Well either i am a highly irritable personality (quite possibly true) or there are just that many irritants out there in the big bad world (statistically an even higher probability than my being highly irritable).
Now yesterday was a truly crappy day (pardon my french) and i was initially going to rant about some near and not so dear ones but i held back as common sense prevailed and besides bridges could still be mended at that point. The straw that broke this camel’s back occurred on my evening commute home. AB (easy reference for the mentor, good friend dude) and I usually go home on the train together and we have separately and together noticed the phenomenon on the ‘deep sleeper’ and ‘absorbed reader’ on rather crowded trains. Now this sub-species either falls into a comatose like state upon getting a seat on the train or fails to notice the world around them so engrossed are they in their reading material. Now in a situation where you have a train full of able bodied people this presents no issue. In reality though we do coexist with the elderly, the infirm, the heavily pregnant, and the parents of small children. When we introduce them into the equation and the ‘deep sleeper’ and ‘absorbed reader’ continue with their preset pattern of behavior, there in that moment, exists the beast more commonly known as “The Ugly Singaporean”.
“The Ugly Singaporean” has its close cousin in “The Ugly American” and virtually every country exhibits some mutation on this sub-species. There are many other sides to “TUS” not resricted to public transportation but for today i will restrict my rant to the irony that played before me on my commute yesterday evening.
AB and I entered the train and moved toward our usual point of anchorage. Standing there was a lady who was deeply immersed in her Bible. Before i continue i would like to point out that this is by no means a rant against any religion since i happen to be a fan of God in all forms but rather the actions of this one person. Now the spot where we were standing can comfortably accomodate 2 people but this lady was straddling the middle and forced AB and I to be a little squished to one side since she was so deeply absorbed that she failed to register our presence by her side.
The rub comes about when a seat is vacated and she magically snaps out of her moment of worship to snag the seat. Since i consider myself able-bodied i have no issues with that. After all it is a dog eat dog world and first come first served is the general consensus on public transport. My issue lies with the fact that there was a young family (parents with a young child; the father carrying her) who were standing not more than a foot and a half away from both the bible-study lady and the vacant seat. She made no move to offer the seat to the family and upon settling herself in the seat promptly got into “absorbed reader” mode once again.
Having gone though 6 years of missionary school and having to sit through assemblies where the Christian faith and the christian way of life was expounded upon in great detail i am left to wonder if this lady truly believes her salvation to be within the pages of a book rather than her actions to others. From her choice it seems obvious what she believes her pathway to heaven is.
My question: What do you believe is your path?
