Extreme Selfish Behavior (ESB)

On Thursday morning while I was on my way to work, I came across what I describe as “Extreme Selfish Behavior” (ESB). I wondered whether these groups of people deserved to be hanged if their ESB causes death/immobility to others.

it happened on that day, when I took the LRT from Kelana Jaya station to the STAR LRT interchange station at 7.10AM. Usually I traveled to work with my colleague, but then today he was away for client side consulting, so I took the train alone.

*Ding... Next station, Kerinchi* after a minute or so… *Ding door open* and as usual, throngs of people start rushing in the train, so does the people going out from the train. I was sitting in the train, reading the papers. I noticed that among the group of people coming in, there was a pregnant lady coming in. She was carrying her handbag, and was walking slowly. She seemed to be around 4-5 months pregnant, judging by the looks (I didn’t ask her ok?) She came in, and was force to stand in front of another lady (race withheld). There were 7 people sitting (8 including me) and she was standing

*Ding door closed* the train started to moved, and the pregnant lady swayed to her left and right, for the train was accelerating. The lady sitting in front of her was still staring at the pregnant woman, occasionally shifting her focus to the left and right, and so do the rest of the people sitting. My heart was burning with anger, for these people don’t even know what is the meaning of “Reserved Seats” Right above the seats where the pregnant lady was facing is the sign (when translated to English) that says “ These seats are reserved for the people with special needs, the elderly, and PREGNANT woman" (notice that I bold the word PREGNANT). After about 20-30 seconds without anybody giving way for the pregnant woman, Being a caring soul I am (compare to the 7 sitting people WHO ARE NOT), I got up and kindly offered my seat to the lady. She thanked me and sat down. The sitting lady looked up at me, and then quickly turned her face away. Several other people looked at me too, and one of them gave me a nod. I felt happy and joyous at that moment, and I thank The Lord for the prompting in my heart that was so strong. i am not braggging about my caringness, but i was irked by those people with ESB. I was really P***ed off.

*Ding…Next station, KL Sentral..* I was standing now in the train, with 2 bags hanging on my shoulder, and by now the people in the train were pushing and adjusting their standing position. *Ding…Door Open* and people were pushing and shoving their way out, as if the train will leave at the next second it stopped. There was a blind lady walking slowly into the train, with just a walking stick guiding her . She bang into a man inside the train, and he looked at her, and ( I assume) seeing that she is blind, he looked away the next instant. She walked towards the opposite side where I was standing, right where the pregnant woman once stood a few minutes ago, but on the opposite side.

* Ding…Door closed * and the train started it’s journey along the tracks. Out of the 8-9 people sitting that saw her, NO ONE stood up and gave way for her to seat, Oh Heavens, what have we become? Why do people just think of themselves, and not willing to even give up their seats for the blind, and the pregnant? There may be excuses that they have to sit and wait, for the station where they disembark is still a long way off, but C’mon, Don’t tell me you will die if you were to stand and give the seat to the needy? Don’t tell me that you will loose 1 million dollars for helping the under-privilege people? MAN, this is outrageous… Media of all sorts have been reminding us that we should be courteous and helpful when it comes to these kinds of situations, what more with the BIG sign above the seats telling us to give up our seats when there are special group of people onboard. WHEN WILL THESE PEOPLE LEARN? WHY ARE THEY SO SELLFISH?

When I got down from Masjid Jamek, I was so sad for the blind lady who got on at KL Sentral. I was thinking to myself, where is she getting off…. As I got up the escalator, I saw another blind man walking with a cane down the escalator. OH…I hope that the passengers on the next incoming train will be kind and courteous. I am appalled at how Malaysian fares in term of kindness shown. I’ve heard some foreign tourist commenting on how kind Malaysian are, from the hotel bellboys to the cab drivers, but I feel sorry to let them down when it comes to giving up seats for the needy. Why talk of donating hundreds of dollars to help the poor, where they can’t even offer a portion of kindness? Why talk of “Caring Malaysian”, where a pregnant lady/blind woman has to stand in front of you who are sitting? Why bother dressing up nicely, where we can’t see other people walking with a stick?

Please comment here if you have experienced situation like the above. People with ESB should be severely punished. These are intolerable….