I think we cannot talk about this subject anymore.
We need to lock this thread.
Cos I think ppl dunno what is graciousness at all to talk about it.
How can we be gracious when we do not know what that word means?
To be gracious is NOT to assert your right even when it is yours, eg giving way to signalling vehicles. How often we see that? And instead how often we insist on our right of way? And who would not curse and even physically abuse others for violating your right?
So what has littering and returning your trays got to do with graciousness?
Do people return their plates in a restaurant? Of course not, you expect service.
So in Mac and hawker centre the de facto service concept is for others to collect your dirty dishes and clean your dirty table after you. Nothing to do with graciousness at all. Its all about service or lack thereof. To change that service concept you must make people pay to get their trays and bowls etc like trolleys in the supermarkets. Who wants to return trays and clean tables when there are people doing it for you. Make people pay and people will return their trays, gracious or not.
And even worst is seating in seats reserved for elderly or using handicap toilets when not handicap, and needing to be scolded for doing so. For instead of giving up your rights, you have violate others' rights. Nothing can be more diametrically opposed to graciousness. It is entirely anti-social and can in fact be criminal and deserves caning and fines.
And littering is just illegal. Period.
BUT we are all gracious in a way that we either know or dont know: we all have a right to know what happens to our money in our CPF, but we don't assert that right. There you are: ALL Singaporeans are gracious!
PS: Not to have foreign workers in your backyard can be arguably your right, especially when your vote counts, but to give up that right is graciousness.
Espion, every society and culture has their good/bad points
I've been around latin american culture, black culture, european culture, american culture, and I can tell you that each have their good points and bad points, Italians talk too loudly, as do black people, many chinese people don't queue up, New Yorkers don't even care when a dead body is hanging on a fence (true story),etc etc
I think it's not very useful to keep harping on how bad we are compared to other cultures. I mean, just because other cultures clear their own plates, does that mean we're terrible for not clearing our plates? I would reserve judging cultures based on other cultures. It's the same as when we Singaporeans go to other countries and say "this is bad that is bad..."
Based on what? Our own value system of what is good and bad?
French people are terrible, they don't clear up their dog poop. but maybe that's part of their accepted culture.
Jewish people are very aggressive when it comes to money. But to them it's acceptable attitude, to others it's rude.
If you believe that something is not right, the two ways to approach it is to
1) chide the person
which I find very effective because in Singapore we just look on and grumble later, when it'll be very easy actually to just tell off the person whose actions you find offensive, on the spot.
2) lead by example and hope that other people will take note and follow