OLD

BEING OLD

This morning as I was travelling on a bus, there's an old man who get on a bus, tapped on the ezlink machine and sat down. Next the bus captain called him to tap again as there's error in his previous tapping. Its the error sound again and the captain asked him to make cash payment. He's in no wrong to ask him pay. Seems to me the old man wants to take a free ride. The old man was searching within his pockets for 5 mins before being able to pay. During this 5 mins, to me he seems quite pitiful and I had the urge to pay for him but I realise, helping him pay his dues is not helping him realise his mistake. 1st - make sure card's topped up, 2nd - be more considerate to others. Why?

Here's why. I believe being old is not an excuse to not pay dues. Looking from another angle, the bus captain is doing his job. If any of the passenger is caught not paying, the bus captain will have demerit points and might lose some incentive. It should be the onus of oneself to ensure that there's enough to pay the dues. Not hope that others will take pity and waive off the payment or help to pay.

On the same bus, I noticed something else. There's a pretty lady seated a row in front of me, there's an old man alighting. During this time he was standing at the door, he stared at the lady. I know the lady's pretty but there's no need to stare at her for so long and even after he had alighted, he turned round to look at her another time. Yes, I agree that pretty ladies are good to look at. For me, people staring at me, I'll feel uncomfortable. Maybe I'm a little too sensitive about the staring but I feel he shouldn't have done that as it might her feel uncomfortable. Or, haha... she likes it? But I doubt so. A respectful look at the pretty lady once for a couple of seconds should be enough for admiration.

There's a limit to everything, so don't overdo it.

Haha... seems like today I see a couple of things that I find not right about old people.

Talking about old, I really feel old a couple of days ago. I sprinted almost 100metres to catch a bus and I was panting when I took a seat. Haha... I should say, its more lack of exercise than being old. MM Lee being over 80 years of age is still able to swim, jog and is energetic. Exercise is the key. I think I should schedule in an exercise regime to keep fit.

Always remember, to be able to look after others, one must be able to look after oneself first. It's not fair for others to look after you when you have the ability to look after yourself.