The Ugly Truth

Happy new year everyone. I hope you've had a good break so far! I know this blog has been pretty quiet of late, and I apologize for that.

I've wanted to write this post for a while now, but I held back for a number of reasons. This post was inspired by a number of things which happened towards the end of last semester. I found these happenings, although small, quite upsetting. I knew I couldn't be objective in writing this post, so I gave myself time to cool off first. Then exams happened and holidays came and I got lazy.

Back to the point: I've noticed certain less than pleasant trends in Tembusians' behaviour. It's a bit of an over-generalization – I can admit that – but I think these tendencies might explain other problems we face as a college. Hence, I believe it is important that these trends are at very least acknowledged, and somehow addressed later on. Without further rambling, here they are:

Inconsiderateness
I mean this in a very general way. I think Tembusians can be quite inconsiderate... not that they are verbally rude, but more like they do not realize how their actions can affect other individuals or the community. There were so many examples towards the end of last semester too! The welfare cupboard, filled with free snacks and goodies from the CSC, was promptly cleared by the boxes almost as soon as it went public; the Blank Canvas and Intersection were left in a terrible mess after the model building for Climate Change; the Games room too was in bad shape and had to be shut down for maintenance.

Tardiness
This one is almost becoming a Tembusu tradition. Nearly every event that Tembusu holds starts late. Master's Teas, Tembusu Forums, performances, meetings... classes, even. The problem is not that a few people tend to rock up late for such events. It seems that residents expect each other to be late, and hence are late too.

Lack of commitment
The worst of them all: Tembusians seem unable to commit to what they sign up for. Whether be it master classes or interest groups, some students don't really take 'signing up' very seriously. It's so easy to drop out of any activity simply because there are no costs to the individual doing so. It's the organizers who take the brunt of it. They often end up planning and catering for a smaller crowd than expected.

At this point I must admit that these offenses are quite petty. However, it reflects a general lack of mutual trust and respect, and that is what I think is the heart of the issue. The fact is there are residents in this college who forget that their neighbours share the same facilities. There are also those who take for granted the time and effort the peers and Fellows put in to bringing events and activities to fruition, and that the very least they could do to express any gratitude was to show up, and show up on time.

What is hopeful about this situation is that not everyone is inconsiderate, late and uncommitted. At least in many instances. I reckon this is most evident on the House level, where a handful of Tembusian seem to fiercely defend their territory (i.e. lounges) from outsiders (i.e. residents not from their level/ non-Tembusians) and abuse (i.e. mess). That kind of pride and sense of ownership is what I think can fend off selfish and inconsiderate behaviors.

The problem is how to create the conditions necessary for that? I can't say I have much of a solution for this one, but the college definitely needs to be more unified than it is right now.