Uniforms are mute.
Despite the unwritten belief that it speaks of a person's background - where he works, where he studies - it is without a tongue to tell you of a person's character.
And while people grow with diploma on their heads, and goals on their hearts, it seems there are things still left out in the process, things a person can learn while reaching for it.
Values that seemed to be taken for granted.
(1)
Days ago, I was riding a jeep, trying to hurry up before the people in our office could leave. Well, not that they'd leave that sooner than I expected.
I was a bit caught up and annoyed with being jammed in traffic on a Friday evening, when I realized that the jeep had stopped and a guy got in, his ear on his phone. He was talking about exams or something. He was way shorter than me, thick glasses on the bridge of his nose, wearing checkered polo, jeans, and a large backpack. He even had a dictionary pocket book-size opened on his backpack, which was on his lap.
Soon, he became silent and submerged in his pocket book. I couldn't make a jack out of it. Too dim light. And my vision had gotten a bit fuzzier than before (Nope, I'm still ruling out glasses.)
Just as my mind was to turn inward, I noticed an old lady held out her hand for her jeep fare.
"Paki-abot po..."
It was on the nerdy guy's reach. The nerd was still busy poring over his notes. Was he cramming for a late friday night exams, I would never know.
"Bayad po..."
Poor eyesight. Deaf ears. It seems the new age for society has fully-developed an illness that clearly manifests nowadays - apathy. Or I am just exaggerating. Nonetheless, I was pissed.
So I moved, and stretched far enough to take the fair and passed it along the driver. I waited for the return and promptly reached it over to the old lady.
No reaction from the cramming student.
Later, an old man got on and reached out his fare on the other side.
"Pakisuyo po, diyan lang sa may delta."
Directly across me is a two-year old kid on her mother's lap. There were three more people, burlier, much leaner people who could've taken that pay at first mention. But it was the two year old who willingly opened his little palm and passed it along. He also anticipated the change and caught the money back into his two little palms, closed it to one hand trying to handle that much in one, before passing it back to the owner.
I looked at the nerd at the corner of my eye, burrowed in his thoughts, in his academical world, in his value-ridden walls, still poring on his little dictionary.
He reminded me of who I was back then. Life ridden by studies and making the grade.
This makes me a little thankful that I've gotten out of my comfort zone. It makes me see simpler actions that in reality means much more. Trivial things that may define you better than what bigger things can.
(2)
The weather forecast predicted light shower on one Tuesday afternoon. So dutifully, I brought my umbrella in the morning. The jeep I was riding was just turning on the curve towards Trinoma Mall Terminal when the umbrella I was holding at that time, fell out into the middle of the street.
I reacted immediately. I signaled the jeep driver that I was getting down. As I whipped around to look at my umbrella, hoping it's not being rundown by drivers, I saw a van stopped in the middle of the street. An old woman, probably on her way to 50's, jumped out of the van, and hurried to where my umbrella was lying to. She picked it up.
Glad, I waved my hand. But she didn't see it. No, that's wrong. She totally IGNORED it. Because as soon as she has gotten a hold of my umbrella, she jumped back inside the van, and it drove off to nowhere, without stopping where I was.
It was really unbelievable. The MMDA who witnessed it from the beginning, was unable to react, except for a devious smile that seems to say, "Ay,, wala na. Kinuha na nila."
Clearly, there was something wrong with the way the world goes. Then again, it proves that there are some unexpected turnabouts that we can't just foresee.
Like this one time, I was on my way home. It was around the bloom of February. We have just gone from somewhere, and ended up taking the Laong Laan route to home.
I rode beside the driver. I got off at my stop, but not without a second call from him.
I removed my earphones as he motioned towards the seat next to him.
"Sa'yo ba to?" He asked, presenting me my newly bought phone. White Nokia C5 version. It seemed it had slipped from my jacket pocket. My face was instantly filled with relief and he smiled. I profusely thanked the driver before he drove off.
I guess one of the things that contribute to values is simplicity, which is kind of hard just thinking on how we are constantly bombarded with commercials saying what we need and what we want. And most of the time, the line between them just disappears.
With people who are in the position, who are in uniform, we expect something more, since they know a lot more. But time and again, it proves us wrong.
However it feels good knowing that the goodness within a person exists in the littlest of little help they can do to strangers.
Especially if it comes from the person we least expect it.
