Cows

December 12, 2009

Filipinos walk like cows. This epiphany dawned on me one morning as I observed a man walking. His shoulders were straight, the swing of his arms was precise and his pace was brisk. He was wearing a hat and I only saw his back, but I knew that he was not a local. He knew where he was going and he obviously wanted to get there in the shortest amount of time as humanly possible. He walked with purpose.

I looked around to see how everyone was walking. It was around 9am and I was in one of the country’s major business disricts so I lazily expected everyone to be rushing to work. They weren’t. Most of the people looked slack, in their droopy jeans and loose shirts. They were dragging their feet to wherever they needed to go, stubbornly, even though they have nothing better to do.

Look, I can’t tell you how to change the world. I can’t tell you how to make this country a better place to live in. You know what though, it wouldn’t hurt if you started walking faster, started shaking yourself out of the lethargy centuries of culture have instilled in you. It should do you good.