We Should Be More Disciplined

I was going home from school (I finally got enrolled! Hooray for me!) at around 12 noon today. I did my usual routine -- take a ride on a Jaro CPU jeep, make "para" in front of YMCA, walk through Iloilo Supermart at The Atrium and get out of the rear exit where the Villa jeeps pass by. As you would know, the Iloilo City government is strictly implementing the NO JAYWALKING ordinance for about three months now (Kudos to Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog for that), but still there are a lot people who still violate the ordinance. Good bye, 50 bucks.

What I can't understand is why people still disobey such a simple rule: Don't cross the part of the road where we're not supposed to! We are supposed to use either the overpass or the pedestrian lane. It's THAT simple! What really makes me boil mad is that those who violate the ordinance are the ones who have the guts to get angry at the law enforcers. Hey, they're only doing their job and it's enforcing the law (duh).

I don't know what drives these people to violate this city ordinance. Lack of knowledge about it? I don't think so. Come on, it's being implemented for three months! It's been a hot topic on the TV and radio once. How could you not know about it? Indifference may be a very good reason. Personally, I think it's our lack of discipline.

Here's a crash course on why we have such ordinances as the NO JAYWALKING ordinance. They are there to protect us from harm. You don't have to be freakishly smart to understand that. We pedestrians are not the sole users of the road. Motorized vehicles, huge-mongous motorized vehicles use the roads as well. Jaywalking, meaning crossing a part of a street or road where you're not supposed to, could be hazardous. For sure, it's called "part of a street or road where you're not supposed to" for a reason. It could be that accidents frequently happen there, and who would want to be involved in an accident, right? So the Jaywalking Ordinance is there to protect me, you, us from potential harm. Same goes for the anti-littering ordinance, anti-smoking ordinance and so on.

We are very undisciplined. So undisciplined that we go as far as bad mouthing the people who are merely trying to protect us. And there are some of us who do follow the law, but for what reason? For the sake of not being fined or jailed? If no one is watching, should we do what we're not supposed to do? After all, there's no one there to stop us. But ultimately, we might find out for ourselves (the hard way) that following "oppressive" rules was the wisest thing we could have done.

You know what they say, "Sa huli na ang pagsisisi." (In english, it roughly means "repentance happens in the end")

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