The Pillion and the Crystal Vase

Does your boyfriend or husband rides a motorcycle and takes you along as a pillion rider? If he does, try this little dialogue on him.

Tell him to imagine a tall Swarovski Crystal Vase. It’s rare, it’s precious, it’s the only one of its kind in the world and it costs over $10,000. It does not come in any packaging at all but now he is tasked to transport it from one place to another.

Ask him what he would do. Would he strap it on the back of his motorcycle? Or would he take a cab and cuddle it safely in his arms to the destination?

I’m sure anybody transporting such a cargo would have the common sense to take it in a cab.

Now ask him, if he knows that such a precious thing is not meant to be transported on a motorcycle, then why does he put you on it?

Are you not rare, precious and only one of its kind in this world too? Are you not worth as much to him that you can be placed on the rear end an object zooming down the street at 90km/h? Don’t you deserve to be cuddled safely to your destination too instead of just being placed behind his back?

I’m writing about this because as I flipped the papers today, there was YET another story of a couple being involved in a motorcycle accident. There are just too many of it happening these days. Somehow I feel that today’s parents take it very lightly that the lives of their daughters are out there in the hands of a young motorcycle punk.

The rider in the report today escaped with only minor injuries and was treated as an outpatient. His female pillion rider was pronounced dead at the scene.

Yes, death is a tragedy. But sometimes, I consider it lucky when people die from a motorcycle accident. It could be worse. They could have survived, only to live life like a vegetable or moving around with no limbs on a wheelchair for the rest of their lives.

If a man truly loves a woman, he wouldn’t put her on a motorcycle.

Yes, I know what some readers might be thinking. I have written about the trend of young lads buying cars while getting into 10-year installment plans and huge amounts of debt. But yet here I am demonizing motorcyclists too?

If you notice, it’s not the car that I’m berating, but the habit of our youngsters today, especially the Malays, who have the natural tendency to buy something on installment – be it cars, motorcycles or whatever luxury that they deem necessary. That was the real issue when talking about cars. It was financial. But the issue on motorcycles is more than just that. It’s about life. Think before doing.