Out of the box The story of the driverless train
I share this story about a driverless train and how it reflects the poor character of many people.

Recently, I sat in the front of a MRT train. I was surprised that I could see the train moving in the tunnel. It was the first time in four decades that I had seen the MRT tunnel.

It was a train on the Circle Line. I had traveled on the line before, but I was usually not at the front of the train.

On the next few occasions when I traveled on the MRT, I moved to the front of the train to see the tunnel that I missed before.

I found that the trains on the North South Line and the East West Line had a partition at the front. I could not see the tunnel because it was blocked by the partition. 

I posted the photos of the front of these trains that was blocked by a partition. I attracted a few dozen comments. 

There was only one helpful comment. That person said that the trains on the old lines had a driver and the partition was to house the cabin of the driver.  The new trains were driverless and do not need a partition for the driver. 

I am glad that there is a sensible person among the dozens of people who commented.

What about the other comments?

Several people said it was always like that (i.e. there was a partition). Was I not aware about it? 

They seem to think that the are smart that they knew there was a partition and that I was stupid not to be aware about it.

But why was the purpose of the partition? It probably did not matter to them. They accepted that it should be the case.

Maybe some of them knew that it was to accommodate a train driver. But they assumed that if they knew, other people should know. 

This is a sign of arrogance and stupidity.

Some people pass personal remarks that are totally unrelated to the matter. They seem to think that they are smart when they can pass rude and personal comments. 

The rude, arrogant and personal comments for the majority. It is a sign of the poor character of many people in Singapore. They probably think that they are smart when they can hide their ignorance.

It is sad. 

Tan Kin Lian

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