I was with my family to watch the live telecast of the National Day Parade at the OCBC Arena last week.

Besides being treated to a variety of fringe activities and performances, as well as the fantastic parade, what heartened me was that after the event, everyone in the area I was at bagged their garbage and placed them in the rubbish bins provided. There was no rubbish left behind.

I have observed signs of an increasing civic-mindedness in our country.

For example, I have noticed that more and more people are cleaning up after themselves at hawker centres, giving way to other signalling motorists, moving in on buses and trains to make room for other passengers, and the like.

This clearly demonstrates that even as our country is prospering on the economic front, our social etiquette and consideration for others are also improving tremendously.

The only bugbear that I still have is that many people still talk during movies.

Sebastian Tan