Yesterday, in The New Paper, I read a touching account of a lady
and her li'l son who waited for the people who cleared rubbish in
her neighbourhood to turn up so they could give them packets of
cold Ribena drinks just to show appreciation for the work that they
do.
I don't think I can reproduce the article written by Leong Ching in
its entirety, though I really wish I could cause it is such a
meaningful article, but here is an excerpt :
""Remember, when the truck comes by later, the uncles will come and
pick up our rubbish. It will be smelly but please don't shout that
it's smelly," I told him.
""Why?" he asked.
""Otherwise, they will be sad," I told him.
""Why?" he asked.
""Because they are doing something miportant to us, and they get
thirsty, So we are helping by giving them a drink. We don't want
them to feel that they are doing something that is smelly," I
explained desperately.
Wow! You see a lot of people walking past the rubbish trucks /
trolleys with utter disdain on their faces. We seldom hear of, nor
see a fellow Singaporean teaching his/her children to respect the
domestic help, much less a 'waste management worker'. I really
applaud this lady for teaching her son to respect all humans,
regardless of status, race, and occupation. Too many parents pass
teach their children, either consciously or unwittingly, to
segregate between the have's and have-not's, the 'successful' and
the 'failures' in society. We definitely need more enlightened
parents like this lady around to ensure that our society remains
gracious! 
This is definitely something to think about as we go about our busy
lives.
