‘Deep breathely’

This the season of good cheer, but sometimes it’s hard to find the cheer amidst the frenzy and near chaos that accompany the holiday season in this country. Every weekend the malls go on sale, and there really must be a lot of money going around because shoppers swarm to these meccas of commercialism – hopefully buying and not just looking, so that last quarter economic figures will indeed be merry and bright. All that business activity means more people and vehicles on the road, which means – what else? – worse (or worserer, as a friend would say) traffic, if traffic in our metropolis can get any worse.

So what is one to do? It may be a bit too late but may I ask the MMDA and the city and municipal governments to please do something about properly training and, more importantly, disciplining their traffic enforcers. They often do not help improve the flow of traffic and even make it worse when they flag down vehicles and block one or two lanes in the process. In one intersection in Manila I pass everyday on my way to work, a gang of enforcers in different color uniforms – black, gray, light blue, royal blue – stand around chatting or texting, unmindful that the intersection is blocked by unmoving northbound vehicles, and only come to life when they catch sight of someone “swerving” or beating a yellow light.

A friend was stopped recently along EDSA for some unclear infraction, and while two enforcers were haranguing her driver, one guy came over and knocked on her window and said, “Hindi titigil yung dalawang kasama ko, magbigay ka na para matapos na (Those two won’t stop, so you might as well give something).” I know expenses increase this time of year, but the increasing incidents of traffic harassment is surely criminal. I am in no way and by no measure justifying or condoning what the guy in the fancy blue sports car did – it is wrong to slug someone to the extent of breaking his nose – but his claim of harassment and verbal threat is gaining credence among motorists who have had similar experiences. I was told that drivers of high-end cars are favorite targets.

Now that we have sort of established a modus vivendi with the trucks in our part of town, there is a new scheme in the offing involving some form of renewed truck ban, supposedly because of the papal visit. I guess we just have to stop trying to find rhyme or reason to what government does, and go with the flow – or, in the case of traffic, no flow.

As one self-driven citizen, I psyche my self each day when I get into the car, and think peace and goodwill to all men, including all the idiots who will surely be sharing the road with me. I listen to Christmas music, and hopefully Placido Domingo singing “O Joyful Children” and dueting with Dionne Warwick in “Silent Night” will put me in a less confrontational mindset. And each time a maniac on a scooter cuts in in front of me, or the jeepney stops in the middle of the road to wait for a passenger or to chat with a fellow jeepney driver (or sometimes they make change), I just “deep breathely” as my guru friend advises, and sing along with Domingo, “All is calm, all is bright.”