Piak!

PIAK! And he fell onto the road from the bus stop.

The time was 08 33hrs. A malay man in his late thirties fell onto the ground - 'l'-shaped and chin tucked in. He must have hit his forehead on impact, evident from the bump. Several panicky commuters at the bus stop gathered to help his motionless and stiff body. A young man walked over, take a look and immediately called the police on his mobile, describing all that had happened and was happening in detail to the police, who then informed the ambulance.

After 5 minutes, someone in among the panicky party finally asked the million dollar question, "Did anyone call the ambulance?" And one can bet nobody remembered the details on how the man fell, how he was behaving before the fall and how he went into a fit and how he was salivating after the fit. When someone finally took the responsibility to make the call, the young man told him that it has been done.

The ambulance arrived with the paramedics and asked who could tell the story of what happened. No one could and everyone pointed to the young man, who then systematically relate the whole incident. He stayed there until the man regain conciousness and was coaxed onto the stretcher bound for the hospital.

The young man also got to know a pretty lady who was civic-minded enough to help the fallen man, and he had a good impression of her. But she left before him because she was already late for work. Afterall, she was among those who stayed the latest.


Just 45 minutes ago, Capital 958FM was airing a call-in talk show. Today the topic was whether a $3000 fine was sufficient to prevent people from feeding wild animals. Many callers who called in discussed about how the hefty price tag was too much and suggested a lower one for first timers, some took the chance to link 'wild' with 'strays' and condemn the feeders, others brought up the theory of 'classical conditioning', claiming that feeding animals will stop them from gathering their own food. Only one madam spoke with great emotions about the humanity of the topic, i.e. are human beings really happy to see the strays die of starvation so that their so-called home can be free of faeces. "YOU WANT THEM TO DIE OF STARVATION AR?" were her last words (translated from Mandarin).

How true. If the theory of classical conditioning rules, then we should all stop donating money to beggars, stop buying tissue papers from make-shift sellers at MRT stations and stop dropping coins into blind musicians' tins, for all these will prevent them from finding a proper job.

And the young man felt a bit of regret saving that human this morning.