Daily Lesson from Life 27 October 2008

"Thu, Oct 23, 2008 my paper Humbled by youth's chivalry

In this recently-launched innovative web-TV platform, a programme entitled Point Blank On Begging, revealed in one segment, Daryl, one of the presenters, disguised himself as a Thai beggar to see how generous and open Singaporeans were to giving money to foreign beggars.

Shortly after he sat down along an Ang Mo Kio pedestrian walkway with a hand-scribbled sign describing his predicament of being robbed and left with no money, people started to walk closer to check him out.

The first person to drop some coins into his bowl was a student. Adults followed suit. Then, there came a group of four schoolchildren who consulted with each other and eventually pooled their money for Daryl. The bottom line? In a matter of half an hour, $12.20 was collected, signifying that Singaporeans sure are a generous bunch.

This exercise showed how the younger fraternity seemed more open to giving, compared with adults. Being less inhibited and not influenced by the sceptical nature of the world are but two explanations for this phenomenon.

Not only are the younger set leading the way in the art of giving and philanthropy, they seem to be also leading in the art of chivalry (although many of them probably don't know it by this label).

Two unassuming primary-school boys boarded the train and took their seats. At the first stop, one of the boys caught sight of a woman with a stroller, and purposefully called out to her to offer his seat.

So, if you think that the only things you can possibly learn from the younger generation are the playing of computer games and hip-hop dancing, it's about time to change your mindset."

It is heartening to read about these 2 stories on how the youth is doing good. This is especially so after reading in the news media sad stories about a student who fell accidental to her death just a day before making her appearance at court for a shoplifting charge and how 2 young 'in-heat' students being overpowered by their passion in school uniform and in a public playground, etc...

Lessons for me are:

1. you can always learn from anyone sometime somehow. We must keep our mind open and learn from the young as well. Each looks at things from a different angle and to reach out to them, it is imperative that we understand how their minds work!;

2. there will always be the good and the not-so-good behaviors from the young. Some are probably misled or lost resulting in anti-social and sometimes destructive behaviors. When such incidents happened, it is even more critical that we keep an open mind and probe to understand what are the root causes for such destructive behaviors. In Singapore as we don't allow guns freely, their destructively behaviors, most are damaging to themselves more than others, can be corrected. So, it pays to listen and practice asking good questions to understand them;

3. for anyone who felt that they can only learn from one group or the others, I encourage you to re-think this assumption. You can learn from anyone as long as you keep your eyes open, your eyes open, your mind open, and your mouth shut mostly!

To those young people who do good, keep up the good behaviors and impact positively the live of the people you are helping as well as your own lives!