Over the weekend I experience the DREADED "me, myself & I" society close up and personal. There's reminder to "smile to the whole world" in tv ads as well as documentary campaigns of "Excellence in Service" running to remind people to work/live beyond themselves. I struggle to see the effectiveness!
We attended a "Family Fun Day" organised by Alex's work on Saturday. There we GODZILLIONS of people everywhere. From the hours 3-6pm, there were all sort of activities run for kids eg face painting, games, FREE caricature drawings, FREE crafts for kids, jumping castles, kids putting etc. Guess which line was the longest? The caricature drawing. I sympathise with the poor artist. The arts and crafts were all finished in a jiffy with some families doing a keychain for the 'mom, dad, grandma, aunty, uncle" etc. Such activities would normally cost up to $5-$10 per pop.
We lined up for ages to have our face painted (the two girls) and I was able to observe how selfish the adults as well as the kids were. We had 3 adults in front of us...okay, there's no "rule" that it's kids only, BUT, the least these BIG guys can do it to "hurry up" and have something simple, so the little ones do not have to wait too long. I saw absolutely no shame or remorse in the eyes of these adults. They were totally unaware of the young babies behind them (lots younger than my kids) sweltering in the heat while these grown-ups have their "BODY" paints artfully crafted out. The kids all just wanted a little butterfly or fairy painted on their small faces.
Oh yes, I noticed that the entire NATION enjoys lining up!
Then we moved to have a go at the jumping castles. Yeah, a whole 1 min of it was enough to push Mathena (a tough cookie in our family) to tears. I made a point to warn the bigger kids to be aware of the little ones in the castle. I made a loud announcement to the boys who was using the jumping castle as a launchpad to skyrocket them to space. They all looked at me as if to say, "So? Am I suppose to care?". There were no parents around, no adults to comment or even control these kids. The volunteer "crew" could only say so much. Mathena could not even hold enough ground to even start jumping and she soon gave up in tears. I took her off.
Why run campaigns on tv to teach the simple "other centreness"? Why does the society have to be reminded that when the IMF people arrive in Singapore, the "whole Nation Smiles"? Loads of reality tv is runned to "capture" those who goes the extra mile in service and excellence so as the people of Singapore works towards better customer service.
How long will this last if it is not implanted in the heart? These people DO NOT have the heart for other people. The only reason they care and when they do is, because they are concerned with what others THINK of them!! All the smartness and education will not count 2 cents if these kids do not GROW up and realise life is NOT revolved around themselves.
None of my kids were ever worse off giving way to people. They DO understand that it's okay loose out, to let others have the win point, to be the underdog! Let's just treat others the way "we want to be treated ourselves"!!
"NOT everything in life is about you!" We struggle as parents to remember this let alone reinforce it on our kids! This shows in how we allow for them to "suffer" and not have every little thing their hearts desire. We also remind them that, as long as someONE is missing out, they too will have miss out! Life goes on, life is NOT fair but we'll be right!
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