Monday, March 27, 2006
relax
the trick is acceptance. there are some things in this world that we can never have any control over: the oppressive heat of the sun while commuting or the lashing rain while crossing the street to catch a jeep. like I said, the trick is to accept some things as they come. take the world infamous traffic of Metro Manila (last I checked were ranked next to Bangkok in severity in Asia. Bangkok is number 1). If your stuck in traffic, it will be best if you just accept that you will be late as opposed to stressing over something on which you can never control.
“traffic na nga may humarang pa na bus. tama ba namang magsakay sa gitna ng kalye?”
the granny on my right doesn’t get it. she can rant all she wants, she can focus her ill will on the driver of the errant bus before us, she can call on all known gods for deliverance, she can do all this which gives her in return a healthy workout in an exercise of futility. The blocking bus will only move after getting its fill of passengers or after an MMDA trooper hits its body with a wooden baton.
“ano ba yan. pano pa tayo uusad kung hinarangan na ang daan.”
relax granny relax. beyond the blocking bus is a stretch of slow moving traffic. I’ve been here before, yesterday, the day before yesterday, all of the last year. The time window that were in, our current location, the presence of traffic now, it’s a firm constant.
You do not fight gravity because you will always lose. I add fuel to the fire:
“loko talaga ang mga bus na yan. wala kasing disiplina.”
The granny becomes 10 percent more furious.
“yan na nga bang sinasabi ko. Hindi kasi hinuhuli ng MMDA”
FACT: MMDA personnel cannot issue road violation tickets to motorists. I tell granny that the bugger bus seems to be moving. the bus we ride moves to take its place. we stop to get more passengers. The circle is complete.
many many weeks ago, I got stuck in flash bang traffic at the southbound SLEX at 10p. I could’ve gotten pissed and said: “how the hell could there be traffic at 10pm?”. but no. I just chilled. I’m always like this, whether I’m hurrying to somewhere or whether I have all the time in the world. Two seat rows from me is a couple (see picture). The girl sits like she owns the place. her mind isn’t here I thought. it’s in a wonderful place where she has her love who ardently listens to all her stories. Me, I just sat back, took out my 128mb mp3 player and I proceeded to relax in the presence of Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine. I smell around, someone is eating freshly cooked peanuts procured from a bus ambulant vendor. Yeah.
# posted by ZeroZen @ 12:17 PM 
