A Dose Of Orange Ink

The Ride
by Carrots


Riding in a bus or in a jeepney is my favorite part when I go home to Zamboanguita. It gives me relief every time I see some beautiful sceneries and some people doing their afternoon delights. I love the kids on the roadside, chatting with their friends while walking home from school. I enjoy watching farmers bend their backs at their sacred rice fields, together with their loyal scare crows to shoo birds away. The sun would always peep in the mountains of Talinis in the west and the orange reflection of the skies would always remind me of God's marvelous hands. I love to watch at trucks and other vehicles that would pass by the road, each with different directions and agendas. I love to look at the trees and the flowering plants displayed in some households. I enjoy the cool breeze that kiss my face every time I peep in the window of the bus and I enjoy the way the wind blows my hair. That is why I love to sit at the seat right next to the window.

However, there are people who also catch my attention especially when I am seriously preoccupied by lots of things in my mind.

There was once a time when a drunkard rode on the crowded jeepney. He got a very thin chicken with him. The conductor told him to get inside because he might fall. Instead of listening, he looked at some high school students who were also on the entrance of the jeep, unwilling to get in and sit down. He began murmuring about this and that. He said he's concerned withe the students because they are still young and they are already fond of disobeying rules.

"Do you not know that your parents are waiting in your house, expecting that you will arrive there safe? What if we will have an accident and all of you will die, who will comfort your mothers? You are sent to school not to disobey rules. You are not sent to school to practice hanging on jeepneys. It is not taught by your teachers on how to tighten your grips when you ride on vehicles like this. Young people nowadays are really...blah,blah,blah,blah.."

The rest of the passengers looked at him with funny faces. They just listened to how he foolishly preaches to those students who did not even take heed. They even made fun of him and he seems to enjoy it.

The time that those students went down, he was advised by the conductor to sit down for the second time. He was still murmuring about the same thing over and over again but at least he listened and got a seat beside his friend who was also laughing that time.

He was about to keep quiet when suddenly, he spotted the driver. Then he began talking again.

"Drivers should impose the "No Hanging" rule in jeepneys because it is their responsibility. What if something happens to those students. What if they will fall. Do you have money to give to their parents for the hospitalization? The driver should be an example of a responsible father and a good citizen of our country, the Philippines."

Before that, his seatmate, who was also talking inside the jeepney for almost an hour about holiness and godliness, told him to sit down (in the English language). He reacted because he said that he is boasting about his learned English.

"Why can't you speak it in Bisaya. You know that we are Bisaya and your talking in English. Are you proud now that you are educated?"

The 'minister' was quiet and calm but he did answer to what the drunkard said.

"I am just practicing my English skills. If you want, then I can translate that one in Bisaya for you."

We just exchanged glances as the two of them exchanged words of foolishness.

That conversation was really irrelevant and noise-bugging. I realized that there are still so many people nowadays who are very hypocrite. Drunkards aren't excused. They talk a lot, forcing everyone to believe them. But are they really practicing what they are preaching? I just pity them. They weren't educated and they were deprived of the ability to use their common senses. They are fitting for the term FOOLISH!