Damned

Whoever coined the phrase “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”…well, must have been damned. Recently, other than my favorite acronym SSDD (Same S____ Different Day) - which I love to interchange meanings – the damned phrase (pun intended) enters my brain more often than before. Right now, I can’t think of a better cliché that is so applicable each day of our life. And why is that so?

In our science classes during elementary grade, we were told that we humans actually belong to the animal kingdom. But what sets us apart (other than we can write lame blogs) from our crawling, flying, swimming and walking (i.e., apes) brethrens is the capability to make choices, not instinctively, but intelligently – although the bible is one proof that our great great great ancestor Adam “might” have instinctively gave in to Eve’s temptation to take the supposedly fruit of knowledge (and that I find ironic). For whatever the real reason is, I think we won’t know, but I have a suspicion (hint: they’re fully naked back then).

I find this capability to think and to decide a double-edged sword – that is, it cut both ways. Each action we make right after a decision will be taken or understood differently by different recipients of that action. To complement this, Newton’s third law of motion states: “For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.” It’s just the way it goes – no more, no less.

So does that mean that the author of the damned phrase may possibly have been Newton as well? Actually, I don’t give a damn. But whoever it was, he has my respect because I find it simple yet striking. It summarizes one lifetime of decision making into just 8 words.

Now are you wondering what made the damned phrase go in and out of my mind like an LSS? In the past days, here’s a couple:

·         Company business updates that gets majority of the employees jumpy and grouchy. My take on this? It’s just same story with a title that changes every time, as I always tell those I’m conversing with about this topic. That’s 15 directly under me, and several other colleagues that at times I find the topic get so monotonous that it makes me think of recording my replies for the next similar discussion. Sooner than soon, this story will end (I’d like to divulge, but I’d rather do it as a Grinch-who-stole-christmas type story. You’ll read about it soon. Probably Christmas time).

·         Bayani Fernando who has been in the news, forums and FM radio lately. My take on him? Ever since I learned about this guy’s work, principle and vision, my admiration for him started. I’m one of those Filipinos who look up to a strong leadership which have become so scarce for years here in the Philippines.  I read from one survey that he’s not winning approvals from most people because of the way he operates – that is, quick and he doesn’t care who gets in the way. Although, he’s got some kinks to work out among his group (i.e., MMDA), I believe that his personal policies are firm and he’s just the type of leader that we NEED. By the way, he has mentioned that he’s running for president come 2010.

·         The latest and hottest subject lately – motorcycles – due to new LTO guidelines, frequent accidents involving motorcycles, and wife protests (hehehe). It’s now a fact that with the current gas prices up and I predict, will go up again – this prediction doesn’t need a Nostradamus to do – everyone now thinks of an alternative to go around town. Both of those who used to take the public transport (e.g., buses, jeepneys) and even those with their own cars are now considering buying scooters or underbones. My take on this? It’s a no brainer that with the almost unstoppable gas price hike, an alternative transport is a must have. However, if a motorcycle is your choice, it requires a fully “functioning” brain to drive it defensively. Brain drives Rider. Helmet protects Brain. That’s Win-Win.

With our daily life being about decision making from the moment we wake up, drive to work, deal with people at work and until the time we get back home and sit front of the TV (and start changing channels), it’s really no wonder if every now and then…we will be damned.

Donut Choices (Photofunia done by wifey)

Step in their shoes

We call them stupid, litterbugs, lazy, morons, dumb, a**hole and any other profanity that may not be even found in the dictionary. Sometimes we call them just insensitive. But aren’t we?

This week is one of the stressful weeks for me. Stress that comes from all sort of factors that even I wonder if I should be caring about it in the first place.

There’s the pressure from work that is a mixture of delivery and people management.  People who seems not to work and doesn’t understand what is expected from them.

There’s the tricycle driver who drives like as if there’s no tomorrow and would be so willing to include you in their death wish.

There’s the jeepney driver who would intentionally park in front of a No Park Zone to spend time to wait for passengers despite knowingly causing a traffic jam right behind them.  And the irony of it all is that it is in front of a traffic police or enforcer who looks like they have a worst case of cataract that blinds them of the on-going violation in front of them.

There’s the homeowners who refuse to pay their dues because they feel they’re not obligated to do so and who would sometimes reason out that they have problems with their finances but you’d find them smoking packs of cigarettes a day and would see their house lit brightly from Christmas lights and decors.

There’s the loan processor who doesn’t seem to extend a bit of customer care by giving advice to the applicant that his car loan application is sitting stagnant in his inbox for quite some time due to the lack of one simple signature.

And there are the street scavengers who would open up garbage bags and throw away its content in search of recyclables and never even caring to fix it back creating an eye sore in the end.

Sheesh.  The list could go on.

So today, while on a day-off I keep reflecting what must have gone wrong for me to suffer such stress. I can’t find any reason except that I too have been busy or that I could have been too self-centered or that I lack the empathy.

Most likely it’s my lack of empathy. Merriam-Webster defines empathy as, “noun, the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.”

Ouch! I never knew Merriam-Webster could inflict such pain with its definition. I only experience such guilt during mass’ homilies. Understanding. Being aware of. Being sensitive to. Such words kept playing in mind just as caffeine would do to my bloodstream. It kept me awake, restless and uneasy.

Well, I have come up to some realization on my “stress list” above.

Just imagine not having eaten for quite a while and the only hope you’ve got is to pick and sell items at the junk shop in order for you to take your first meal after a couple of days. And with the other man inside the bus hating you just because you to failed to keep the street clean.

Imagine if you have to juggle payroll, separation payments and loan applications. Some wants their last pay and another one badly wants a new car.

Imagine if you have got a “really” sick kid at home and the only way to buy those medicines is to work double time by either driving a tricycle or a jeepney and optimize its capacity even with the risk of getting apprehended by a police officer. And one of your passengers is just thinking of traffic laws and having to get to the mall to kill time.

Sometimes the world would be such better place if we stop thinking just all about us. Sometimes we need to understand why people acted the way they do. With this we might be able to extend our help or at least lessen a bit of our expectations and in effect lessen the stresses in our lives. Sometimes we just have to step in their shoes.

P.S. I just can’t find any reason why a homeowner won’t pay their dues when in fact they are getting the benefits of the village funds. Ti abi.       

One of the Haters

Don’t you just hate it? This is the title of Lester Dizon’s latest article (dated Nov 28, 2007) in the Motoring section of Philstar.com. Most of the time I visit this site to check on anything related to automotive talks – from review of places to go, people behind the motoring scenes, and of course test drive reports from the stereotyped Korean vehicles to the dream cars such as the BMWs and Subarus – most of the time I’d wonder who happens to afford such luxury in this part of the 3rd world country. Hopefully, none of them are politicians.

Anyway, when I read this one yesterday, I can’t help but quote (or copy. If by any chance this reaches the original author, please advise if you want this blog modified or removed) some of its content. Well most of it actually:

“Don’t you just hate it when you get stuck in rush hour traffic and see some MMDA traffic enforcers just chatting at their posts and the only thing they could do to direct traffic is to lazily wave their hands?

Don’t you hate it more when, to cope with the spiraling fuel prices, you trade your mid-sized sedan for a sub-compact car only to find that they consume the same amount of fuel because of the heavy traffic?

Don’t you hate it even more when, to cope with the spiraling fuel prices and to get through the heavy traffic, you trade your car for a motorcycle only to get stuck in a traffic gridlock caused by floods and a sudden downpour at a time when you didn’t bring your raincoat because PAGASA predicted good weather?

Don’t you just hate it when some driving schools seemingly teach their students the wrong driving habits like driving slowly on the fast lane and parking against the flow of traffic among other traffic violations?

Don’t you hate it even more when most of the instructors of these driving schools aren’t even certified and that their students contribute to the growing number of discourteous and undisciplined drivers on the road today? Don’t you just hate it when jeepneys, FX taxis and tricycles use the corner of a busy intersection as their terminals and block traffic for more than a kilometer?
Don’t you hate it more when these jeepneys, FX taxis and tricycles use that corner as their terminal and cause traffic under the watchful eye of an MMDA, police or a local traffic enforcer?Don’t you just hate it when heavily-tinted vehicles with the number “8” on their front plates, which are reserved for congressmen, bully their way through traffic using their sirens, the unauthorized use of which in vehicles other than ambulances, fire trucks and police cars in an emergency has been declared unlawful by the President in an Executive Order?Don’t you hate it even more that some of these heavily-tinted vehicles with sirens and the number “8” on their front plates are not actually driven or ridden by congressmen but by their immediate families, their staff or by cronies, who act as if they were the ones elected to public office?

Don’t you hate it even more when Congress needed to “remind” the LTO through a press conference about the unauthorized use of these number “8” plates and the apprehension of drivers using these official plates instead of purging their ranks of abusive congressmen, congressional personnel, family members and cronies?

Don’t you just hate it when a government VIP convoy consisting of a heavily-tinted vehicle with flashing lights and sirens, two back-up vehicles filled with armed goons and a couple of motorcycle police escorts bully their way through traffic and violate all known traffic laws that they were sworn to protect and obey?

Don’t you hate it even more when this bullying VIP convoy is merely escorting an abusive government official or a crony to his luxurious home, which was funded from the corrupted taxes of the road users they bullied along the way, just so they can get through the heavy traffic that they caused with their graft and ineptness anyway?

Don’t you hate it even more when these road projects are merely repairs or repaving of existing roads and not the design and construction of new ones to alleviate the worsening traffic in the metropolis and the slow traffic flow around the country, which is choking trade, commerce and the national economy?

Don’t you just hate it when Thailand and Vietnam had licked most of their traffic problems with the construction of new roads or multi-tiered highways and are on the road to economic strength while we couldn’t even get our anomalous road repairs done right?

Don’t you hate it more when Singapore and Malaysia are implementing plans to combat the greenhouse effect of air pollution while the bright boys at MMDA are cutting down healthy trees, which can help minimize air pollution, because these plants “interfere” with the overhead electrical wires and cables?”

 

Well, to Mr. Dizon, include me as one of the haters. And of course your article awakened some of my hatred and here they are:

Don’t you just hate it when you hear that Vietnam and Malaysia’s economy is growing while some of the senators are trying to become either CSIs (by doing investigations, most of it fruitless) or hotel wreckers instead of enticing investors for the benefit of every Filipino?

Don’t you just hate it even more when these countries pose a threat to your job as your company builds more factories there while the one you got here in the Philippines gets ignored?

Don’t you just hate it when you’ve been reading the motoring section religiously when in fact you don’t even own a car yet?

Don’t you hate it even more that because of the bickering of these politicians, your chance of owning a car gets slimmer and slimmer?

Patience, patience, patience my friend.

Circus Now Showing on TV

“A nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it.” – Sir Winston Churchill

“Ang hindi marunong tumingin sa pinanggalingan hindi makararating sa paroroonan.” – Chinese Proverb (?)

I was coming from our last graveyard shift for this week and upon waking up from a 4-hour deep slumber – thanks to the rain & cold weather outside – I switched on the TV channel and I was surprised by what I saw on TV.

“I must still be dreaming”, “Did the cable channel provider changed programming?”, “Am I tuned to the History channel?”, “Did my remote control conked out?”

While I was trying to recollect myself of the reality of what is being shown on TV, the “Live” caption on the side of the screen then made me realize that what I’m watching is indeed happening.

Standing in front of the camera was Sen. Trillanes surrounded by some personnel, a priest who became famous for running, a lady thanking the media for their perseverance to stay despite the tear gas bombardment - she doesn’t have to say that, these guys will stay like leeches even if a bomb is about to explode. That could have been a welcome entry for World’s Amazing Video.

This scene greeted me from my wonderful siesta like a post-sleep nightmare. Here we go again. Fill in the blanks: Edsa (type series no. here). What a shame.

Other than being pissed by what is actually happening hundreds of kilometers from where I am, I was reminded of a then irate Jim Paredes’ post (Equal Right to Lawlessness) in his blog site and what I in return commented to it:

“Jim,So what’s next? Edsa 4?Just like Neo who suspects that a déjà vu occurs when someone is tweaking the Matrix, I too thinks that someone out there (Uh oh, I’m becoming a conspiracy theorist) is calmly running his fingers through the rum glass, massaging his bearded chin just as this event is in progress and most likely doing a revision of his “master plan”.

I say not. It looks like we are a bunch of people with 64kb of memories - i.e., we forget so soon.
…
I’m tired of seeing on TV a cliche of events that would humble even the plot of the telenovelas:
1. People gets angry at the president.
2. TRAPOs gather people.
3. People + TRAPOs oust the president.
4. TRAPOs hug and attends [sic] mass with Bishops.
5. New President.6. (Repeat # 1 if necessary)

Only in the Philippines.”

 

Why?

This is because I am now concluding that behind this Trillanes character is a bigger group or individual so eager to topple the current regime so that they can “serve” the Filipino people. After all I believe that this senator (sadly, yes) is a coward and should have never been voted in the first place. But then again…we tend to forget.

If we rewind what this ex-soldier, coup-plotter or in short just a plain hooligan had done, we will see that he’s had this habit of cowering in hotels to make his point (or the lack of it) known to everyone. Now I think it is about time that all hotels run a memorandum to close its doors once they see this man coming in. So far I could not recall that he’s made a good impression for Philippine hotel economy. He’s just scaring investors away since the world got to know him.

Of course to prove that Trillanes is mainly out there to stir the Edsa spirit (pun intended), he brought along with him a minimum number of characters to summon the majority (also known as “the masses”) of the short-minded Filipinos and a bunch of media newscasters willing once again to insult if not to challenge the intellect of the “resilient” pinoys. Interestingly, Jim Paredes’ has a blog about it to - 23 tools to brainwash and influence people through mass media:

“…
14. Repetition is key. Repeat important messages as often as possible.
15. Repetition is key.
16. Repetition is key.
17. Bypass rationality by any means possible. People don’t need logic to accept information. Belief is emotional. Always remember: WAR=PEACE.
18. Remember –- two half-truths make up a whole truth….”

Repetition is the key. We were taught before that a succession of drops of water will eventually make an impression on a stone. Unfortunately this is being used for the wrong objective. Ti abi.

So while I’m a few hours away from my birthday, I might as well grab the opportunity to entertain myself with the circus on TV. Who knows, the next time I click on the boob tube a new “clown” is already out there to serve our beloved nation. Mabuhay!