On respect and on changing the world…

I was not having the best bus ride (from Ayala to Shaw) earlier tonight — too cold, annoying seatmate, careless co-passengers, etc. Thankfully by the time we got to Guadalupe, most of the bus mates from hell went off.

Feeling better as I then had the whole three-seater all by myself, enter this smallish but seemingly brusque guy. In an instant, I wished for him to not choose to sit in my area just because (1) I just got the seat all for me, and (2) I didn’t want to sit next to a potential irksome person again — yeah, I’m judgmental that way, who isn’t anyway. But alas, he walked towards where I’m sitting, stood by my side and started to mutter (at this point I’m expecting rude) words to let me know he’s going to sit beside me.

To my surprise, this seemingly sketchy character turned out to be a very polite man. He asked me if he could take the empty seat beside me with an unexpected courtesy, even calling me “Ser.” The whole time, he was all courteousness, addressing the conductor with the same level of respect.

This made me smile deep inside. And by “this,” I’m referring to the fact that he was so respectful and all that, and not that he called me “Ser” — I’m not that shallow, you see. I mean, how common it is for a guy his looks (okay, judgmental again) to be that courteous? Heck, it actually (well, in my point of view, that is) has become highly unusual for anyone this day and age to be that well-mannered in settings like that. Even I am guilty of this from time to time.  This thought made me feel a little ashamed of myself. Moreover, it made me feel, one could say, sad about how most people ended up losing the basic manners like what the guy has shown.

To kind of make up for this, and as a sign of regard to the gentleman, I will emulate his actions. I will try my best to be that respectful all the time, even addressing people “ser” or “ma’am” whenever possible without any discrimination or bias. In this way, I can make the world a place with one less rude individual — me. It maybe nothing much but it will be something significant to me and possibly to the next “ser” or “ma’am” out there.

This is good, I think. I seriously hope I can do this consistently.

I will change the world — my world at least. Let’s go!

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