Saturday, January 13, 2007

Need (nēd)

CURRENT MUSIC: YUAN LAI AI QING ZHE ME SHANG by GIGI LEUNG

I was travelling back home on the MRT when I gazed around and one of the MRT signs caught my attention: You know those two-seater areas? Therez always these signs which read - "Please give up your seat to those who need it more than you do"..and the signs come with pictorials of the elderly and pregnant ladies..

That sentence went through my mind repeatedly as I questioned myself whether or not this was the best way to phrase the sentence...Let's go through it again one more time:

"Please give up your seat to those who need it more than you do"

What if I need the seat more than the pregnant women and the elderly? Does it still mean I have to give up my seat to those with white hair or those with big tummies? Let's check out the definition of need:

Assuming the word is a noun, we have..
  1. A condition or situation in which something is required or wanted: crops in need of water; a need for affection.
  2. Something required or wanted; a requisite: "Those of us who led the charge for these women's issues ... shared a common vision in the needs of women" (Olympia Snowe).
  3. Necessity; obligation: There is no need for you to go.
  4. A condition of poverty or misfortune: The family is in dire need.
Now imagine yourself in a situation. You have just finished work and you have not sat down for one whole day. Your legs are wobbly and you are freaking tired and if you are goin to have to stand any longer your legs might just explode anytime..AHH!!! Salvation...

You find the sacred seat in the MRT...beat the elderly to the seat. HAHA! Just as you thought you are goin to enjoy the comfort for the rest of the journey, you see two eyes staring at you....white-haired, wrinkled face, every feature you can imagine on an old man. Then you look to your opposite and see that stupid sign "Please give up your seat to those who need it more than you do". Would you give up your seat?

How do you measure whether you need it more, or whether the elderly needs it more? Not all old people need to sit down right...if that old man is actually a very healthy person and can afford to stand for a period of time...won't you need the seat more coz your legs might crack anytime? Does this mean you still need to give up your seat to him just because of his age?

What would you do, would you heck it and let others stare at you for all they like since you think you need the seat more, or ultimately succumb to the what the sign is obviously trying to aim at? Come to think of it, the sign does not really state its case explicitly...does it?

A lot of bullshit in this entry right? Haha..whole lot of crap about the definition of need..I welcome any sort of comments..be it vile, constructive, negative or wadsoever.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Damn talk cock! hahaha!!

Clement said...

just wondering mah haha..

im sure this kind of situation happens to you b4..you are tired and u'll never give up your freaking seat!! =)