Superiority Complex

Just something that happened during my holiday, which I thought that I would share.

We were taking the night rail back to Singapore, and my son was being a little noisy(which I do regret if he was being a little of a nuisance. But the passengers in the same cabin were mostly charmed by him. Mostly.)

 There was a caucasian lady occupying the bed near to us, and I assume, was irritated by the noise.  She pulled aside her curtains, and, not very politely, said : "Could you PLEASE try to get your son to sleep? I am trying to rest here."

My husband was a little upset that someone was speaking so harshly in reaction to our boy, (who was behaving,like, well, a five year old.) but replied, very politely : "Well, I'm not sure whether we could, but we will try." And thus ended the episode. Or so I thought.

The next day, when we got off upon reaching our destination, I heard the lady in question say : "Thank goodness the journey is over. These Singaporeans have no class at all. Stupid, and uncouth. They can't speak English, and can't even speak their mother tongue well.They use what they call Singlish, which is an insult to the language. Luckily we're not like that. "  She did not notice we were behind her.

Now, friends that know me will probably testify that I will have episodes when I am tired, and start speaking with an American accent. I was exhausted that day, and probably not in a good mood from lack of sleep. I said to my boy with perfect American accent, loudly enough for her to hear.  "Sweetpea, lets move faster. In case we offend someone who is of a different class from us." and then to hubby, "I'm hungry la. let's go for breakfast leh."  She stopped in her tracks to stare at me. We left.

Okay, that was a little childish, I admit. But I feel obliged to speak up when visitors to our fair country look upon us with disdain. Sigh. Our world has modernized, but, have we truly progressed beyond the notion of the White Man's Burden? The superiority complex? hmmm.....

Please don't get me wrong. I do have good friends who are also Caucasian, and they are lovely people. Instances like this are one off events. But still, they do not feel good.

Sorry for ranting. Next up, continuation of the anti-aging series!

 (Pardon me, I know the series on anti-aging is taking awhile!)