Culture and behavior of people

People are shaped by their culture, education and way of life. They develop certain common traits - generous, selfish, open minded, closed minded, positive, negative, courageous, cowardly, honest, deceitful.

Although the traits are quite common to most people in that culture, there will be exceptions. A statement of trait does not mean that it will apply to 100% of people in that culture. If I say that the X (a certain nationality or people) are hardworking, there will certainly be some who are lazy. It is not necessary to say that "most X" are hardworking, as the word "most" is understood.

In Singapore, there ae certain people who will challenge your observation by asking you to prove their point. They wil ask "Do you have statistics to prove that X is hardworking? Did you conduct a survey? What percentage of X are hardworking? Is your survey reliable?"

After a while, most people learn to keep quiet. They have no opinion. They will let other people make a statement and they can then throw the "statistical" challenge.

I open my eyes and make my observation. I see what are the common traits of certain people. I know Singaporeans well and have observed their traits - which are shaped by our education and environment. Some of these traits are positive. Some are negative and should be changed. I will try my best to point them out. 

I hope that Singaporeans will develop the open mindedness to see our positive and negative traits, be willing to laugh at ourselves, and have the strength to correct our negative traits.

Serenity prayer.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference

http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/special/serenity.html

Tan Kin Lian