Does the Singapore law protects one from being hit? Is a slap by a stranger considered as an assault? An incident on the bus this morning set me thinking.
It involved a middle age man, who looked educated and respectable, and a primary school boy, who looked like he was half awaken. Apparently the man had ask the boy to move aside for him to get into the inner seat. And the boy might have been the rebellious sort and asked 'why'. What came next shocked me. After getting in, the man turned around and slapped the boy. Piak! It was awfully loud. And all the boy could do was to stare back and mutter some vulgarities. The man went on to say he hit him because the boy talked back. After the boy got off the bus, the man started to explain himself to the passenger seated beside him. Was there a need to explain his violent act against a helpless boy? Maybe it occurred to him that he was a big bully and had sinned.
It strike me that whatever the man did was wrong. But I did nothing about it. Regardless how poor attitude the boy had, there was no need to resort to violence. And I asked myself what I would do if I were hit by somebody. Is there any way I can protect myself or seek justice? Is taking pictures of him and putting on Stomp the only silly thing a modern day victim can do? Or simply just blog about it? Is getting slapped such a tiny incident that we can't do anything and we let the bully thinks that it is okay to do so? I share the incident not to judge anyone, but to seek answers to all these questions.
I guess the boy was too stunned to react. Rebellious as he might be, he probably did the right thing to walk away. But he is still young and impressionable. Once he is cooled down, he is probably going to share the experience with his friends and generalize his hatred against folks of the stranger's race. And I wonder how a stranger on the bus had changed his life...
It involved a middle age man, who looked educated and respectable, and a primary school boy, who looked like he was half awaken. Apparently the man had ask the boy to move aside for him to get into the inner seat. And the boy might have been the rebellious sort and asked 'why'. What came next shocked me. After getting in, the man turned around and slapped the boy. Piak! It was awfully loud. And all the boy could do was to stare back and mutter some vulgarities. The man went on to say he hit him because the boy talked back. After the boy got off the bus, the man started to explain himself to the passenger seated beside him. Was there a need to explain his violent act against a helpless boy? Maybe it occurred to him that he was a big bully and had sinned.
It strike me that whatever the man did was wrong. But I did nothing about it. Regardless how poor attitude the boy had, there was no need to resort to violence. And I asked myself what I would do if I were hit by somebody. Is there any way I can protect myself or seek justice? Is taking pictures of him and putting on Stomp the only silly thing a modern day victim can do? Or simply just blog about it? Is getting slapped such a tiny incident that we can't do anything and we let the bully thinks that it is okay to do so? I share the incident not to judge anyone, but to seek answers to all these questions.
I guess the boy was too stunned to react. Rebellious as he might be, he probably did the right thing to walk away. But he is still young and impressionable. Once he is cooled down, he is probably going to share the experience with his friends and generalize his hatred against folks of the stranger's race. And I wonder how a stranger on the bus had changed his life...
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