trained for the real world

During a commute, you see the culture, you experience the culture. Unfortunately, it’s not always a pretty sight. There are no lines when it comes to commuting. There will always be stepping on toes just to get on the train or in a jeep. Almost every commuter has to fight his way into any public utility vehicle… Much like crab mentality in a sense that people will do anything to get a seat. I’m still a little hazy on motive for crab mentality since I could delving into the concept of Filipino time where all Filipinos are always late, hence they all crowd at certain times to go to work or school at the same time. (It’s a real phenomenon, someone should study that…) This reminds me of school…

Education for me began at the nursery level. One of the first few things they taught me was to fall in line. To be in line meant that each one was supposed to follow the person in front, everyone’s mouth shut and hands clasped behind the back. This went on till kinder, to preparatory, to elementary, and even on to high school. The only perk in high school was that the teacher didn’t count one: arms forward touching the shoulders of the person in front of you; two: hands on the sides; three: arms clasped at the back and; four: mouth shut till the class reaches the destination. (Amazing, huh? I wonder if or how many other schools had that as a protocol for switching venues for class.)

Discipline, discipline, discipline! Not highly acclaiming the codes of conduct of the terror teachers out there, but hey, the practice actually proves useful when students get out of the comfort of controlled environments like the schools, school buses, or private cars.

Think I’m too harsh? Maybe obsessive compulsive? Ha! Notice pile-ups upon entrance and exits at your nearest train station, MRT or LRT. If you get off the train at Taft Avenue Station of the MRT, count how many lines there are in front of each turnstile—2, sometimes even 3! Well, at least there are lines there, but when boarding the train. Wow! There are no lines at all! There were quite a few times when old ladies try to force themselves in when they were supposed to let other passengers out first. Those old ladies lost shoes to the train tracks in the process. Well, that’s good business for vendors who sell slippers and shoes near the train stations. It’s really funny though, people walking around filthy Manila with one shoe… There was this one instance, I was on my way to school and it was human rush hour at 7 in the morning. Totally no traffic, jeeps going up north were rarer than an honest MMDA officer! There was this one jeep going down south that was empty, made a u-turn to take passengers going up north. Within seconds it was full, even overflowing with passengers who hung from the back. Not even 5 meters from where the jeep filled up, its tire exploded. Everyone was startled. It was so funny! They pushed and shoved their way in, karma… As the New Radicals once sang, “you only get what you give.”

Falling in line is one of those things rebels take as a stupid rule, like “site your sources” or “keep right”. They can save you tons of money from a lawsuit and those rules can even save lives. If people just learned to wait or if commuters didn’t wait for the last minute to leave for work, maybe there wouldn’t be crowding at entrances or exits, at the doors of jeeps or trains. No shoes falling off anyone’s feet. No black eyes from getting elbowed by fellow passengers. No chaos. However, until all commuters realize the value of falling in line, having discipline means being at the butt of it all—waiting for the people in the train or jeep to get out means letting seats or space (at least) run out, getting pushed around maybe elbowed in the face.

I hate commuting… Is it obvious? Hahaha