Going to UP this morning, I rode a jeepney from LRT-Santolan to Katipunan. The fare costs 7Php. I'm not actually used to availing of the student discount (20%) when I ride public transportations. But at that moment, I thought hardly to myself, "I'm already 4th year college. After I graduate, I will lose the "privileges" of being labeled as a student." So I took 6Php out of my wallet and gave it to the jeepney driver. And then he asked me, "San to?" [Where are you heading to?] I answered back, "Katipunan po, estudyante." [To Katipunan, student.] And then Manong driver said, "Estudyante? Mayo na." [Student? It's already May] (Since regular classes end in around March to April. Pissed off, I told him that I'm attending summer classes. But still, I gave him one more peso. The whole ride from LRT to Katipunan seemed longer. Bad trip. I was really pissed off. Why of all the circumstances.. I even debated with myself whether to say "estudyante po". Maybe the last time I rode a jeep and said that was months ago. I was tempted to argue with the driver but I just kept myself quiet. When I got off the jeep, thoughts about that instance were still running on my head. Yes, it is very hard to earn money nowadays, and a peso means a lot. But I am also not rich that even a centavo really matters to me. Why didn't I show him my ID and Form 5 to prove to him that I'm really enrolled? A student is always a student even though it's vacation time. Same as a senior citizen is a senior citizen all the time. It's not seasonal. I just stop carrying the label "student" when I finally graduate.
Thankfully, my emotions became stable on my way from Katipunan to UP. Then I just started rationalizing my experience. Manong driver is just alienated. Yes, I am alienated too, but compared to him, I am aware of my alienation. I learned about the root cause of his situation and even the explanation about his behavior. In this society, we are trained to be individualistic and just care for our own selves. This is a manifestation of a neoliberal thinking that we experience with the government abandoning social support and services to it's country. So Manong driver is just one of the billions of Filipinos who can have such behavior because they know that above all things, they have to keep themselves alive. That is basic survival. I really wanted to nag on him, badly. Bad trip kasi talaga. But then I just thought, I am studying these things at the university so if I still chose to have an argument with him, I would just appear pathetic because I am supposed to understand and explain his situation more. Not that I am tolerating what he did (not obeying the fare discount law), but for now, I will let manong driver pass.
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