cowardice is easier

a couple of days ago, i witnessed a man sitting at the bus stop with a cigarette stub lighted. he was blowing puffs of smoke into the chilly evening air, and the wind carried it to my nose. i stared at him, and he looked back nonchalantly. i could detect the arrogance in him, challenging me to tell him off.

and today, i watched a man throw away a plastic bag of drink on the grass right in front of me. "OEI!" a man behind me shouted at him. i turned around half expecting an angry good citizen to tell the litter bug off, only to see the two men slap high fives and laugh while they scrambled off to board a bus.

after the two incidents, i came to two conclusions. number one, laws won't work in the absence of social sanction and other forms of reinforcement. but unless there is a law that says not telling people off when they break a minor law is a crime, singaporeans would continue to mind their own business. number two, i am a typical singaporean.

i didn't have enough courage to tell strangers off like this, and i don't know if that has anything to do with my gender or my age. the commercial made it seem so easy for a five year old girl to tell an adult male smoker off, but i'm ninety-nine point nine percent sure that this doesn't happen in real life. does it?