Singapore has the denomination of being a clean and green city, and you can bet that it’s neither due to its considerate citizens nor a collectivist culture. 

The reputation for spotless streets should instead be attributed to the army of cleaners who hold the thankless job of picking up after people and clearing the country’s trash. About time that the authorities launched an initiative called CleanSG Day too, when residents will have to take responsibility for cleaning up their own neighbourhoods when cleaners islandwide get a proper day off. 

But one does not need a special day to be gracious to our cleaners. One could, for example, emulate a man named Faiz Roslan, who went viral on Facebook for imparting lessons about civility to his young child. 

The man shared a post depicting how he and his wife taught their child to respect the people responsible for keeping their Choa Chu Kang estate clean. According to Faiz, his toddler helped to give garbage truck operators some chocolates as a gesture of gratitude.

It’s a small gesture, but a moving one. Inculcating values such as politeness and respect within kids is something that fellow netizens find important too, expressing as such in the comments section of the post. 

ilyas@asiaone.com

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