Rules Are Made To Be Broken, Even In A Fine City Called Singapore

Rules were made to be broken. For every written law that exists, someone's bound to break it. More so for unwritten ones. This couldn't have been more evident yesterday morning, as I set out on my way to work.

First, there was that man on the escalator, who got on the right side and held his position as the people in front of him continued walking upwards. The lady following him said, "Excuse me" and overtook through the space left between him and the person on his left. Three more overtakers followed. But the man never budged.

Second, those large yellow lines on the MRT platorm. Someone always has to play the role of the antagonist, right? I was willing to bet an entire day's meal that someone would. What was his or her character going to be like this time? A more senior member of the society (to distinguish from a senior citizen) who's earned his or her right to bully the rest? An office hotshot who gives off the don't-talk-to-me attitude with a little pursing of the lips and wrinkling of the forehead? An extraordinarily cool guy or gal who gets to play dumb and doesn't understand the concept of arrows or the logic of letting people come out of the train first before boarding, perhaps? Or someone just mean, or selfish, or maybe a winner who always gets to let other people eat his dust because he's always so far ahead? I had my answer faster than I could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ten times. Yesterday, it had to be the office hotshot.

The third and last illustration. Ahh! But this one shows there is hope. When the train was on its third stop after we boarded, a pregnant lady got on and stood right in front of the macho who occupied the seat nearest the door, the one with the huge sign above that said "Priority Seat. Be considerate. Give up this seat to a passenger with special needs." She smoothed her hand over her tummy, as if to say, "Hey, look at me. I'm pregnant." One, two, three seconds passed. The guy didn't move. The lady seated across him raced everyone else and stood up, offering her seat to the pregnant lady. The story doesn't end there though. Another three stations away and the macho was given an opportunity to redeem himself. An elderly couple got on the train, with the man looking older and not as strong as his wife. This time the macho didn't pass up the chance to do the right thing. He stood up and offered his seat to the elderly man.

It was going to be a fine day in the fine city of Singapore, after all.