Graciousness

Letter to The Sunday Times (not published)

Dear Editor,

I refer to the letter by Wong Jock Onn published in The Sunday Times on 3 February 2008.
I would like to share my 2 cents worth about giving up my seat for others.

On one occasion, while travelling home from work on the bus, I happened to doze off. I was seated in the middle of the bus near to the door. Along the way I happened to wake up and I noticed a stomach with a bump in front of me. I looked up and true enough it was a pregnant lady. I stood up and offered my seat to her, and apologised to her saying that I was sorry I did not notice her earlier. She glared at me as though I had meant to ignore her earlier and immediately sat down without a word.

On the other occasion, I was also sitting in the middle of the bus of the same bus service, and I noticed this elderly lady with white hair come up the bus, and I offered her my seat. She nodded with a smile and sat down. Later, when the seat beside her became vacant, she patted it for me to sit down and started making conversation with me. I was surprised at first but we had a nice time talking until I reached my destination.

I just want to highlight that sometimes, being gracious would have to start from the individual; from oneself. In this case, I had done the same but received two very different reactions, and being gracious both ways clearly shows that both parties benefits – they both end up with a positive feeling and a wonderful mood to last the rest of the day.