Are Singaporeans Really Ugly?

I don’t mean physically, mind you. Are we ugly in character? We’ve had lots of stories lately – ranging from shrieking aunties with a vendetta against ZARA tees to Singaporeans laying a literal shitstorm outside some of the more populous MRT stations. *coughHollandVillage*cough*

It’s easy to lose faith in our fellow Singaporeans in light of all these.

I’d be ashamed of being one if all this continued, trust me.

Something happened last Wednesday night that restored my faith in our fellow countrymen 

(and women. Yes, AWARE. I have not forgotten the women.)

So here I was happily riding home on the Mass Rapid Transit on a quiet Wednesday night, minding my own business and listening to my own tunes, when someone puked onto the ground next to me.

It wasn’t retching either. It was the threefold chunky waterfall of vomit. The kind that splattered all over the ground.

Here is a photo for your reference:

Instagram filter to make it prettier!

Some puke also happened to splatter on the surrounding ladies (and my hapless bag). Needless to say, there was a whole lot of feminine shrieking from the ladies – and some rather manly ones from the guys.

I’ve also never seen an entire crowd move to the centre of the train that fast. Maybe SMRT can take a leaf out of this guy’s notebook!

Anyways, the entire train carriage smelt of rancid fluids and the guy was still vomiting. After setting my bag a safe distance from the vomit radius, I was dishing out wet wipes to the guy like a sugar daddy at a strip club. (Okay… bad comparison)

Some of the aunties who got splattered on were shooting poisonous glares at him while the vomiting guy continued… well… vomiting. It took THAT long.

So there’s this guy getting all embarrassed and everyone’s avoiding him like the plague and STOMP: Terrorist Projectiles Stomach Acid at Civilians as Act of Terror.

Story ends here. Right?

It didn’t.

While I was being tissue free-flow uncle, a gentleman came over, supported the guy (and got splattered) and brought him to sit down. It seems like this simple open act of kindness opened up a dam for more kind souls to pour in.

A middle-aged lady came forward to offer him some of her medicated oil. Then another young lady (in her twenties, I think) offered him a drink and sat beside him, so that he wouldn’t be embarrassed by himself.

We get a whole lot of bad press in the media, talking about how millennials, and youths and wizened folks and governments and everything in Singapore is pouring down the drain in a perpetual mire. It’s easy to get convinced that this nation and its people are disgustingly hopeless.

Until you actually get to see people coming together to act in kindness. And I was given the privilege to see it all in action.

It all starts with a simple act of kindness.