Many passengers complained that the recent break downs of the Mass Rapid Transit system were badly handled.  Affected passengers were not sufficiently informed of what went wrong and rescue plans.  To get out of the stalled cabins, some had to walk through the MRT tunnels.

One person broke the glass door as the cabin was getting stuffy because the air conditioning stopped working.  Thousands of passengers were stuck at the train stations for hours.  It was no wonder many were furious.  The SMRT management was sharply rebuked.

A group of 80 persons gathered at Hong Lim Park to call for the stepping down of the SMRT chief executive.  Even personnel who mended the SMRT booths and had no direct involvement with the stalling of the train service were criticized.

It was not surprising that the morale of the SMRT staff was greatly dampened.  But not everyone was unappreciative of the 24 years of faithful service provided by the SMRT.  A little girl drew a card that read “To the MRT uncles and aunties who are working very hard.”  That really lifted up the spirits of the staff.

I am not absolving the SMRT from responsibility of the breakdown and the great inconvenience and even danger caused.  They are responsible.  I am also not arguing for or against the call for the CEO to step down.  But I thought that the level at which and the way SMRT was criticized without any appreciation for the good work and the convenience it brought for the past 24 years smell foul of a critical and ungrateful heart.

Hence, I applaud what this little girl had done.  She has a grateful and a kind and gracious heart.  She is blessed because Jesus says: “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy” (Matt 5:7).

We are very quick to criticize a person when we see a fault in him.  But if we are honest with ourselves, we are sometimes or oftentimes no better.  Yet we are blind to our own faults.  Jesus calls such a person a “hypocrite” (Luke 6:42).  You will be heavily judged by God (6:37).  Hence, Jesus wisely counsels us to avoid judging (that is, criticising) if possible and be kind and gracious.  Then when you fault, God will also be gracious to you (Luke 6:38).  And you can be sure there will come such a day when you need God and others to be kind and gracious to you—the reason?  You are a sinner and you will do wrong not once but many times in the near future.  Let us learn to say with sincerity more words of praise and encouragement.  Even if you have to rebuke or correct, do so with tender and sincere love.