Malaysians and Our Manners

Every single day we hear about incidents of road rage, rude counter staff, unhelpful people and poor quality of service. We pry our noses in, give some comment and complain about the "state" we are in but in evident, are we doing anything about it or are we just going to sit back and watch our nation continue this rut while we again give our "criticism"?

Tackling the problem at its root is always the method one might approach but how sure are we really tackling it at its root or could it be another branch in disguise? Two colleagues of mine, one from the land where men wear skirts and one from a small town, said that they take the highway instead of the ever congested LDP to travel to work everyday.

Why is that? Well the reasoning that both of them gave was that, on the highway, traffic is clear, they can drive as fast as they can (within the speed limit of course) without the worry of an impending traffic jam. Because of that they felt less stressed out when they arrived at work and seem to be in a more cheerful mood.

So why isn't everyone taking the clearer route? Well as usual, the clearer and faster route comes with an expensive price to pay. The travel distance is longer and the toll charges are crazy. The normal route on the LDP would cost RM6.40 for two ways but on the highway, it costs RM10.80 and not to forget the extra petrol charges as well. Is this a money issue now?

On a day to day basis, it is quite pricey to fork out RM10.80 on toll charges a day for the usual paper pusher sitting in an office located so far away from his/her home. So, they travel through the usual traffic and hopes to get in to the office in time before their bosses starts shouting at them for being late.

The freedom to choose how we live one's life is truly ours, whether we want it to be one of that is less stressful and less complicated. People tend to show their bad sides when they are physically and mentally stressed out or worn out. The entire working culture here causes many people to endure a lot of stress causing a breed of workers who are easily getting burnt out and how do they release their stress and tensions? On the road? Who knows?

Even with the emergence of our local public transportation system, traffic jams are unavoidable. We can complain and complain wondering why buses take so long to arrive and when they do, they usually come in groups of three, but ever consider that the fact that the drivers are constantly plagued by shoddy equipment and trying to get through traffic jams while being under the pressure of keeping to schedule?

How can one stay relaxed and stress free? I think if that is the case, we live in a dream world. But what we can do is make choices for ourselves that leads us to a better life, one that is less stressful but of course that comes with a price. We got to truly ask ourselves what is it that we want out of life? Is the stress, pain and suffering worth it? Have we ever sat down and thought of that?