Umbrellas. Where do I start?
Functional and practical, these little gems unhook with the smoothest of ease and spread their wings wide open to shelter even the broadest of individuals.
They do not discriminate but selflessly protect all individuals of this world without fail. They do not ask for anything in return and are arguably the lowest-maintenance articles in this period, if not all time.
Truly, they’re a gawdsend. Something we need…
But don’t deserve.
Because in the end, we’re humans. And despite all the love umbrellas have unconditionally shared with us, we refuse to respect them. No. We, humans, only view them as objects of use. Objects of use that we’re free to steal and kidnap against their own will…
Because we’re humans.
S’poreans Can’t Stop Stealing Umbrellas From Umbrella-Sharing Company Even After 1 Year
Well alright, so maybe it’s more of a Singaporean than a human categorisation, but still…
Are Singaporeans not humans?
Nevertheless, I shall continue with the main story, but before that, allow me to introduce what Sharella’s all about.
Not to be confused with your second cousin of your extended family that branches into Kyria, Sharella was started in 2017 and is essentially an umbrella-sharing project which preps for the following scenario:
Loaning umbrellas for free on rainy days whenever someone needs to cross the roads near MRT stations.
A final-year graduation project by four Republican Polytechnic students from the Design for User Experience course (which was conducted in conjunction with the Land Transport Authority’s Community Division), the idea was given its first trial back in January 2017. In a time period that spanned 10 days, the team behind the concept reported a 100% return rate.
Though to facilitate the probability of the umbrellas being stolen, the umbrellas that are shared come with stickers.
All’s Well Ends Well? Not Quite
The 10-day trial might’ve been immensely successful…
But the reality of it isn’t quite so.
On the day of its official launch, all 20 of the umbrellas went missing;
Grassroots leaders had to fork out a few hundred dollars to replace the umbrellas.
And they’re still missing even to this day.
On 16 December, Lianhe Zaobao reported that many of the shared umbrellas were missing in Sembawang.
Out of eight shared umbrella racks, two were suspiciously void. And of the other six, only one to two umbrellas remained per rack.
One rack had a broken umbrella, and empty bottles and cardboard littered the vicinity.
“Every time they put in new umbrellas, it would be gone the next day,” one 52-year-old woman told the Chinese daily.
The problem’s also prevalent in other areas such as Fusionopolis and Bukit Batok, with Queenstown also a frequent victim.
Apparently, the new umbrellas inserted in Queenstown were lost after just two days.
Yet Even So… They Refuse To Give Up On Humanity
Previously, the team behind Sharella brainstormed the idea of a mechanical prototype which unlocks umbrellas for a fee.
The notion, however, was rejected by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) because they felt that a community project should not involve money.
However, Sharella has reportedly claimed that they’ll not give up on their umbrella-sharing efforts. Instead, they’ll create more campaigns that spur graciousness, because it’s more cost-efficient to replace umbrellas.
“After much calculation, replacing the umbrella is more cost-efficient and safer than building a sheltered walkway across the road! Therefore we will create more campaigns to improve the graciousness of the community.”
Humans might have let the umbrellas down…
But umbrellas (Sharella) have not.
So do a favour for humanity today.
Return the umbrellas where they belong, because they deserve it.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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