I was going home from the Commonwealth a few days ago and I was grumpy because it was a very cold day. I know that I need a warmer coat for this silly season and am looking for one. I might end up getting this overcoat from SATCH if (and most probably when) I get sufficiently irritated with the cold weather.
On the tram ride home from the CBD I saw this mummy with two bored wailing kids, a pram and her shopping. I was wondering to myself how did she ever get around the city with all her baggage, let alone get on the tram. She was trying to calm her little girl down and watch her inquisitive son. All while asking where she was and for someone to let her know when it was her stop.
This being the evening tram home, the tram was packed with people (assuming professionals) going home from work. And, most people were trying their very best to just ignore her. We finally pull around to her stop and no one would even help her carry her shopping bags or move her pram off the tram.
I thought to myself, "Geez..." and shoved my way to her and helped her carry her pram off the tram while everyone was just idle. It was a fantastic moment when you come to realize that the modern society is very desensitized, almost insensitive to their fellow man's need for assistance. Everyone wants to mind their own business (MYOB ?) and not get involved.
The best bit was when I got off lifting her pram with me from the tram, the moron of a tram driver closed the doors and pulled away. I was standing there thinking, "Thank you blaaaaaardy Yarra Trams, blaaaaaaaaaaardy fantastic customer service there", as I watched the tram leave without me.
What is the fate of the world, if the good people of the world sit idle and do nothing?
I want to be like the people of Sparta where there is a strong code of ethics bound by their personal honour. A strong emphasis was placed on carrying out acts great or small because it was the right thing to do. A classic example would be as Xenophon wrote about the Spartans as he observed them during an Olympic game...
An elderly man was trying to find a place to sit and observe the Olympic Games, as he went to each section. All the other Greeks laughed as he tried to make his way through. Some ignored him. Upon entering the Spartan section all the Spartans stood and offered the elderly man their seats. Suddenly the entire stadium applauded. All the Greeks knew what was the right thing to do, but the Spartans were the only ones who did it.
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