I felt like talking about something less formal today. Its suitable to be called an overdue post, but considering the emotional darkness shared by most of society these past few days, indeed it was appropriate for it to have waited.
Note to my readers: I threw in a little Tagalog in there for the flavor. Rest assured, there are translations every time I do. Enjoy, and please do pass a copy of this entry around. Thank you.
Some People Just Don't Learn
Sometime July 2010 I found myself riding an Espana-UST jeepney back from SM San Lazaro to my condo unit on Lacson street in Sampaloc, Manila. When it left its line (you know how there's this long column of jeepneys on the other side of the walk, waiting to be filled with passengers..) and it was on the road, for some reason I instinctively looked at this family of three who were sitting across me.
The kid who was about six to seven years old had just finished his slice from Pizza Hut, and he gave the plastic wrap to his mom because he didn't know where to put it. It so happened that that jeep didn't have a waste basket. I was expecting the woman to put the wrapper in her purse or pocket or something, but the next thing she did was she threw it out the window behind her! The jeep was moving too --- Imagine there are two effects from this very irresponsible action: (1) That woman is one contributor to all these flood-related calamities, and (2) Her action makes her a public nuisance in the second sense considering that the wrapper which may have had sauce in it, may have been litter on another car (if that thing got caught on a windshield).
I was so pissed. Ondoy just happened the previous year ---- Was it all so easy to forget? Or was that woman so absorbed and selfish to not think of others. Some people just don't learn! And there are other people like her, and others who take an extra mile to blame the government for their waterpark-misery.
It would've been such a pleasure to have taken that wrapper and shove it into the very back of her mouth. Bitchy ba? Mas bitch ang (Mother Nature) pag siya ang nagalit. [Trans. Am I bitchy? Well, Mother Nature would be more of a bitch when she gets pissed.]
I AM PROUD TO BE FILIPINO [a.k.a.] On Observations and Wishes
Facebook is a Filipino subculture, and I've seen series of memes and inspirational photographs which have immortalized this historic meteorologic calamity as well as shown to the rest of the world what blood can do. From resilience to helping each other. And honestly, We are the real Mcgyvers!
Magaling ang Pilipino, the Filipinos are intelligent with the street smarts to match! My sincere wish for the Philippines is that we will get more opportunities to exercise our skills and show our abilities (as much as possible, in our own country, i dream. We must represent her!), and I wish these would be seen or should I say recognized aside from the world of sports, the labor market, and the music industry.
We are not just waterproof, we are amazing ---- and I hope there are others who share the same sentiment as I do, or even more.
Here is to the lot of us!
two points ang ipinakita mo dito sa article mo, una, ung pagkakaroon ng Pinoy ng short memory wth regards sa mga nangyari nung nakaraan, minsan nga, mas madali pa naalala kung ano yung sikat na kanta kesa sa mga nangyayari sa kanyang paligid at yung padalawa, yung ability natin to laugh at ourselves inspite of the calamities that we have endured, andun yung resiliency natin bilang mamamayan
ReplyDeleteThey do. The jeep I was riding in passed by someone who threw a plastic bag with garbage on the side of the road. Tumunog pa ung bag.
DeleteThanks for dropping by my page ^_^
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite authors in terms of comedy theory, Andrew Scott, had cited this thinker ---and im kicking myself for forgetting who it was --- it was said that even if a country found itself under a tyrannical ruler, as long as they can laugh, then its people will never be oppressed. The country is still by that word, FREE. To apply that to us, anything can reign because anything has potentially an effect on us.