Wind In My Head: Jay Walking
Wind In My Head
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Jay Walking
There is a strict rule in my school, I'm sure actually, in every other school in Singapore , regarding jaywalking. We don't condone it. In fact, we despise it and do not allow it under most normal circumstances, baring tidal waves coming in from the sea, being chased by a pack of dogs (though in that circumstance, the dogs will chase even harder), or a swarm of angry bees.It was raining when we came back from lunch and we were stuck on the divider with some kids. Standing there like idiots because the civil engineers and land transport people forgot to put one of those traffic buttons on the divider and both sides of the road were devoid of people. Anyhow, this kid walks out of school and crosses the road onto the divider right in front of us even though the traffic light was still green. And when we told him off, he turned around, grinned at us and proceeded to cross the other side even though we were yelling at him to stop.
A moment of dilemma. Do we just let it go since we're going to get even more wet going after him or do we chase after him because he outrightly defied us? Since it was raining and KW couldn't play tennis and I couldn't go running, we had so energy to expend and we decided to give chase.
I caught up with him first and that was quite a feat because he was walking away as fast as he could and he was in sneakers and us in heels that weren't slip resistant.
When questioned about why he openly defied us, his excuses came fast, furious and incongruous.
Excuse Number 1: I'm colour blind.
Our retort: You didn't see all of us standing in the middle of the road? You're deaf too when we told you to stop???
Excuse Number 2: I'm in a hurry
Our retort: You couldn't wait 10 seconds? Now that we've decided to be pissed off with you, you're going to waste even more time.
Excuse Number 3: There were no cars.
Our retort: Yes, but it is a traffic rule and a school rule.
Excuse Number 4: I didn't know.
Our retort: It's written in your rule book.
Excuse Number 5: It's a stupid law and my country doesn't have it.
Our retort: You're in Singapore. You follow Singapore laws.
Excuse Number 6: The umbrella block the traffic light.
Our retort: Hold your umbrella a bit higher.
It just got more and more ridiculous and by the end of it we were quite pissed off because he was openly defiant and implied we were being stupid and dumb about following laws.
I think some laws are ridiculous and I jay walk on occasion. But when it means having gormless kids follow my example, I err on the side of caution just so that they don't streak across the road on day and get hit by a car. So when kids get pissed off at you for telling them off, you just want to shake them a little bit harder and yell at them a little louder. Two days ago, some kids were punished by being made to run round the track. Some teachers were outraged, concerned that the kids may keel over and die. Some teachers celebrated the idea and came up with better ones like them having to move a mountain of sand from one end of the track to another with nothing more than a paper cup. I think it would be too dull for me to watch them move a mountain of sand, but I seriously think these kids need some sort of punishment especially when they are openly defiant.
KW is still pissed. I think she's gone off in search of the discipline master with his name and class before we actually forget it. Me? I'm just sleepy and proud of the fact that I actually caught up with him even though he had a twenty second headstart and sneakers.
Ondine tossed this thought in at 14:43
