Please have my seat.

Malaysians have ceased to be civic conscious when traveling on public transport. Why do I say this?

I spend almost 2 hours on the commuter train traveling to work every day. In the morning I get a place to seat but when I travel back home, I usually do not get a place because it is usually very packed like sardines

There are times on these long hours of journey, I get to witness the non courteous passengers. I see the elderly person or pregnant woman standing unable to seat because no one wants to give them their seat. The passengers seating are either pretending to be sleeping or reading when someone stands in front of them. I really get disgusted at the attitude of these people .I suppose what was drilled into our minds through our moral education when we were young has been forgotten by many i.e. give you seat up to a pregnant, elderly person or handicapped person. Although some mindful passengers do give up their seat by doing a good deed but most of them not.

Sometimes when I have a seat and want to offer it to someone, I remember vividly what my friend said to me last year “you have not gathered all your strength after the illness and you cannot be standing all the way home. Now think of your health first”.

So these days I ask myself… I am really tired or not. When I do give my seat to an elderly person or a pregnant woman, I feel proud of myself because there are so many healthy and young passengers and none of them want to give their seat away! And when I don’t it is because my well being matters a lot to me, in fact it comes FIRST even before doing a good deed!