Tales from a Meandering Commuter: Episode1: The Madness of Idiots
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
As I re-read my blog from the past few weeks, I realised that alot of my posted rants have started to revolve around my experience from commuting daily, Monday to Friday. So today I decided to add a new category to my Rants, which is one focusing on the things I see while I am driving on Bruneian roads. Having to commute is extremely tiring, the mundane and monotonous task of commuting can also be dangerous, so we try to drive slowly and safely, following the 5 rules set out for us by our big boss man. I hope that by starting this new category, it might liven up the mundane commute and to keep my eyes peeled for interesting things to report on. Today's posting revolves around the madness of some drivers and their kids. How shall we begin....?
Almost reaching our house, and while turning into my simpang, I noticed this lady in her white little Toyota with several kids in the car. The kids were UNbuckled, with one little boy sticking his whole head out of the window. Even my maid quipped, he's going to get his head decapitated if he is not careful. I honked my horn, pointing at the little boy and giving her the concern parent look, only for the lady to give me a quizzical blank stare, as if to say 'what are you on about? why are you honking me and what's the big deal?'
Here's what REALLY gets to me... the idiot parents who let their ki
ds stick their heads out are top of the heap for the subgroup of the human species that we label as Idiots. Here's their own flesh and blood and they have absolutely NO consideration for their safety. And I can bet you the ten dollars I have in my wallet now, if I had come down from my car to confront this lady, which I was EXTREMELY tempted to do cos there was a traffic jam and I could've skipped out quickly, I can guess with a degree of certainty that she would have told me in her own idiotic flair of pride 'F*CK you, it's my kid. Why do you care?'
Why DO I care you may also ask? Beyond the most obvious that this kid's safety is the parent's priority and responsibility, and THEY should protect their own kids, there are also bigger societal issues that require comprehension that goes beyond the processing capaibilities of these idiot's pea sized brains. Take this situation for a moment: God Forbid, that if that kid had fallen or knocked out of the car and hits his head on the road and ends up in RIPAS, who do you think have just paid for the IDIOT parent's stupidity? Yes, the Bruneian people and the Bruneian Government. The parents may pay with grief and sing the follies of their way but WE as a society pay for their mistakes. Instead of using our allocated money to RIPAS to save the lives of those who REALLY need it, we have to channel away precious resources for medical treatments to idiots who brought it on themselves (and worse, on their kids). Multiply this with thousands of idiot parent's letting their kids stick their heads out in the middle of traffic and you start to see how potentially costly it is to us as a society, and the risk our kids are exposed to because of stupidity. And don't get me started on doing an economic analysis of the potential loss of able-bodied workers of the future within the Bruneian Labour pool which would have otherwise been able to contribute to our National GDP (I won't go into that, as an economic analysis of this issue would only depersonalise this VERY personal issue). I am appalled that people still continue to do these acts of stupidity and unfortunately I see no end in it until perhaps a miracle happens and we find that these people can manage to lift themselves to some level of consciousness and awareness about the severity of the consequences of their random acts of stupidity.
After much reflection about this particular episode and asking myself why I didn't step out to confront the lady, I have vowed to do this: In the future, if I see any parent who let his or her kids stick their heads out, I will step out and confront them (where possible) and tell them to stop being an idiot (in the most POLITEST way possible). If they tell me to F*CK OFF, I accept that but at least I have done my part as a caring citizen. And if you see me in the Borneo Bulletin with a black eye being reported on how I was a victim of road rage, then you'll know I was punched while doing my civic duty. A small price to pay if it saves a kid's life.
Almost reaching our house, and while turning into my simpang, I noticed this lady in her white little Toyota with several kids in the car. The kids were UNbuckled, with one little boy sticking his whole head out of the window. Even my maid quipped, he's going to get his head decapitated if he is not careful. I honked my horn, pointing at the little boy and giving her the concern parent look, only for the lady to give me a quizzical blank stare, as if to say 'what are you on about? why are you honking me and what's the big deal?'
Here's what REALLY gets to me... the idiot parents who let their ki
ds stick their heads out are top of the heap for the subgroup of the human species that we label as Idiots. Here's their own flesh and blood and they have absolutely NO consideration for their safety. And I can bet you the ten dollars I have in my wallet now, if I had come down from my car to confront this lady, which I was EXTREMELY tempted to do cos there was a traffic jam and I could've skipped out quickly, I can guess with a degree of certainty that she would have told me in her own idiotic flair of pride 'F*CK you, it's my kid. Why do you care?'Why DO I care you may also ask? Beyond the most obvious that this kid's safety is the parent's priority and responsibility, and THEY should protect their own kids, there are also bigger societal issues that require comprehension that goes beyond the processing capaibilities of these idiot's pea sized brains. Take this situation for a moment: God Forbid, that if that kid had fallen or knocked out of the car and hits his head on the road and ends up in RIPAS, who do you think have just paid for the IDIOT parent's stupidity? Yes, the Bruneian people and the Bruneian Government. The parents may pay with grief and sing the follies of their way but WE as a society pay for their mistakes. Instead of using our allocated money to RIPAS to save the lives of those who REALLY need it, we have to channel away precious resources for medical treatments to idiots who brought it on themselves (and worse, on their kids). Multiply this with thousands of idiot parent's letting their kids stick their heads out in the middle of traffic and you start to see how potentially costly it is to us as a society, and the risk our kids are exposed to because of stupidity. And don't get me started on doing an economic analysis of the potential loss of able-bodied workers of the future within the Bruneian Labour pool which would have otherwise been able to contribute to our National GDP (I won't go into that, as an economic analysis of this issue would only depersonalise this VERY personal issue). I am appalled that people still continue to do these acts of stupidity and unfortunately I see no end in it until perhaps a miracle happens and we find that these people can manage to lift themselves to some level of consciousness and awareness about the severity of the consequences of their random acts of stupidity.
After much reflection about this particular episode and asking myself why I didn't step out to confront the lady, I have vowed to do this: In the future, if I see any parent who let his or her kids stick their heads out, I will step out and confront them (where possible) and tell them to stop being an idiot (in the most POLITEST way possible). If they tell me to F*CK OFF, I accept that but at least I have done my part as a caring citizen. And if you see me in the Borneo Bulletin with a black eye being reported on how I was a victim of road rage, then you'll know I was punched while doing my civic duty. A small price to pay if it saves a kid's life.
Labels: Tales from a Meandering Commuter
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