Snatched!
IT WAS funny -- in a way. It reminded me of those slapstick comedies where the bad guy gets whacked in the end.
It happened a few afternoons ago. I was killing time in a shop of one of the coffee chains, reading a good book. At the table in front of me were two women who came with a foreigner. They had placed their valuables on the vacant chairs. Two unremarkable guys entered and stood between my table and their table, acting as if they were waiting for one to be vacated. Then one of the guys let slip a P20 bill, and when the women stooped down to pick it up, in a split-second, the guys snatched their bags.
The women sprang to their feet, shouting: "Hoy, mama! Bag namin!" ["Hey! Our bag!"] One of the women grabbed one of the snatchers as the foreigner struggled to his feet to go after them. Fortunately, the women's voices were so loud that everyone, including the guard, heard them, and so one of the snatchers was caught with a bag, now placed inside an even bigger bag, in
his hands.
What followed next was like a typical scene in sitcoms where the bad guys apologize profusely and the hero whacks them. One of the women said, "Lahat ng tao dito nagpapakahirap maghanapbuhay tapos ikaw nanakawin mo lang." ["Everyone here is having a hard time trying to earn a living, and you rob us just like that."] She followed this up with a whack on the snatcher's shoulder.
When the guard asked the women if they would be pressing charges, the woman said, "Of course! He should be jailed, otherwise what's going to stop him from doing it again?"
Seeing that he was in deep trouble, the snatcher began to apologize again. "Ma'am, sorry na po," he pleaded. "Sorry, talaga po. Nagkamali lang ako ng kuha. Hindi ko po sinasadya." ["I'm truly sorry. I grabbed the wrong item. I didn't mean to do it."]
A lapse in judgment? Haven't I heard that before? Haven't I seen somebody with a forlorn face apologizing for a lapse in judgment on national TV lately? But up to now, she has gotten away with her "mistake."
The sad truth is, Filipinos can be forgiving and we forgive the wrong people. Sometimes we quickly forgive so we can get on with our lives. We forgive and we justify our action by saying it is only natural for human beings to commit sin. And we forgive most easily the rich and the influential. We especially let people with money and power get away with their sins and accept their simple, insincere apologies, believing their crimes to be a lapse in judgment, as if all their lives they've lived immaculately and this lapse in judgment is an isolated aberration in their very moral lives.
But the words of the woman on national TV betrayed her. It wasn't something like an accidental, stupid mistake that she did. Judgment presupposes thinking, and shows she intended to rob the Filipino people of their real choice. Perhaps if she said, "Oops! I did it again!" and went to Mars, instead of saying that she had committed a lapse in judgment, she could have been forgiven her stupid mistake, even if that would make her -- a US-educated economist -- look dumb. But in an attempt to demonstrate that she was in control of the situation, she owned up to her mistake and thus, admitted that she wanted to make sure she would keep her lead of one million votes over her nearest rival.
No one will know for sure how many politicians said "Hello, Garci" on the phone. And even if Virgilio Garcillano had given all the names of the politicians who called him, we can't expect everyone to apologize unless each of them had been wiretapped talking to the election official. Indeed, no one will apologize for a lapse in judgment that no one knows about unless he is dying and has nothing more to lose (except, perhaps, a crack at eternal happiness) or he is writing a tell-all, you're-all-going-down-with-me memoir.
It seems we need more people, and not just those whose personal interests were directly affected, to say: "Lahat ng tao dito nagpapakahirap maghanapbuhay tapos kayo nanakawin niyo lang!" These cheaters, these snatchers got away because we have become complacent. Maybe if some physical evidence would turn up to prove that we have been robbed, like a bag or an unopened envelope, we could get our act together. Or maybe if we get whacked in the head, we'd wake up and do something to fix this country.
Published March 4, 2006. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Youngblood.
It happened a few afternoons ago. I was killing time in a shop of one of the coffee chains, reading a good book. At the table in front of me were two women who came with a foreigner. They had placed their valuables on the vacant chairs. Two unremarkable guys entered and stood between my table and their table, acting as if they were waiting for one to be vacated. Then one of the guys let slip a P20 bill, and when the women stooped down to pick it up, in a split-second, the guys snatched their bags.
The women sprang to their feet, shouting: "Hoy, mama! Bag namin!" ["Hey! Our bag!"] One of the women grabbed one of the snatchers as the foreigner struggled to his feet to go after them. Fortunately, the women's voices were so loud that everyone, including the guard, heard them, and so one of the snatchers was caught with a bag, now placed inside an even bigger bag, in
his hands.
What followed next was like a typical scene in sitcoms where the bad guys apologize profusely and the hero whacks them. One of the women said, "Lahat ng tao dito nagpapakahirap maghanapbuhay tapos ikaw nanakawin mo lang." ["Everyone here is having a hard time trying to earn a living, and you rob us just like that."] She followed this up with a whack on the snatcher's shoulder.
When the guard asked the women if they would be pressing charges, the woman said, "Of course! He should be jailed, otherwise what's going to stop him from doing it again?"
Seeing that he was in deep trouble, the snatcher began to apologize again. "Ma'am, sorry na po," he pleaded. "Sorry, talaga po. Nagkamali lang ako ng kuha. Hindi ko po sinasadya." ["I'm truly sorry. I grabbed the wrong item. I didn't mean to do it."]
A lapse in judgment? Haven't I heard that before? Haven't I seen somebody with a forlorn face apologizing for a lapse in judgment on national TV lately? But up to now, she has gotten away with her "mistake."
The sad truth is, Filipinos can be forgiving and we forgive the wrong people. Sometimes we quickly forgive so we can get on with our lives. We forgive and we justify our action by saying it is only natural for human beings to commit sin. And we forgive most easily the rich and the influential. We especially let people with money and power get away with their sins and accept their simple, insincere apologies, believing their crimes to be a lapse in judgment, as if all their lives they've lived immaculately and this lapse in judgment is an isolated aberration in their very moral lives.
But the words of the woman on national TV betrayed her. It wasn't something like an accidental, stupid mistake that she did. Judgment presupposes thinking, and shows she intended to rob the Filipino people of their real choice. Perhaps if she said, "Oops! I did it again!" and went to Mars, instead of saying that she had committed a lapse in judgment, she could have been forgiven her stupid mistake, even if that would make her -- a US-educated economist -- look dumb. But in an attempt to demonstrate that she was in control of the situation, she owned up to her mistake and thus, admitted that she wanted to make sure she would keep her lead of one million votes over her nearest rival.
No one will know for sure how many politicians said "Hello, Garci" on the phone. And even if Virgilio Garcillano had given all the names of the politicians who called him, we can't expect everyone to apologize unless each of them had been wiretapped talking to the election official. Indeed, no one will apologize for a lapse in judgment that no one knows about unless he is dying and has nothing more to lose (except, perhaps, a crack at eternal happiness) or he is writing a tell-all, you're-all-going-down-with-me memoir.
It seems we need more people, and not just those whose personal interests were directly affected, to say: "Lahat ng tao dito nagpapakahirap maghanapbuhay tapos kayo nanakawin niyo lang!" These cheaters, these snatchers got away because we have become complacent. Maybe if some physical evidence would turn up to prove that we have been robbed, like a bag or an unopened envelope, we could get our act together. Or maybe if we get whacked in the head, we'd wake up and do something to fix this country.
Published March 4, 2006. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Youngblood.
posted by Chris Daniel at 3:02 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home