By NIMROD NL QUIÑONES
So, we complain about how bad our traffic situation is. We blame our government officials for the woes that we suffer. We lament at the fate of the street kids who tap on our car windows and beg and we don’t want them on the road.
We curse traffic enforcers, who appear to be hiding and would suddenly appear to apprehend us when we commit a ‘minor’ traffic infraction. We call the city mayor names when our vehicle hits a pothole.
We comment on posts on social media and repost links about stories that infuriate us without even checking the veracity of such reports. We rant. We rant. And we rant.
This is a free country we can do as we please as long as they are within the bounds of the law or sometimes beyond it and hope that we don’t get noticed and get away with it.
While we complain, what do we do to make things better? Do you still look for a friend or a friend in some government office to help you get your licenses done faster than the other taxpayers? Do you bribe policemen or traffic law enforcers when you are apprehended?
Do you bribe taxmen so that you pay much less? Do you just thrown trash anywhere or allow your children to do so? Do you disobey traffic rules since it is already late in the evening and you are sure there is no traffic law enforcer on duty?
While it is good to complain, we must also do something, no matter how little, to get things done right.
Start with following traffic laws. Then you can follow through with the proper disposal of trash and not bribing your way via fixers when you get or renew your licenses (driving, gun, etc.).
You can also be a good example to your children by parking your vehicles properly and crossing the streets on the pedestrian lanes even if majority of our drivers don’t understand what purpose these zebra lines serve.
By doing our little share, we are helping build a better nation for the future generations. Our generation might not anymore see the fruits of what we’re doing, but at least we can help our children have a better place to live in.
By the way, here are a few more things you can do:
– Comply with the proper requirements for vehicle registration like passing the emission test.
– Check your vehicle if all lights are working before you drive it out of your garage.
– Buy vehicles only if you have a proper place to park them not on the streets of your subdivision or worse on public roads.
– If you drive a motorcycle, learn to follow your lane and don’t move in and out of the lanes to prevent accidents.
– Wear proper protective equipment when driving a motorcycle.
– Stand in line and not cut through it even if you feel you are such a VIP because your neighbor once dated a cousin of the friend of the guy in charge.
– Stick to your lane and signal properly when you have to change lanes.
– If you are a barangay official, do not allow tents to be put up on the roads blocking the flow of traffic just because somebody from your place died and they need a space to put their mah-jong and card tables as well as the tables where the supposed to be mourners would be drinking alcoholic beverages.
It doesn’t really take much to make a difference.
By the way, in this time of need for our countrymen, share a little of your blessings to the less fortunate. It will make your heart feel so much lighter.
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MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings go to Kerrwin Sanchez, Jerome Mil, Luis Respecia, Anjie Zozobrado, Janice Tangub, Shelley Arciaga-Ding, and Bobby Motus.
Belated greetings go to my foster son Cdt Leonard Joshua Peña, Charinah Jumamoy, Jessica Ann Pareja, Chona Pereyra-Escalante, John Melendres, and Chessa Arquillano.
More power to all of you!
