I belong to a minority group here in Singapore, which is strange if you think about it, considering I'm one of the indigenous people of these parts. When Raffles landed here all those years ago, he probably talked to someone that looked like me, while someone else that looked like me was busy laughing at Farquhar's name-tag.
But I digress. The point I'm trying to make is that since I'm a minority pretty much every experience I've had is an intercultural one. This blog post is about one of those experiences, and like many of my posts thus far it is set back in the days of my national service.
In the early days of my NS I was posted to a fire station somewhere in central Singapore, where I was part of an ambulance crew that would respond to medical emergencies in the area. One particular case I responded to comes to mind when I think about intercultural behavior, and it actually involves child-birth.
A woman was in labour and so together with her husband they decided to take a taxi to the hospital. However while one the way to the hospital they decided to stop by the side of the road and call an ambulance instead. As it turns out I was on duty at that time so we got to the scene shortly after and the baby was delivered right there in the back of the cab.
Now as part of an ambulance crew I have seen my share of accidents, but child-birth is by far the most disgusting thing I had EVER seen. The back of that taxi had blood and other types of unmentionable fluids all over it. It was an absolute mess, plus it smelled horrible too. So I expected the taxi driver, a Chinese man in his early 40s, to be significantly upset. After all, the cab is the main source of income for him, and now it is compromised. I was surprised though to see him smiling from ear to ear; he even waived the fare.
I would later find out that for taxi-drivers (a whole new sub-culture I never knew existed), a birth in your cab is actually very lucky, and would bring you good fortune. I would also later find out that Chinese people generally believe that birth of any kind is actually very lucky, so they do not mind the mess associated with it. Myself on the other hand, all of 18 years old and fresh out of junior college, really cannot get past the smell. It was a mixture of rotten eggs and vomit . It really was just plain horrible.
Relating this to what was taught in class this past week, I have come to realize that this is perhaps a good example of belief systems. If your culture subscribes to the notions of 'luck' and 'fortune', then you would associate certain events with those concepts. You would thus, just like the taxi driver, welcome such incidents. On the other hand if you do not believe in such things, then all you would see (and smell) is a sullied vehicle.
Being indigenous and a minority is not exactly that strange when you think about it. The Native American Indians are a minority in their own ancestral land, as are the dozens of Chinese minority groups ( Tibetan-Chinese, Mongolian-Chinese, etc. ) in Han Chinese-dominated China.
ReplyDeleteMoving on, most cultures welcome the birth of new life, not just the Chinese or taxi-driver sub-culture. I am sure Malays rejoice when a child is born as much as everyone else does. Perhaps the difference in perception was more due to Faizal’s youthful age at the time of his experience than some surprising cultural difference. At only 18 years old, Faizal was unlikely to have known the joys of parenthood and so noticed the mess more than its significance. I’d wager that Faizal was never a biology student either and was encountering biohazardous material for the first time.
Finally, associating certain events with “good fortune” can indeed lead to a more optimistic perspective. A glass half empty can also be seen as half full. Just as the taxi-driver chose to see the discharge of amniotic fluid and blood in his cab as a lucky thing, so too should we try to see the silver lining in events in our own lives. We’d be happier that way.
Haha well Isaac I won't be taking that bet. You are indeed correct; I was never a biology student, and while I've produced my own biohazardous material on occasion (as does everyone else I believe) I truly have never seen anything like that in real life before.
ReplyDeleteI would say this though; no lab you have ever done or will ever do would remotely compare to what I saw that day. I mean I KNOW where babies come from. I even KNOW how it is they are made, and how exactly they exit the womb. But it still didn't prepare me for this particular event. I actually went home that day and apologized to my mother for any pain I caused on my way "out".
You do make a good point. I do suppose a new born is cherished universally, independent of cultural situation of the parents. Perhaps the intercultural experience I had was not one between the sub-cultures of the chinese cab-driver and malay medic, but actually between a mature adult/parent and a completely grossed-out naive teenager.
Hey man,
ReplyDeleteTerrible post Faizal! I couldnt stand the gross and compromising birth details that upon trying to imagine nearly threw up myself. Right now, I'm having rythmic shots of convulsions and cold precipitations thanks to you Faizal. How inconsiderate and unbecoming of you Faizal. lolol
Cheers
haha well Mark some of your posts make me sick too!
ReplyDeleteHi Faizal,
ReplyDeleteI have never witnessed such an incident and i probably never would. But I guess it must have been pretty traumatic since you are still disgusted by it. But I also do not think you would have such a chance again.
Anyway, I can see how your reactions differ so much from the taxi driver. From your cultural standpoint, you could not comprehend how it is actually considered to be lucky to have a baby in your taxi. But for chinese, it is deemed good to bring life into this world.
This was an interesting read. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Faizal, for this very interesting post. You describe the situation in great detail and yet concisely, and you offer a decent analysis. The idea that the taxi driver saw and interpreted the event differently than you makes sense in the way you explain it (I would have sided with your reaction, I think!). I also appreciate Isaac's take on the situation: that some of us are simply grossed out by what might be considered routine in an biology lab, and that an 18-year-old male would have a view very different from a would-be parent.
ReplyDeleteStill, there may well be something cultural about your reaction. To make that clearer, you might have connected your reaction in the taxi to concepts in your cultural background that resonate with the idea of "unclean." For example, in Islam a woman who is menstruating cannot pray, right? That would seem to indicate that there is a high value placed on a particular type of cleanliness. What do you think?
Love this post for its total grossness. haha..
ReplyDeleteI think you are fortunate enough to witness such an event during your National Service days. I believe that it is these type of non-routine events as such that cause us to recall our NS days with fondness.
I like Isaac's evaluation of this situation, that we should always see the silver lining in our lives. Wise words indeed.
Thanks for the highly enjoyable and meaningful post. It prepares me for the bio-hazard that is to come in time.
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ReplyDeleteThat seems to come right out from a drama scene! This is a very detailed but right-to-the-point description. Well, life is a play itself, so we would see drama-like events from time to time.
ReplyDeleteThe difference in the reaction between you and the taxi driver could be due to difference in experience and the stage of life. The taxi driver could have witnessed child-births by other mothers prior to this incident and thus was not taken aback by it. He could also be a father and thus the perspective that he has on this event is different from you.
I would not attribute education or training to the perspective of real time events. I personally had been trained in animal dissections before my undergraduate studies. Despite having cut open many animals and removed their organs, I am still very afraid of real-time human injuries or bio-hazard products.
Life is full of surprises, we just have to take them positively. Nice post!
Thanks Faizal for sharing that experience. I really enjoyed your post! I agree with the earlier comments and it’s amazing how cultural difference can affect the way we view things. However, for me, being a Chinese, I would have felt the same way as you…completely grotesque by the whole thing. Although, you might say that everyone would celebrate the birth of a child, my immediate reaction would be disgust. I would say that this situation is not completely isolated to cultural difference but also individual preferences.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you brought up about luck. In fact, even in other cultures, people believe in luck as well. Consider the word serendipity, it also involves luck. It seems to me that there are different variations of luck in different culture. What do you think?
I do know many Chinese who believe in luck and that includes my parents, I however do not believe in it entirely. Consider a mah-jong game where to most Chinese luck is a big factor in winning , however is luck really involved if they probability of you winning is the same for everyone else? Or if you did not get good grades, is it because you were unlucky if everyone had the same set of notes to study with? What are your thoughts? Cheers!
Hey thanks for all the comments so far!
ReplyDelete@Brad
Yea I suppose there is a slight difference between dirty and unclean, and Malay/Muslims have very strong opinions about what is unclean. It is entirely possible that my response to this entire episode was a knee-jerk reaction, something I just felt without really understanding why.
@Eunice
Hey I'm glad I'm not the only person to feel that way about childbirth! Haha it really is something that looks much better on TV than it real life.
Yea luck is a tricky thing isn't it? Its almost a cultural construct, a creation of man to explain inexplicable, unlikely, or unfortunate behaviour. Mathematicians (like yourself I guess) would point to the law of large numbers, and in the grand scheme of things you would probably only win 1 out of every 4 mahjong games in your entire lifetime!
Whenever I read Your Post Allways got Something New
ReplyDeleteBiohazard Products