To the guy on Facebook who invalidated the worth of jeepney drivers, hi.
I'll be honest -- I hated you the moment you said, "Jeepney driver ka lang." ("You're just a jeepney driver.") But who was I to judge? I was simply a social media user, reading through heated comments without any intent on responding in any way, shape, or form.
Until your comment pissed me off.
Big time.
And like a blistering iron, your words branded themselves in my head.
You may or may not be able to read this, and you don't know me, but since that day, my thoughts have been wreaking havoc in my head, so please excuse me. (Ah, I wish I could have taken a snapshot of that comment of yours. It was golden. (Yeah, right.))
Ignorance is bliss.
Being a graduate of the University of the Philippines can be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it's a university that truly harnesses the students' skills and abilities and sense of nationalism.
A curse because most Filipinos -- out of all people -- ridicule us. While my parents are proud that I'm from UP, there are those that would look down at me. Let's not get farther; by "those," I meant some relatives and generally the public. ("Ay, UP ka? Mga aktibista. Mayayabang.")
And based from your angry and extra-proud Facebook comment, I'd say you're definitely one of them.
I hated it, naturally. Sometimes, I'd purposely leave out the fact that I'm a graduate from the institution. I'd keep mum, because the moment I let out my opinion, people would dub me with the title: Activist.
Just because I was a UP student.
While I'm not an activist, I keep wondering when the term had suddenly become synonymous to something very negative and, dare I say it, disgusting. As a listener, I don't agree 100% of the time with student activists. But I don't curse at them. I don't ridicule them. Instead, deep inside, I salute their spunk. They had the guts to criticize, I don't.
It's been more than a week (two weeks, even), I think, since I'd read that Facebook post and your comments, and while I wanted to retort and spite you and tell you, "How dare you invalidate a jeepney driver's worth?!" I couldn't.
I turned a blind eye. I don't want another person telling me that I'm an activist even when I am not. I'm a coward, who thinks the opinion of others on her matters so much.
But everyday, I hear your words.
Everyday, as I took jeepneys to and from work, I would hear your words. I would always check who the driver was and look back at the collection of faces in my memory.
The driver with his special-needs child. The driver who would randomly strike a conversation with whoever seats on the passenger seat. The driver who proudly wears the taqiyah on his head, telling everyone, "I'm a proud Muslim." The driver who looks like he should be in school, but instead drives for a living.
Everyday, I hear your words, and just the same, I remember their faces. And then I'll realize...
Ignorance is bliss, but it's also stupid.
The issue: jeepney phaseout. And bad implementation (I had to walk home at least 3 km one day, because jeepney drivers were scared they would get fined 5000 pesos (plus their beloved jeepney) should they attempt to drive).
Your stand: go with it. So what if many drivers lose their only means of living? So what if they can't pay the millions of pesos needed for a new, safer, and modernized jeepney? So what if they have to pay 5000 pesos worth of fine if by chance they get caught because they were driving jeepneys that were literally moving tragedies?
So what?
They have two hands and feet, you said. All they have to do was to find another job, you said. It's their fault they aren't educated, you said. It's their fault they have many children but have no better means for income, you said. People shouldn't be moved by pity, you said.
They were just jeepney drivers, after all, you said.
I wouldn't have minded all your other comments, because you were entitled to your own opinions anyway. And I'm not completely against the phaseout, too, because it should be for the greater good... right?
But going that far? Wow, what a douche.
Your words haunted me days, weeks, after that and I berated myself for not standing up to the jeepney drivers who became the people who worked all their hands and feet and eyes and alertness to bring me to work and home everyday. The Ikot jeepney drivers, especially, who probably didn't know me but whose faces I knew by heart.
And their old, rickety jeepneys, that bellow bad pollution among others, but ones they probably wouldn't have traded for the world.
I regretted that day.
You're right. The Philippines would remain the way it is, no development whatsoever, if we put pity above everything else. But you know what?
It's not pity these jeepney drivers needed.
To the guy who invalidated the worth of jeepney drivers, I challenge you to find out what exactly these jeepney drivers needed.
If any, I urge you to see through jeepney drivers' eyes with this story.
You, on the other hand, I think I know what you need the most: get a life. If you think so highly of yourself and of others so low, you definitely need to do a quick review of what you have been up to in all years of your existence.
To others who read this rant, I'm sorry.
This is all it is: a rant. Please excuse me this once. My head is ready to burst from weeks' worth of thoughts, and while I still have a lot to say and a lot that I can't convey in words, I'm still the same cynical me.
Afraid of what people will think of me.