“Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team” entered the fast-food we were currently sitting, strode in on a stormy barrage of sound and swift movements. They occupied the table next to us, where Alex left the wrapper of his sandwich. As irate as I was over the resulting obstruction towards observation of the service counter, it diverted my attention to something I needed to see.
Fat guy picked up the sandwich wrapper, looked behind him and spotted a pail positioned to catch water dripping from the AC. He turned back to the table and lazily flung the wrapper in the direction of the pail, completely missing it. What followed was – at the expense of (questionably) valuable data – a full minute of staring at the wrapper sitting miserably on the sparkling marble floor.
Their shirts said “Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team / Office of the President” and I wonder what I have left in the way of expectation when these are just fucking brilliant. It’s fucks like these what make the corruption problem so damn difficult. These are all the little reasons we need to wake up and smell the fucking forest fire. And these are all the little reasons we need to just throw down the towels or hang them up. We’re done.
I guess it’s just, why does it seem like the reason people go out and vote is to put the problem in somebody else’s hands, so they can continue to be assholes? Has duty gone the way of the dinosaur? And is the independence of these kinds of peoples really deserved? How I envy the societies which have had their kingdoms and their wars and their witches and their stories. Better stories than have been told in these islands. Stories that tell of heroes who did not have to go overseas to be revered upon their return, instead of fussing over a tattoo artist who’s probably made of the same crappola stuff that runs in folks like the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team.
And when I look left and right I see apathy, complacency, and so much potential if only everyone would try. If duty hadn’t been fossilized. If the girls could stop flashing tummy and/or legs and the sandwich wrappers could just get off the fucking floor. Don’t be ruined by the inaction that surrounds you. But most of all, don’t stop trying.