Tuesday, June 20, 2006 / 12:54 PM
I wished that there would be Chem practical today, and there was. Don't get me wrong, it's just that I would prefer practical over theory. After Chem, I was supposed to go to Wa's house (that's my grandma, by the way...) to get some stuff. By chance, I met Nithya who was waiting for, who else, Yoga. She said Yoga would come by in about 10 mins on his bicycle to teach her how to ride it. So we waited together at the bus stop. She, for Yoga; and I, for the bus. He came just in time, as my bus was arriving. With his looooooooooooong legs flying all over the place. Then when I explained that I was going to go to my grandma's house, I quipped "I'm Little Red Riding Hood. But I don't have a Big Bad Wolf. I need to find one." I just had to say that, I couldn't resist. He offered to be a big bad wolf so I called Nithya a wolfress. Lion, lioness. Tiger, tigress. Wolf...wolfress.
After all the grandma visiting, who is fine, by the way, I went to the interchange and took 856. While I was waiting, a middle-aged man asked me whether it was the queue for 856. I then noticed that he was VH (visually handicapped). And so conversation started. He was quite friendly so I asked whether he needed help to board. He said "what do you think?" and talked about how his family was busy and that if he waited for people, he'd never get anywhere. I found out that he was an editor for SPH and then lost his job after he became blind 5 years ago due to diabetes. So now, he works an an editor for something about the brief history of Singapore. Something about tourists and how they want to know about Singapore. He needed to gat some illustrations for the postcard and said that JB was cheaper. I wonder how he is to navigate there? I guess he has to depend on the charity of people...
He talked quite loudly and people, I guess were wondering why I talked to a stranger. Well, he needed help so as a person, I should help. And what wrong with talking to VH people. It's not like they would help him anyway...
The bus came, so I lead him on board. I got some experience in this from my VH cadets. I guess he could manage on his own so he took a saet near the driver, presumably so that he could know where to stop. One of my cadets could know where to stop just by "feeling" the turns because he said that counting stops wasn't accurate as sometimes they do not stop at bus stops. I had always wondered about that.
The reason I'm writing this is beacuse we need to realise that they are people too and that there's no shame in it. Do not look down on people because they are different.
After all the grandma visiting, who is fine, by the way, I went to the interchange and took 856. While I was waiting, a middle-aged man asked me whether it was the queue for 856. I then noticed that he was VH (visually handicapped). And so conversation started. He was quite friendly so I asked whether he needed help to board. He said "what do you think?" and talked about how his family was busy and that if he waited for people, he'd never get anywhere. I found out that he was an editor for SPH and then lost his job after he became blind 5 years ago due to diabetes. So now, he works an an editor for something about the brief history of Singapore. Something about tourists and how they want to know about Singapore. He needed to gat some illustrations for the postcard and said that JB was cheaper. I wonder how he is to navigate there? I guess he has to depend on the charity of people...
He talked quite loudly and people, I guess were wondering why I talked to a stranger. Well, he needed help so as a person, I should help. And what wrong with talking to VH people. It's not like they would help him anyway...
The bus came, so I lead him on board. I got some experience in this from my VH cadets. I guess he could manage on his own so he took a saet near the driver, presumably so that he could know where to stop. One of my cadets could know where to stop just by "feeling" the turns because he said that counting stops wasn't accurate as sometimes they do not stop at bus stops. I had always wondered about that.
The reason I'm writing this is beacuse we need to realise that they are people too and that there's no shame in it. Do not look down on people because they are different.
