moral education. in theory, we were taught to help people, especially children, pregnant ladies, the disabled, the poor… and the old.

in practice. do we?

i was at masjid india yesterday. as i was walking by a busy stretch of road, i saw an old chinese lady tengah macam terbaring pat the pavement. she was groaning and trying to get up. mesti dia tersungkur pat pavement tu, cos her left slipper was caught in the drain.

and what did the rest do?

they became onlookers (betting how long she would take to get up, perhaps?) semua orang buat bodoh. tengok aje. jalan lalu aje.

and the award goes to this fella in a car just beside the old lady yang jatuh tersungkur tu. dia buka pintu dia, and tengokkan aje. padahal dia lah yang paling dekat. pat sebelah aje! tinggal keluar kereta, jalan setapak dua… and tolong aje. tapi dia duduk pat dalam kereta dia. mak oi.

(ni dah mode macam tulis karangan. so bear with me. maklumlah.. kan nanti nak kena ajar tulis karangan balik. practice. hehehe)

aku teringat semasa arwah nenek jatuh dulu. aku teringat arwah nenek lebam berhari-hari lepas dia terjatuh. aku teringat yang kalau orang tua jatuh, dia tak mudah sembuh macam kita yang muda.

aku teringat arwah nenek. wanita cina tua tu pun jatuh macam arwah nenek.

tiada siapa mendekatinya. tiada siapa menghulurkan bantuan kepadanya. tiada siapa. manusia apa ni? ada akal. ada nafsu. tak ada hati.

aku simpati. (part ni, permainan kata. simpati ada 2 maksud. simpati kepada manusia yang tak ada hati. simpati juga kepada nenek tua tu yang tersungkur. tapi part ni kalau buat analisis sastera je)

aku mendekatinya. dua meter. semeter. dua tapak. setapak.

tanpa berkata apa-apa, aku segera menghulurkan bantuan. matanya sayu mengaharapkan belas ikhsan.

pada tika itu, aku malu. malu dengan nenek tua itu. aku malu apabila menyedari tiada insan lain yang cukup sifatnya, yang tegap badannya, yang muda usianya, tampil membantu. mereka sekadar melihat sahaja. entah apa yang mereka fikirkan.

(karangan mode ends here)

okay. back to bahasa biasa. aku cubalah tolong dirikan dia. tapi susah. berat. aku tengok pat orang lain. orang lain tengok aku balik.

nasib baik tiba-tiba datanglah satu makcik ni. dia pun tolong angkat. tapi tetap tak dapat.

orang lain tetap berjalan lalu.

makcik tu had to stop this other man, maybe in his 40s to help us. finally the three of us dapat help her up.

all the old chinese lady could say was “jatuh. jatuh”. kesian aku dengar.

helped her put on her slipper and asked whether she was okay. but all she replied was “jatuh”. sedih aku dengar.

seeing that she could stand up and walk a few steps on her own, i felt that it was okay to leave her there. i wish i could help her more. like send her home or something. but then again, i was alone. i didnt know my way in the area very well. and i had errands to run.

i’m upset. because nobody else bothered to help a harmless old lady yang jatuh tersungkur. apa itu kemanusiaan?

kalau tsunami, peperangan, poor people pat ‘bersamamu’ dan lain-lain, cepat dorang tolong. tak nampak pun. baca berita je.. cepat dorang tolong. tapi nenek tua tu yang jatuh betul-betul depan mata (tak perlu tengok tv, baca berita, keluarkan duit pun)… itu pun susah nak tolong.