In as many years as I have lived, yesterday marked the first time that I had ever sat down in front of the TV and actually sat through the entire National Day Rally Speech. Well, I was doing my ironing and switched channels a couple of times for brief periods, but I consider it quite an achievement that I managed to sit through the 3-hour ordeal. Maybe there is a bit of political genius in me afterall, maybe I was meant to be President one day…
There was one point (among a couple of others) made during the speech, that struck a chord – something which I have a great gripe about the average local person. The Prime Minister gave an example that happened while he was at the Causeway – “just to find out how it feels like”, as he put it. He noted that there were 2 or 3 lanes marked “Singapore passports only”, and many others marked “All Passports”. Curiously, all the Singaporeans were happily queuing up at the lanes for “Singapore Passports only”, while in fact, most of the “All Passports” lanes were unharassed. While this drew laughter from the audience, it marked a serious weakness in the average Singaporean mentality.
I can draw a parallel example from personal experience while going to work. I usually take the train to work, and the station that I alight at will usually be crowded with commuters going to work. There is a corrider leading to the exit that everyone must pass through in order to either get out or get into the train station. Metal barricades, in the form of railings, have been set up right down the middle of the corridor, supposedly to guide and ease the flow of traffic coming in and out of the station. There are even signs that say, “Keep Left” so that no one could mistakenly walk on the wrong side. The corridor is not overly generous in width and I estimated that six average-sized adults may walk through, shoulder-to-shoulder, which means either side of the railings allowed three adults to walk through. That is all fine and all, since the country prides itself upon orderliness and conformance to rules, as well as a high literacy among the people to read and understand signs.
However, herein lies the same weakness that was pointed out in the Prime Minister’s speech. Now, during that time of the day, most commuters will be travelling out of the station, since the majority of people who travel by train live out of the Central Business District area. Common sense will tell you that one side of the deliberately-separated corrider will be less utilised than the other. And what do most people do? They stick to the left side, because that is what the signs say – “Keep Left”. No matter that the other lane is close to empty. No matter that you are in a rush, and there are these slow ladies sauntering about, blocking the way. No matter that you are used to striding, instead of shuffling your feet like others.
I used to take the left lane when I first started using this station, due to work commitments, but I just could not stand it being blocked all the time by slow pokes. So I started using the right lane, and probably got a couple of rude stares from people, and I suppose the only reason being the signs that say “Keep Left”. I was happily using my virtually unclogged corridor when one day, I got out of the gates, and was dismayed to find that two staff from the station decided to stop people walking in the supposedly “wrong lane”. They even set up an additional make-shift railing to aid them in their blockage, effectively blocking the way of commuters on their way into the station as well. It was amusing yet frustrating to see such confounding idiotic thinking. Fortunately, someone must have sheepishly realised that their time could have been put to better use, and that particular insane act was aborted the following day. And fortunately, over the months that I have been using that right lane, many others have been doing the same (whether consciously or not).
Point is, why put up barricades, signs, guidelines when people are meant to walk their own paths? There is the inhibition of action and thought, the lost of spontaneity, the lack of imagination that comes with such things. The curse of the wandering mind that asks that “What If?”. It slowly seeps in once people get comfortable with the routine. Human behaviour is such that once a consistent pattern is established, it is hard to break away. So do we want to breed a nation of conformists, or are we saying that our entreprenuers should venture “where no man has gone before”? It is not a question where a simple act of removing barriers will produce an answer to, but it is a start. I for one has always preached to my friends to take the road less travelled. It may be a tougher path, but it certainly is the more rewarding.
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