Packing a punch

I have a bad habit.

I like to have the last word. Even if I’m dealing with authority or higher management. I don’t need weapons to start or end a war. My only weapons are my words, and I am almost secretly delirious to announce that I tend to win such wars of words.

But it’s a problem for me. Somehow or other, I am not afraid of authority. A job title is but just a rank given to you for every step you climb on the work ladder. Yes, I do give the person that respect. However, I am not someone who cowers in a corner when I get bullied. It’s my right to stand up for myself – even if it means I’m ‘talking back’ to someone of a higher authority.

At age 15, I told off a policeman who had been unreasonable towards me. No doubt I got the last word, because he dared not say anything to my face. I have ‘gently’ told off my boss’ boss when she sent me an email to complain about me. She copied my big boss  and her big boss so I replied her and copied all of them as well. I told her I was just trying to be efficient and speed up the work and communication flow. Again, I got the last word because nobody said a word after that.

All this is not about being mean. I have seen friends and colleagues who are so nice and who respect authority so much that they end up getting bullied. This is not what I stand for. I stand for equality and humanity, regardless of age or work experience etc.

I could be one of the nicest people around, but don’t mind the punch I packed in my bag – just in case it’s needed.

Online Social Media Platforms aka Educational Tool?

The newspapers today carried reports of Twitter being used as a platform for teaching our youngsters the importance of speaking good English.

Would it work? I don’t think so.

My personal belief is that good spoken (and written) English is a deep-rooted affair which is imbued in our individual person. All this starts from when a person is young – and there is, of course, influence from his/her family and peers to speak good English. If a person grows up in an environment where his/her family and peers pay little heed to speaking good English, he/she will be imbued with the idea that speaking good English is unimportant, and thus there is no need to speak it well as long as his/her family and friends can understand him/her in poor English or any other language he/she speaks.

As such, online social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook will end up serving only as an experiment. The youngsters who have been targeted will only end up as clueless human lab rats.

If our authorities decide to target youngsters with such modern platforms, then how does one reach out to the middle aged folks in society? They too need to be educated – how not to fall into robbery traps, and even how to be courteous to others.

From my personal experiences travelling to work on the MRT, I am convinced that our society needs a lot of improvement on our social behaviour and manners, especially the older folks (whom I do not completely fault due to perhaps their lack of education). The courtesy campaign should be revived and it should always remain. Sticking life-sized Phua Chu Kang stickers around the MRT stations do not help.

I’m wondering: If the usage of online social media platforms is synonymous with youths, then what types of platforms are synonymous with middle aged people? Newspapers and magazines? How else can we reach out to educate older folks?

Any thoughts or ideas? If so, leave a comment. All comments are welcome.