IF THE hardware is closed, then it's okay, I said. I can do without.
My host was insistent, there's another hardware a few blocks away, into the worst traffic jam in Quezon City.
“Marami naman tayong oras,” she said.
I wanted to scream, no, I don't have time!
This concept of time can be baffling, sometimes infuriating, especially when face to face with someone who does not share the same concept.
Time for many can be wasted, especially when there's nothing else to do.
I'd rather do something else, the very reason why my bags have stuff unrelated to work or the event I'm going to.
You will never know when you will have time to spare, and thus can do something else.
But there is never enough time, and that can be very stressful. That is when you unplug and just while the tine away, in quiet, in peace. Time invested to recharge and come to terms with oneself. That cannot be spent amid a horrid traffic.
There is no peace there, just every opportunity to lose it: that ubiquitous motorcycle driver that squeezes into the narrowest space between tour car and another, that giant truck driver who uses his vehicle's size to get a lead over everyone else, that speeding bus driver who is not above racing with the truck driver in that you-think-you-are-bigger-than-me showdown with your car between them. All the stress Manila traffic brings, it's the worst place to waste time in.
Back in my hotel, where I only wanted to be, the stress knocked me out.
What was supposed to be a few productive time wasted some more.
No wonder people over here tend to freak out a lot, and live with angst and fears Mindanaoans cannot grasp.
While many Mindanaoans have lived through uncertainties and through war and conflict, our couterparts over here lose hours of their lives stuck in traffic.
Thus, while we have a tendency to rejoice at every gain and work together for real peace (not the unreachable peace rallyists drum on), seeing each other as partners for a more secure tomorrow for the next generation, over here is that gnawing desire to just get ahead. It might mean squeezing a tiny car as a giant truck and bus race with each other, or a motorcycle rider risking life and limbs just to get through. Worse, it is looking at other people as potentially getting your space.
But we can't blame them, they're conditioned that way, everyday, as each rush amid horrendous traffic to get to where they should be individually.
No, I do not have time to waste here. I'm flying back home where I can look at the next person with a smile and the belief that the next person is a potential partner for yet another endeavor.
saestremera@gmail.com