people are depressingly stupid.
i was on a train, headed home, bone tired and achey all over. mental faculties were functioning at a minimal level, kinda taking in the hustle and bustle of rush hour without paying too much attention.
there was a bunch of young people standing next to me. guessing they're just into adulthood, so i suppose i should call them old people since i have yet to attain that distinction. two guys, and a girl. the conversation somewhere turned to army, a favourite topic among Singaporean males. one guy was going on about some CO or other who went on a route march with his men, in admiring tones. the other was like, yah right. he took a rover right? bet he carried nothing at all. went on to comment how there are a zillion and one ways to chao keng in army, and how COs get paid the most money but don't need to do all the tedious marching and all that stuff. how depressingly stupid.
at the risk of actually taking what he said at face value (maybe he was just acting dumb for the sake of having someone to insult), someone obviously does not understand that this whole not-marching business is NOT the sum total of the job of the CO, but that this job entails much more in the way of man management, logistics planning and other tactical stuff than he can get his sodden brain around, and that HIS job of marching long distances carrying heavy weights has ACTUALLY BEEN MADE OBSOLETE by this guy we call Henry Ford. seriously. complain that the guy doesn't march with you when he has to wrestle with the responsibility that his every decision may result in massive loss of life. how depressingly stupid.
getting off the train, and groaning under the burden of a heavy load, i chose to take advantage of the convenience of the recently-installed elevator system to get my weary bones down a level to where the exits were. entering the lift ahead of me was a slick young guy, hair combed smoothly back, in a pale pink long-sleeved shirt and black trousers.
i happened to notice that instead of slouching about in the lift waiting for the inevitable closure of the door and subsequent descent, as i was doing, this pro-active, full-of-initiative, gung-ho young man was doing the following:
a) pressing the button "1" as well as the "Door Close" button simultaneously, holding them down in fact withno small amount of force.
b) glaring vehemently at the closing door as if threatening anyone who dared to disrupt his nefarious plan of efficacious door closure and elevator descent and subsequent world domination.
now, it makes exactly zero point zero zero sense to hold on to the door close button, since the door close button simply doesn't work that way. the door has a uniform rate of closure whether you hold down the button or jab it repeatedly or invoke mysterious powers of tai chi on it. holding down the door close button will also fail to override any outside attempt to halt the closure, since the lift button OUTSIDE of the lift will override the door close button INSIDE the lift.
it seems that some people think it terribly unprofitable should they even have to wait for TWO SECONDS for someone else to enter the lift, even if waiting that two seconds would save the other person a minute or so of waiting for the return of the lift. obviously their time is far more valuable than anyone else's, time being money and all that sort of malarkey, and should any insidious force even ATTEMPT to disrupt their effort at going down in the lift as quickly as possible, such people will affix the culprit with menacing glares and mutter ominous sounding curses under their breath. how arrogant to believe your own time more precious than anyone else's. how depressingly stupid.
i realise that the sound of the dripping sarcasm actually hinders the full appreciation of the point i am trying to make. excuse me, and read the above again.
i really sympathise with marvin.
Now I lay me down to bed,
Darkness won't engulf my head;
I can see by infra-red,
How I hate the night.
- marvin
