The bring-me/show-me game on yesterday’s Cebu Pacific flight made me go hmmm. First, the crew asked for a “pocketbook”. Now, I’m not so sure what was actually shown by the winning passenger but I remember that when I was in Grade 3, the high school students who were in the same school bus I rode often talked about the characters in their “pocketbooks” and eagerly swapped um, books, mostly Mills and Boon (I think I just gave away my age with that detail). With the passage of time, I came to realize that the rest of the world understood “pocketbooks” differently – that they were actually referring to purses or small handbags. Too bad, I didn’t look up quickly enough to notice what today is considered a “pocketbook”. Maybe they’ll play the same game on the way back. I promise I’ll pay more attention so I’d be more up to date.
For the second round, the person who was in charge of the game asked for “a milk”. At first, I couldn’t believe my ears, but she said it again “who can show me a milk”. A hand was raised and mercifully that round was finished. Time was when it was proper to ask for a can of milk or a glass of milk, or reference was made to a drop of milk. Maybe times have changed and it’s now acceptable to ask for a milk.
I’m certainly vulnerable to charges of quibbling. After all, the state of governance being what it is, education performance has fallen behind owing to a number of factors among them budget and instruction quality. But lest this be misconstrued as an affirmation of the English-as-medium-of-instruction policy, I merely wanted to highlight how easy it is to be waylaid into quibbling when national leadership is a joke.
Years ago, “accountability” was understood in a more straightforward way. It meant that people who received a mandate for public office were charged with looking into the expectations of their constituents and to at least not be (very) brazen about their political ambitions. By all accounts and going by the practices of politicians, “accountability” now means pleasing the current resident of Malacanang and then lying through your teeth about it. Talk about definition and times changing…
But maybe that’s precisely the point. In the spirit of asking for “a milk”, maybe it’s not too much too ask for a change, a thoroughgoing change.
And then if one is going to ask that, then one must be prepared to get off one’s ass and actually push for thoroughgoing change. There are mobilizations today all over the Philippines against the recent efforts of a body of asses (er, what’s the plural for ass?) to make um, asses of the rest of the country.
If you can’t march later today because of where you are, send vibes and stay connected. And oh, marches don’t get organized by themselves, so tangible support is also welcome.
