I find it very very very discriminating that most people tend to point the blame on the younger generation. I mean, come on, nobody thanked us for widespread use of shortforms or other youthful, i mean useful, stuff like making a change to the way Chinese is taught.
One thing I realize is that the youths are actually very very very helpful and have a lot of initiative. Granted, me being a youth myself, that sounds totally bias. It would be like NTUC complimenting themselves, or Starhub saying Green is The way to go. Literally.
Just yesterday, I took a train to Bugis. In the midst of the journey, at three consecutive stops, an elderly couple would board the train at each stop. As they enter, a couple would give up their seats for them.
It actually took me by surprise. After all, everybody's complaining about how youths are gracious enough. I actually looked around to make sure there weren't any cameras rolling, just in case it was an advert for a gracious society campaign.
Youths are gracious as a whole. We were brought up with those values. It's just that a few rotten apples spoil the whole barrel. Either that, or perhaps the same few who don't give up their seats happen to get stomp-ed a lot.
But that's not the point. The point is, does the shame campaign really work? Will posting pictures of youths not giving up their seats, or people feigning deep sleep change the community?
Of course not. Putting photos of cash won't make us any more eager for cash than we already are.
Maybe we should change it. Why shame, and not fame? Perhaps we should put up more awards or recognize gracious acts. Or have a fame panel or page, where such photos can be stored. I'm sure we all wouldn't mind taking a photo of somebody doing a good thing right? If we can snap photos of our idols faster than me typing this, taking a snapshot of someone doing the right thing wouldn't be too much of an effort. Or we could just place photos of cash on the web page to encourage citizens.
