A mother and her son were walking along the street waiting for a tricycle. I was out in the veranda enjoying the cool morning. The mother hands her son a piece of candy. Without hesitation, she just dropped the wrapper on the street while her son busied himself chewing. I seriously considered calling her attention to that. She must have learned that gravity is responsible for transporting garbage into the trash bin.
A mother and her daughter onboard a van bound for Baguio City. Lee, my friend, was onboard that van too. The daughter was eating a cob of corn. After finishing her share, the daughter threw the cob outside window. My friend asked, “Who told you to do that?” The daughter replied, “My mother.”
This country is in dire need of values reformation. From politics to religion, our values are slowly disintegrating while we continue to tell the world that “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” Where is fun in that when the very core of our pride lies in a damaged status and is in danger of being eradicated? Yes, the things we teach our children reflect much on the kind of our upbringing. Show me a cheater and I’ll show you a thief. Thanks to her who treated the streets like a garbage bag; I have room in this blog to tell people what parents are missing and hit them in the face like dirt.
Language. No, I have not seen or heard this in Baguio City. But in Manila, profanity is no longer a type of language – it is the language itself. All around, I can hear children spit tons of profanity every day. It didn’t take me that long to realize that a day in this place never passes without a dirty language. And what more can I say? It is the parents who speak the language and their children seem to absorb it like a sponge. In the psychological and biological perspectives, a young brain absorbs more information at a faster speed. If these kids enter adulthood, how much garbage can they speak?
Disrespect. My mother always told me to speak nicely even when I’m mad. She told me that speaking kindly allows me to keep track of my argument and I may win with reason. Not in this place. People seem to be constantly irritated and the slightest provocation turns them into trash talkers. I always thought it’s the humidity, the crowd, and the problems encountered by people that make them disrespectful. I am uncertain now. In my Sociology class, I learned that consensus can lead to a norm. Well, I am short of accepting that as a norm nowadays. I just prefer to keep my mouth shut because I may turn like one of them.
Indifference. I often hear people say “I don’t care.” In reality, people care about not being cared about. When I hear someone say “Walang pakialamanan” (“Mind your own business.”), I think about them being affected because someone minds their business. The true indication of being indifferent is not being bothered by anything or anyone. To sum it up, the attitude of indifference has become a trigger for parents to utter a resigned sigh when their children choose to keep their business to themselves. A phrase commonly heard has now become a weapon that works against parents when their children indirectly tell them “What I do is none of your business.” Good luck with that.
Littering. Just like the situation I described, the simple act of littering makes me deduce the following about parents. First, they do not know that garbage bags are for trash. Second, they have people at home picking up what they leave on the floor or anywhere. Third, they have an impulse to drop anything that is not a part of their body. And fourth, they are the next generation of Filipinos who lost their common sense. To these kinds of parents, I have one wish for you: that when this country is already covered in filth, you will end up the ones in charge of cleaning up. Oh how I love that.
Illogical reasoning. I forget what it’s called (great), but there are people who seem to justify their own actions by citing stupid reasons. And oh, there are a lot of them! One time, I was with a colleague and we were smoking outside when all of a sudden, she threw her cigarette butt across the road while we were standing by a trash bin. I asked her why and she replied, “Let the street cleaners do their job.” For a mother who has two children, I have not expected such classless reasoning. I immediately thought, “There goes the explanation for your children’s senselessness.” To throw something away when the trash bin is within reach is like letting go of one important element: respect. At that point, I didn’t bother to apologize and I just cut all connections with her.
If you ask me, I’ll tell you yes. I speak a profane language, I am capable of being disrespectful, I can litter if I want to, I can reason out the nonsense way, and finally, I can tell you to back off and mind your own business. My parents never taught me any of that. So there’s the difference between what is being taught and what is being caught. I am also not a parent but to question my credibility in writing this also means justifying what is wrong and what you deny but you still do anyway.
Thank you Pixabay for the featured image.