going to insult someone, maybe try expanding your vocabulary first?

If there is something that you are not pleased with, here are some suggestions on what you can do about it:
- Ignore. Don't spend time on something you don't agree with or enjoy.
- Unfollow. If you don't like the person, why are you still following him/her?
- Provide some feedback. Instead of saying "You suck!", say "I feel that your current work is not as good as before, maybe you should work on improving XYZ."

I feel that the online community is lacking in manners and cyber bullying is rampant. The next time you see someone being rude or a bully online, I would recommend that you tell the person off nicely. We need to cultivate a gracious society not just offline, but online too.

Saturday 2 August 2014

Inconsiderate Drivers

I think it has been a really bad day on the road for me. Met so many inconsiderate drivers for just being on the road for an hour.

It started out pretty fine. Ended my meeting and was sending my friends to their respective destinations. The moment I drove out of the office, I met an inconsiderate driver.

I was at a junction about to turn left and was waiting for this car that was going straight to pass before I turn. She saw me waiting for her but she drove at a snail's pace and the moment she passed me, she switched on her hazard lights and stopped in front of  my car.  I was about to turn left and she just stopped! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TURN OUT NOW?! That is so hazardous and incredibly inconsiderate to stop right next to a turn! It's at a junction for goodness' sake!

My attempt at drawing the scenario. Very difficult to draw on computer. So that driver stopped right there and I couldn't turn left. So annoying...

So after sending my friends, I met impatient drivers. It's not that I'm a slow driver, in fact I drive relatively fast, between 80-100km/h on the expressway. The problem is that I was stuck in a jam. I'm stuck in a jam! The cars in front, behind, on my left and on my right are all not moving, what do the drivers expect me to do? Speed up and ram everyone around me down? Those drivers were horning, high beaming and keeping extremely close to the back of my car. -_- Every time I meet such drivers on the road, I can't help but think that they must be Ah Bengs. Driving hazardously and thinking that they are cool. Argh.

I also met drivers who don't know the proper way to overtake or enter the expressway from slip roads. This is how they do it:


I thought it's common sense to drive into the space between cars and not drive into cars. Well, these drivers are considerate enough to signal that they want to enter my lane but somehow they come at me instead of speeding up to go in front of me or slowing down to go behind me. So many times they cut into my lane when I'm so close to them, if I didn't brake in time, I would have hit their cars. Don't these people check their side mirrors before cutting into lanes? They would have seen my car if they did. Lazy bums.

It would be so much more pleasant to drive in Singapore if drivers were more considerate. I have been driving for years and I would say I've seen my fair share of considerate and inconsiderate drivers, but I got to admit that inconsiderate drivers somehow still dominate the roads. Things like not signalling, not checking side mirrors, threatening cyclists, speeding, etc are still common causes of road accidents. 

I mean if you want to be an inconsiderate and careless driver, so be it. Just don't drag other innocent people with you by getting into an accident. I don't want to die or be handicapped because of someone else's carelessness. 

I am not going to say I am an awesome driver, I'm not, I make mistakes too especially when I'm unfamiliar with the roads. But I want to be a better driver and I'm striving to be. I recently pledged to be a better driver with The Gentlemen Movement. You can check it out here http://thegentlemenmovement.org/. You can choose to pledge or not to, but I really hope everyone strives to be a better driver on the road and make it safer for everyone.