What Are We Teaching Our Kids?

Last week, Ellen*, one of my fellow dancers came rushing out of the stage after our final pose, pissed by a Chinese kid sitting with his mom in the audience. The kid was around 8. During the part where we, the dancers go up the bleachers to interact with the spectators, he reached for Ellen's hand and had her touch his stiff dick while he stared amusingly at Ellen's boobs.

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On Sunday, as I was on the train going home from work, I bumped into a Filipina domestic helper, Donna*, who spent a day at the park with the daughter of her boss. The kid was probably 6, and was playing with Donna's celfone. Donna asked for her fone back. The kid refused to hand it back. Then Donna raised her voice a bit to intimidate the little girl and said, "That's not a toy. Stop playing with it."

The girl started to cry and screamed at her, "No! Fuck you!"

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Every afternoon, a pack of little boys from my provincial neighborhood, their ages ranging from 5-9, gather together at the footbridge and collect big stones. Then they disperse strategically, almost like a SWAT team, around the vacant lot where dogs flock around 5pm. At their leader's signal, they throw stones at the dogs and scream "Tiu!" (shortened cantonese curse word which in English means "I will fuck your mother.") to their heart's content. The elders who see them just laugh it off.

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My generation grew up on morning TV shows like Sesame Street, Batibot, Flying House, Rainbow Brite and Mga Kwento Ni Lola Basyang. At 10am every morning, we were glued to the tv with shows that carried the Worry-Free Kid TV logo. There was no cable tv or the internet to "corrupt" our innocence. And yet, we grew up rebellious and with values & morals that the generations born before us think of as intolerable and worthy of censure.

What, then, will become of those after us?

*not her real name

--Rye

can't you read?

How To: Behave Inside the Elevator 2

(Part 2 of 2)

Before going on to the rest of the guidelines, check out Part 1 first.

Converse As Quietly As You Can. Whenever you are joined by your friends inside the elevator, it is inevitable that a conversation will float up. Since you are not the only ones inside, it would be nicer if you don’t talk that loud and limit your discussions on things that bear nothing about personal affairs and gossips. That could help you protect your privacy as well – a stalker might just be around, who knows.

Play Safe. Especially when you’re up for a quickie, always check if there are cameras installed in the elevator. Don’t be stupid, they are not installed there for nothing. Spare yourself from humiliation by simply keeping the “urge” to yourself.

Those are just simple rules but often neglected. There are actually just a handful of Filipinos who act according to acceptable standards and yet again, culture has something to do with it. I sometimes find myself wondering how our educational institutions, and the system itself, respond to this idiosyncrasy. I can see that together with the government and the media, our schools have greater control in shaping up a person’s ethical behavior.

As you can see, the simple things that we do affect our overall image as a person, as part of the society and as a nation. To those who are working as part of the corporate world, you may have observed that blue-collar workers pay a special respect to white-collar employees. At the age of 20, I feel privileged each time our security guard and maintenance people call me Sir (sometimes followed by my first name). At first, I thought that’s only because they don’t know my name but I realized that it’s actually because they look up to me as a fitting example of an educated man.

That’s more than just boosting one’s ego; I feel that everybody should set an example to others as well. Just keep in mind that wherever and whenever we face a crowd, even inside the elevator, we should never give them a reason to frown.

- Reyville of Simply Manila, Philippines

How To: Behave Inside the Elevator

(Part 1 of 2)

Some of you ride the elevator as a daily routine that even if you just need to go two floors up or down, the initial desire is to look for a vacant pulley. Why not? It is the most comfortable option next to nothing. In fact, we feel so comfortable that we tend to forget that even inside the elevator, we need to practice etiquette.

The elevator is where people with different orientations flock together. So whether you are the most popular person in your neighborhood, a member of a royal family in the United Kingdom of Tondo, or Gretchen Barretto, you can make this world a better place if you can act in such a way that other people would feel respected or valued as a divine creation or at least as human beings.

Be Generous. We all know that you’re in a hurry and needs to Bundy as soon as possible, but you have to stretch your patience a bit longer by pressing the open-the-door button if you see somebody approaching the elevator. Don’t embarrass the poor soul to everybody else around by letting the door closed itself when he is just a few seconds late.

Always Face The Door. No matter how crowded it is inside the elevator, make sure that you’re facing its doors while it is taking you to your ultimate destination. Never face the rest of the crowd unless you want them to discover a new planet next to Planet Zit in the universe disguised as your face.

Don't Fart. If you feel that something odd is gaining power inside your tummy, you can save yourself from embarrassment by letting that fart out before going in for the ride. Or if you’re inside the elevator already, try to hold on for a second. Please be considerate to others as this is undeniably gross.

(To be continued…)

(This article was originally posted by Reyville for Simply Manila. Can I be the "How To" guy for this blog? HaHa. Just kidding, seriously kidding.)

- Reyville of Simply Manila, Philippines