Playing possum
DURING the campaign period, which now seems like two lifetimes ago, I posted on Facebook something about how I have regularly been typing something in my updates, only to cancel it and never let it be posted.
The exercise was finding relief in spilling out your thoughts and then, click. It disappears.
Why is that? Because I know arguing is useless. It will just make you angry, it will destroy your day, it will make you do things you’d rather not do, like pour your anger on someone else totally clueless about your aggravation, and then realize it was all for nothing. The one who initiated the comment or status update or opinion that made you pop a bolt will never ever see it your way anyway because, you know, politics and most of the time, selfrighteousness. The satisfaction then is in being able to type out your views and anger, and then… “cancel”.
It’s like counting seventy times seven really. It’s giving your anger time to put out steam, and in the process loosen the pressure inside. Once the pressure is loosened, you really do no need to erupt into a full rage.
At that time, I thought with the proclamation, no such anger need be thought over seventy times seven times. I was wrong. Thus, typing out angry words and clicking the cancel button soon after has become a habit.
The first two questions I ask myself when yet another person crosses my path is: “Who is he/she? Does he/she really matter?”
Those two questions give me time to think about what really matters, and what can be shrugged off. I’ve been shrugging a lot of things off of late. If a person still does not see any good by this time, then I cannot expect him/her to see any good at all.
I’ve become friendly with my unfollow button as well in my social media accounts. I don’t need to know everything. That is a fact. A fact we have lived with for so long, until social media opened the conversations across the world 24/7 in an auditorium filled with friends, friends of friends, acquaintances and long-forgotten relationships. Do they really matter? No. Okay, cancel or better yet, unfollow.
What I know is that I’ve traveled several times hence to the Gates of Hell and found no long snaking queues at the Yellow Taxi lane and passengers getting array of choices to ride on – Grab, Airport Taxi, Metered Taxi, Regular Taxi, even airport buses. Thus, there is less suffering, there is less dread. You have the choice that will fit your time, your sense of security, and yes, your money. I see all these and I smile. Unbothered by the few who continue to snipe and listen for the next outrageous statement to feast on like hyenas waiting for the kill. They do not matter, I have been traveling with ease, let the old man shout, PI for all I care.
And hey, did you notice the third floor of SM City Davao? Yes, that floor that used to be filled with the din of people waiting and waiting and waiting for their chance to have their passports renewed… that same floor has become pretty quiet the past few weeks. But my ePassport still has a good two to three years to it, so I wouldn’t personally know the reason.
But I can still recall the sound of running feet echoing around the newly opened mall, as we all ran with all our might, just to get to the third floor ahead of everyone else. The sound, like thundering hooves, come from all the four gates… it was apocalyptic. Then the authorities thought of a better idea! What followed were hordes of people, lying outside the mall at midnight till dawn. It was a pitiful sight. It was either you cry or you curse. Those who have connections were pulling every available string, corruption is the thing.
Then came the man who cursed at all these. He’s taken the cudgels for us all and I’m okay with it.
P.S.: I can hear the mumbles of friends and acquaintances who do not share my view. Dearies, that is precisely the point: it’s my view. For as long as government works for the people, I see no reason to howl. It’s when government abuses the people, when we should take a stand.