I witnessed an atrocity the other day.
Our Hangzhou to Xi'an flight had just touched down (and I mean literally had just touched down) when suddenly a lady appeared in the aisle at the front of the plane, ready to exit. Even the air hostesses - still seated in their seats - were taken by suprise. They asked her to sit back down. When she refused, one had to get up and usher ( = force ) her back to her seat. No sooner had this poor hostess buckled herself back up again, that there was a family of 3 making their way - hand luggage and all - down the aisle also. The hostess upbuckled herself yet again and, telling someone else to turn off their phone on the way, asked them to return to their seats. They also defied orders. As a final attempt she asked the child to sit on an adjacent passenger's lap as the plane taxied in.
I couldn't believe it. What's wrong with these people? Who do they think they are?! Yes, our flight was one whole hour delayed. But they were locals - they should know (and I didn't for a long time), that domestic flights are more often than not behind schedule. And its not like there haven't been longer delays (hey, cancellations even!) in the history of aviation services.
What I witnessed made me angry. So angry I call it an atrocity. Now, its not like I haven't seen worse evil in the world. But that what I saw wasn't just a couple of impatient people. But horrible selfishness that I have begun to notice in other places also.
Now, don't get me wrong. I like Chinese people. Heck, I am a Chinese. And in a country of 1.4billion people, its unfair to generalise. But, there are certain 'habits' (should we shroud them with the term 'culture'?) that Chinese people partake in, that - in my opinion - are nothing more than displays of selfishness.
Like, why don't people swallow their OWN saliva? Why do they let their children eliminate in (very) public places (sometimes infront of public toilets!)?Whey don't they form a line and let others who got there first, go first?
'Are you in line?' a man behind my Finnish friend and me asked at the train station last week. Of course we are, I replied, and then silently (geez, We're westerners! we're who do you think we are?) Then I realised I should have said 'Of course we're not! Where do you think we are? (The West?!)' And if to prove right my thoughts, he , and everyone else behind) squashed us up against the ticket counter and breathed down our necks.
I did have a thought in China's defence however. Like, I know China is a big country. And staggers under a big population. The two topics of conversation - for foreigners and locals alike - are: the excessive number of people and the (bad) quality of air. And I guess this has something to do witht the formation of this Chinses 'Culture' (promotion and acceptability of selfishness). I mean (ok, save ethics for another day), perhaps its just not possibleto live any less selfishly here. If you actually waited behind the yellow line, your flight would leave before you got to check in. If you didn't push and shove and haul your body onto the bus, you'd never make it to the office (at all, nevermind on-time). If you waited for cars to stop before attempting to cross, you'd collapse with hunger before reaching the supermarket across the road.If they provided toilet paper in all public toilets, there'd be no trees left to emit oxygen.
Now, I'm definitely no saint. But this recent aeroplane atrocity has got me thinking: What little, seemingly innocent and 'acceptable' acts of self interest are really atrocities at heart?
Our Hangzhou to Xi'an flight had just touched down (and I mean literally had just touched down) when suddenly a lady appeared in the aisle at the front of the plane, ready to exit. Even the air hostesses - still seated in their seats - were taken by suprise. They asked her to sit back down. When she refused, one had to get up and usher ( = force ) her back to her seat. No sooner had this poor hostess buckled herself back up again, that there was a family of 3 making their way - hand luggage and all - down the aisle also. The hostess upbuckled herself yet again and, telling someone else to turn off their phone on the way, asked them to return to their seats. They also defied orders. As a final attempt she asked the child to sit on an adjacent passenger's lap as the plane taxied in.
I couldn't believe it. What's wrong with these people? Who do they think they are?! Yes, our flight was one whole hour delayed. But they were locals - they should know (and I didn't for a long time), that domestic flights are more often than not behind schedule. And its not like there haven't been longer delays (hey, cancellations even!) in the history of aviation services.
What I witnessed made me angry. So angry I call it an atrocity. Now, its not like I haven't seen worse evil in the world. But that what I saw wasn't just a couple of impatient people. But horrible selfishness that I have begun to notice in other places also.
Now, don't get me wrong. I like Chinese people. Heck, I am a Chinese. And in a country of 1.4billion people, its unfair to generalise. But, there are certain 'habits' (should we shroud them with the term 'culture'?) that Chinese people partake in, that - in my opinion - are nothing more than displays of selfishness.
Like, why don't people swallow their OWN saliva? Why do they let their children eliminate in (very) public places (sometimes infront of public toilets!)?Whey don't they form a line and let others who got there first, go first?
'Are you in line?' a man behind my Finnish friend and me asked at the train station last week. Of course we are, I replied, and then silently (geez, We're westerners! we're who do you think we are?) Then I realised I should have said 'Of course we're not! Where do you think we are? (The West?!)' And if to prove right my thoughts, he , and everyone else behind) squashed us up against the ticket counter and breathed down our necks.
I did have a thought in China's defence however. Like, I know China is a big country. And staggers under a big population. The two topics of conversation - for foreigners and locals alike - are: the excessive number of people and the (bad) quality of air. And I guess this has something to do witht the formation of this Chinses 'Culture' (promotion and acceptability of selfishness). I mean (ok, save ethics for another day), perhaps its just not possibleto live any less selfishly here. If you actually waited behind the yellow line, your flight would leave before you got to check in. If you didn't push and shove and haul your body onto the bus, you'd never make it to the office (at all, nevermind on-time). If you waited for cars to stop before attempting to cross, you'd collapse with hunger before reaching the supermarket across the road.If they provided toilet paper in all public toilets, there'd be no trees left to emit oxygen.
Now, I'm definitely no saint. But this recent aeroplane atrocity has got me thinking: What little, seemingly innocent and 'acceptable' acts of self interest are really atrocities at heart?
