Older Citizen, a Role Model?
By: Aileen Merivilles
Date: Jan. 21, 2002

I was on my way home last Thursday evening, the 17th of January. I took the bus from Alabang to Magallanes. Then I went up stairs to the MRT Magallanes station and, as usual, I stood in line. Most of the time the line is very long, maybe because there are only two entrances in that station. Since I have my stored value prepaid MRT card I avoided another line that leads to the cashier's window.

I spend like 5 to 7 minutes on the line, being patient and calm. Then, when I was like two persons away from the entrance I got surprised with an old lady who came from nowhere. She immediately rushed in front of me, pretending I wasn't there. Of course, my reaction was, "Madam may pila po sa likuran, nakakahiya sa mga ibang tao". I even tapped her shoulder just to get her attention. The old lady didn't mind me. So, what I did was, I uttered "Ang tanda nyo na, bulok pa rin ang systema nyo sa buhay!" I'm sure she heard what I said. Somehow she avoided making eye contact. I knew that she knew she was wrong. For some reason, I didn't care much of confronting her since I didn't want to argue with a nonsense citizen like her. At least I didn't remain silent when this situation came up. I hope she would realize and correct herself next time.

What bothers me was that older or adult people should serve as a model to the younger generation. Some adults would even say, "iba na ang mga kabataan ngayon. Wala ng respeto sa matatanda." My goodness! The experience I encountered last Thursday evening somehow changed a little of what I believe. It would be okay for me if she asked me if its okay for her to cut in line and tell me she is in a hurry; though she had white hair, I'm sure she was not that weak. The old lady had a backpack and she wore a pair of rubber shoes at the time. She looked like she was an active, sporty type of person. I could understand her if she was weak or one of the older citizens in our country who will have a hard time standing in line for countless minutes. But she obviously wasn't.