Neighbors

Last week, I was praying at an adoration chapel somewhere in the city. From the corner of my eye, I saw small white flakes falling on the garden just outside the chapel. I wondered if perhaps I was witnessing something extraordinary until I realized that it was paint peeling off the walls. And then I thought, how strange it was that paint would just spontaneously fall off in small and large clumps. It took me a while to realize that it was most probably someone intentionally scraping off the paint. Only, it wasn’t the sisters who ran the chapel who were doing it but their neighbor. Apparently, their neighbor was cleaning off his side of the wall and letting the clumps of old paint fall off wherever it would.

So that led me to think (when I should have been praying although I guess reflection still counts as praying), that for a people who are known to be very emotional and family-oriented, we Filipinos often times aren’t very sensitive to the needs of the larger community. I often see people sweeping up their yards or storefronts and then dump the garbage in the drainage. Sometimes, too, whenever I ask a student to pick up paper from the floor, I am met with the statement, “but it’s not mine.” We also have to contend with jeepney drivers who stop at seemingly random points in the road so that one person can get off only to see them stop again barely 2 meters later for another person to get off. And don’t get me started on people who cut in on lines and people who presume that they are above the law.

I guess a lot of people would dismiss it as being a third world country or being poverty-stricken. But, really, poverty should excuse no one from insensitivity. Our gross national product should not be an indication of how well we treat our fellowmen. I read somewhere that Filipinos have a very strong sense of family but a very limited sense of country. We consider the feelings only of the persons who are part of our inner circle. Other than that, we expect the government or the Church to deal with it. I’m sure that it’s a generalized statement and that there are plenty who defy that stereotype. But not enough, apparently.

Not enough so that the government doesn’t need to hire street sweepers who clean up after people who throw things out of their cars. Not enough so that there isn’t gum under public seats. Not enough so that drivers follow rules only when there’s a CITOM officer around. Not enough so that a notice on a wall doesn’t need to remind people that it is not a urinal. Not enough so that street corners don’t become garbage dumps. Not enough so that drainages steer clear of garbage that cause flooding.

We as a people cannot prosper until we live our lives aware of the fine line where our personal freedom ends and our neighbor’s rights begin. Until we stop asking whether or not we are our neighbor’s keeper and start behaving as though we are the Good Samaritans. Until our private values become public and until we think of our nation as our family. Until we stop thinking about how they’re ruining the country and how others always mess things up and ask ourselves instead, well what am I going to do about it.