Doing the Right Thing

As I stood in the aisle of the moderately packed MRT yesterday, a middle-aged man lugging a small bag and holding a newspaper stayed beside me. He opened the newspaper and painted a stern, serious front on his face. Of course, my tendency was to snoop on what he was reading about.

It was about the predicament of the columnist's son a few days back. According to what I understood, the son was mugged inside a passenger bus, right in front of pairs and pairs of eyes. The poor boy shouted and implored for any mediation as he was blatantly coerced to remove his shoes and socks, possibly to prevent him from running after the criminals. After his cellphone was pillaged, the robbers simply alighted the bus, as if nothing happened.

Criminals are getting more and more flagrant on their crimes because most people do not do anything. Doing something wrong isn't the only evil, but not doing the right thing is just as harmful. All it would take for those robbers to be sent behind bars was a single person brave enough to help. All it would take was a small spark to ignite a flame of compassion, but sad enough for the son, it didn't happen. He was left to file a police report in the wee hours of the morning, barefooted.

Why did he do that instead of going home to his family's comfort?


Because in his belief,  it was the right thing to do.


I write this because I often question myself if I'm doing the right thing. "Doing what feels the right thing to do" seems so vague and uncertain. I often answer my questions indirectly by asking myself another question: what would my future self think about this?

There are so many lessons that can be learned from defeat and regret, that's why these two are valuable treasures for me.