The evolution of GOODNESS

In my opinion, I believe that human beings are willing to do good for others mainly because of several factors.

A factor is that the recipient of the goodness and its giver are related in a certain way, either by blood or by acquiantance. This form of altruism is actually inherent in every one of us and it is very natural to be altruistic to someone very close to you in need of help. Tink about it: Will a mother not give the best for her child? Will a man not wish for the best for his wife? It seems quite obvious that this forms of altruism are present, possibly in our great oblivion, in our everyday lives. Not only in humans is this for of altruism present. Another instance for this is bees that sacrificed themselves to protect their hives, becuase they are protecting blood relatives in the hives.

The Hamilton equation manages to summarize the relationship between genetic relatedness between individuals, benefits and, cost of the act of giving of altruism between the giver and the recipient.

Another is that of the act of reciprocacy. When an act of altruism is done onto someone, it is expected for that goodness to be done unto you back in return by that someone you had given it to. For example, if you help someone in need, you would expect some reciprocacy in the future, or maybe something more abstract like help from others when you are in need. In other words, doing such acts of altruism is beneficial to oneself too because of what the recipient may do for you in the future, thus expectation of this act of reciprocacy is also an impetus for acts of altruism onto others.

In my personal opinion and experience, such acts of giving are also done because one feels happy after doing so. For example, if you had helped a person in need, you will feel satisfied because you have done your part to give assistance to him. This is also seen by some people that when they do something good, their God will be very pleased with them and shower his blessings on them in the near future, and that their lives will greatly improve after commiting in an act of altruism.

Can you hear me?!!?

Music is beautiful. The IPod is such a fantastic thing, enabling you to listen to music when you want to at any time and at any place. I love the IPod. However, one day, I was nearly knocked down by a bicycle but fortunately for me, the cyclist swerved onto the grass patch beside the pavement I was walking on. That gave me a real shock.

These incidents where pedestrians and drivers alike use their cellphone and music players on the road are very commonplace in Singapore. However, I feel that listening to music or using cellphones on the road is an extremely irresponsible act that can lead to unthinkable consequences, and hence should not be encouraged in any circumstance. I will show that such acts will not only endanger oneself to potential accident, but also render oneself as a danger hazard on the road, thus being a very inconsiderate and irresponsible act.

Firstly, I will talk about how the above act can endanger oneself to a potential accident. According to a finding by the RAC foundation, a British non-profit organization, sending text messages on the cellphone while driving reduces the driver’s reaction by a huge 35%. Security guards, whose job requires a high level of alertness, are also not encouraged to use cellphones or listen to music during work. Furthermore, the USA Track and Field, America’s national governing body for all track and field events, even barred runners from using headphones or audio players during a race. We can see that this is a very concerning issue that cannot be neglected. Even in a race, where there is an unobstructed path, precautions are even taken to prevent any accidents, lest youngsters on a busy road where the oncoming traffic is largely unpredictable. Hence, listening to music or using cellphones on the road is definitely not encouraged.

A possible counter-argument to rebut my stand is that it is a youngsters’ free choice to do anything they want on the road, and that any accident is their own responsibility. But consider this, a youngster who is oblivious to the surroundings can obstruct traffic and cause accidents to happen. A “How alert are you?” test was conducted by the Straits Times on 60 people spotted sending text messaged or listening to music on the streets. Reporters deliberately either walked into them or rang a bicycle bell behind them. The results were that many of the people tested were not aware of the oncoming traffic and continued walking the same way, while some only realized at the last moment and swerved just in time to let the traffic past them. This survey show that when a person does acts of listening to music or using their cellphones on the road, they pose a potential hazard to oncoming traffic, especially cyclist who also use the pavements and may not be able to dodge in time due to their fast speed. Hence, listening to music or using cellphones on the road is definitely not supported at all as it may lead to accidents.

Lastly, such acts are also very irresponsible to members of the public. One must remember that the road does not belong to oneself, rather it is a public facility that caters to all the commuters. Although some people may say it is merely a form of entertainment on the long journey home, one must consider how the other commuters fell and be considerate. I encountered one such incident on the way home. I saw a youngster, who was listening to his IPod, jaywalk across the road where there was quite heavy traffic. At that moment, the car just appeared from the corner of the road, and the driver, fortunately for the youngster, stepped on his brakes instantly, avoiding the youngster by a few centimeters. The youngsters turned around and looked shocked and spewed some vulgarities at the driver. Instead, should the youngster take the blame instead? He was inconsiderate and should be thankful the driver did not drive right into him. Hence, we can see that he was being very inconsiderate by listening to his IPod and did not care about other road-users.

In conclusion, listening to music or using cellphones on the road is an irresponsible act that may lead to unthinkable consequences and hence should be opposed against. Maybe those listening to their IPod should do some self-reflection and stop being so self-centered. Caring about others on the road can definitely make a huge difference to the pedestrians’ safety and can help save lives, so why not start now?

Article: Deaf to the World --- What is it about?

This article talks about the increasing trend of youngsters using their cellphones or music players on the road, as well as the use of cellphones by drivers, resulting in a greater risk of accidents. Youngsters interviewed said that these help to entertain them as they walked, and this has become a habit that is hard to kick, while being oblivious to the serious possible consequences. Recently, there have been many incidents of drivers and cyclists who just swerved away in time in order to avoid these youngsters, and an increase in summonses issued for the use of cellphones in the car.

Another intro........

Have you been to Singapore? Then you should have heard of Orchard Road. Orchard Road is one of the premier shopping streets in the world and it is know to some Singaporeans as the heart of Singapore. It is visited by huge flocks of tourists every year and there has been a lot of positive feedback. It has been a factor for all tourists that want to come to SIngapore for a vacation. If you were the Singapore government, would you give Orchard Road a new facelift? How much would you spend? In an effort to make Orchard Road a better place, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced its plan of a $40 million makeover for Orchard Road. However, I feel that the ridiculously huge amount of money pumped into this expensive project has not been put into good use because this project has a minimal impact on tourists and may even backfire. I will show that there are more important priorities for Singapore instead of a lavish Orchard Road facelift, and that the project will have a minute impact and what it achieves will eventually contradict its aims.

New edited introduction

Have you been to Singapore? Then you should have heard of Orchard Road. Orchard Road is one of the premier shopping streets in the world and it is know to some Singaporeans as the heart of Singapore. It is visited by huge flocks of tourists every year and there has been a lot of positive feedback. In an effort to make Orchard Road a better place, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced its plan of a $40 million makeover for Orchard Road. However, I feel that the money pumped into this expensive project has not been put into good use because this project has a minimal impact on tourists and may even backfire. I will show that there are more important priorities for Singapore instead of a lavish Orchard Road facelift, and that the project will have a minute impact and what it achieves will eventually contradict its aims.

What happened to Orchard Road?

Orchard Road is one of the premier shopping streets in the world and it is know to some Singaporeans as the heart of Singapore. In an effort to make Orchard Road a better place, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced its plan of a $40 million makeover for Orchard Road. However, I feel that the money pumped into this expensive project has not been put into good use because this project has a minimal impact on tourists and may even backfire. I will show that there are more important priorities for Singapore instead of a lavish Orchard Road facelift, and that the project will have a minute impact and what it achieves will eventually contradict its aims.

In these tumultuous years, where unemployment cases are rising due to the economic recession, it is very essential that the government should budget more funds for improving the welfare of the community, and also to secure jobs and stimulate the economy. According to the minister mentor and previous Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, GDP could fall 10 per cent this year. The father of modern Singapore is so concerned about this issue, that he issued a warning this month for people to ready themselves for tough times ahead, which suggests the scale of the recession is gigantic and it can impact many people lives very enormously and negatively. Furthermore, this seems to be a bigger priority than to lavishly spend to beautify the already largely decorated Orchard Road, creating no need to further spend on another makeup of Orchard Road. Hence, the money put into the $40 million makeover has not been put to good use and should be instead allocated to more pertinent issues like securing jobs for those breadmakers and improving the economic situation.

This makeover also has minimal impact. This is seen as very few people notice the changes in Orchard Road despite the extreme makeover. For example, some comments made were that there was "no big difference" and this minute change can only be noticed if you"looked closely". Furthermore, many people were shocked that such a huge amount of money was allocated for the makeover. Some even thought that the changes only amonted to a cost of about "1 million dollars". Instead, many people agreed that "they should have left Orchard Road as it was" and the STB should have focused more into maintaining the area and cleaning up the area. A concern was that although there were some changes, the "pavement still looks so dirty", like it was floored "three decades ago". Such comments made by Singaporeans show us that this change did not achieve the great impact it was supposed to have, and hence and was no worth the effort put into this makeover, and all these effort established for this ridiculous caused can be diverted to neglected first priorities.

However, one may argue that these changes help to beautify and improve the place, making it more appealing for tourists to come to Singapore. For instance, there are the widening of pavements, the glass panels and there are also new street lamps, coordinated street furniture and potted flower totems. An important incentive is that there will be more new malls to shop in te future, and this would lure tourists. However, the Orchard makeover may backfire. Tourists have been complaining about the construction sites at Orchard Road. For example, a certain tourist expected Orhard Road to be prettier and nicer", and yet what they see is just "noise and construction". This has also impeded many Singaporeans to go to Orchard Road, as they complain that these construction sites "block their way". This results in a less crowded Orchard Road which is opposite of the tourists' expectations of Orchard Road to be a bustling place in the centre of Singapore. Hence, instead of attracting tourists, this makeover may cause tourists to cancel their plans after learning that Orchard Road is "nothing like what [they] see in [their] travel books", and we can conclude that the makeover will achieve in a result contradictory to its aims.

Therefore, I will conclude that the Orchard Road makeover and facelift is not a smart decision made by the authorities. This is because it is completely wasteful as such a plan would have a small impact and would not achieve its aim, especially when the country is going through difficult times as it is experiencing an economic recession. Maybe the government needs to be prodded to rethink on its priorities and decisions, and spend more time caring about its citizens than daydreaming on how to attract tourists in vain.