Vox Populi
It’s a shame that after over three years into my stay in the Ateneo, I still haven’t watched a live UAAP game.
Before the match against the Green Archers, though, I decided to get up at 5am and line up in front of MVP in the attempt to score some tickets for the big day. Unfortunately, the queue was just too long to accommodate even an eighth of those who came. In short, I waited in line for two long hours, and left the building empty-handed.
However, this disdain was in the least of the concerns I was to fuss about. For as much as how Ateneans would know how a function’s limit does not exist, some students seem to have forgotten the existence of lines, as well.
From “Pare, pasingit naman oh!” to boasting about scoring tickets through cutting the lines last year, there were quite a number who exuded the lack of respect, breeding and esteem. Being alone and with nothing else to keep busy with magnified these voices around me. This is definitely something that made me stop and think about what kind of people come out of this institution.
Sure, the instance cited is far too petty to be compared with alarming public concerns, but don’t habit-forming acts like such make up most of what a person becomes in the future? At this rate, a brighter future for the Philippines with law-abiding citizens evades us at a long-shot distance. It’s a double-edged sword to play, really. Especially when the people involved are those who are supposedly ones to uphold the Ignatian value of being a man for others.
Perfection may not be achieved by anyone, but at least, as Ateneans, we strive to try. I know it’s quite hypocritical to say that those golden tickets to the Big Dome don’t matter, but truth of the matter is that one’s dignity should always weigh more. Because even if the world turns upside down, there surely is no better feeling than having the clarity of conscience and the inner peace of coming out of fair play.
Although, it may be argued that the environment we live in at present urges us to thrive on instant gratification. With the advancements in technology, our needs and wants are spoon-fed and given faster than the blink of an eye. It is most probably the reason why we sometimes fail to act as expected—we forget how to live life apart from the virtual identities we keep inside the landscape of modern communication.
Despite these circumstances however, lies the foremost line of defense that we possess: choice. We can choose to be right and we can choose to be the exemplary Filipinos we were born to be.
