Swear like a sailor

We have been reading Curious George to Changunnie and I decided to take her to a library on Sunday.

It was a very pleasant trip (at first.... keep reading!). Changunnie was ecstatic to hang out with older children. There were rows and rows of book cases and she saw the trolleys she read about in Curious George Goes to the Library. The children floor at the library was pretty well designed. Cushioned sofas, activities room, multi-media room... I was impressed and lots of good old memories came back. I used to go to the library across the street from our old home every day after school. I read Jin Yong (金庸) for the first time there and have been hooked ever since.

Grandma thinks it's not a good idea to let Changunnie listen to music on my iPod as I don't have enough classical music. I think it's fine for her to listen to Swing Out Sisters and Us3 but well... We were picking CDs when I heard a very loud voice swearing at the speed of light in complex sentences in the background. I have to say I was quite shocked to hear how "fluent" that person was despite the fact that I work in an environment where etiquette is not always on top of people's priority list and there are people around me who cannot express themselves without the introduction of profanity into their speech. I pulled Changunnie behind me and looked. A teenager about 15 to 16 of age was screaming at the librarians and security guards around him. The way he moved his limbs and how he turned his head around said something was not quite right with him. Just then, a middle age woman rushed up to pin him on a column. She kept saying "tell mummy what happened. Calm down, mummy will help you." She didn't care if people were looking at her and her son like some caged animals. People pointed and whispered. Eye contacts triggered the son to have another outburst.

I took Changunnie home soon after and did not know how it ended. I couldn't stop thinking of how difficult it was for that mother and I have lots of respect for her. People in town are still pretty ignorant and there is a general lack of respect for other people. Breastfeeding in public area attracts a crowd. Giving seat to people more in need on public transportation is considered as an act of stupidity. People circle up to watch injured passengers/pedestrains from car accident but no one calls for help.

When I was young, there was a stronger sense of community. We knew our neighbours and no one locked the doors. Yet, people knew better than to put their fingers on someone else's business. What had happened?