Please view the video below.

Are you furious at the Caucasians who did not pay for the ride? Or do you think that the Trishaw uncle charged his service a little too high? Is it really the Caucasians’ fault? Or is it just the language barrier that separates them?

Whatever the answers are, they are not important. What I want to talk about today is the difference in social class in our society.

In a company, there is always the Director of the company followed by the managers of respective department and then the “low class” employees.

In our society today, it is also the same. There is a difference between people of higher class and people of lower class. Since the education system in Singapore is that all children must have at least an education of up till Primary 6, less people are illiterate, leading to more people doing the white collar jobs. With less people willing to do the blue collar jobs, for example: road sweepers, garbage collectors, toilet cleaners etc. Thus, Singapore has to allow immigrants from mostly China and India to do these jobs.

Many people of the higher class do not want to socialize with these people of the lower class. They go to the extent of despising them and feel that they should not even exist in the growing economy of many developed countries. However, without these people of lower class, any countries will not be able to operate or even survive. Many rubbish an debris will be left on the road and floor, the toilets will be dirty and smelly, the buildings will not be re-painted for many years to come, the trees and grasses will be overgrown, etc. Therefore, it is not morally right to despise them as they do all the “dirty work” so as to allow the people of higher class to function.

However, just because it is one’s job to do something, does not mean that the people of higher class can abuse it. For example, many customers at fast food restaurants do not take the initiative to clear they trays themselves. They feel that they should let the cleaners to do it since they are hired solely for this reason. Similarly, road sweepers are hired to clean up rubbish to keep the roads of Singapore clean. However, just because of this, we should not litter everywhere we go just so that the road sweeper can sweep them up. We should throw our rubbish into rubbish bin instead to reduce the road sweepers workload.

In the video, the Caucasians should not take the trishaw uncle service for granted even if they do not agree with the price they were charged. They should at least pay him for the ride and sympathise with him that he is already so old yet he still tried his best to cycle.

As people of higher class, we should show more compassion to the people of lower class to reduce their workload and stress as much as possible and not make it worst. Furthermore, we should not despise them just because they are of a lower class. They are still humans and they do not deserved to be treated this way. We cannot change the cruel truth of the difference between people of higher class and people of lower class, but we can make their life much easier. They have already suffered enough hardship and poverty, some do not even know when their next meal will be. Must we be so cruel as to make it difficult for them?

How I wished everybody’s life will be peaceful and happy. But sadly, some things just aren’t fair.