When will we grow up?

Egay Uy . 

I HAVE noticed that most people do not know how to follow rules. We can name many instances when this is demonstrated. If you go to the streets, traffic signs have become suggestions because motorists and pedestrians opt to ignore even the simplest traffic sign.

Take for example the “No Left Turn” sign at the foot of the JR Borja Bridge from Burgos Street to Vamenta Boulevard.  Even with the visible signs, motorists, well some of them anyway, choose to make a left turn especially when traffic enforcers are not around – or merely hiding in ambush.

Then along Max Suniel street there is a “No Entry” sign if you come from Villarin street.  This sign is meant to decongest the narrowed lanes fronting the house of a city councilor because of a drainage project there.  Yet, motorists choose to defy that big sign and proceed directly to COC-Phinma slowing traffic because of the narrowed travel lane.

There are simply too many instances where we can probably surmise that there are people who simply do not respect the law. And the space allotted for this column will not suffice if we cite just half of those.

Let’s go to the offices and business establishments. In some doors, there are signs that read “Pull” or “Push” yet people seem to ignore these signs by pulling doors that are supposed to be pushed, or pushing those that are supposed to be pulled.

These signs are placed where they are found for specific purposes. They are not there to decorate doors or side streets.

And then, there are those who choose to defy specific rules. For instance, even as an ordinance says a public place cannot be appropriated by anybody for personal or commercial purpose, we see all over town barricades fronting businesses or private homes so that parking spaces get reserved for the customers or owners. And this is true even in areas fronting government offices.

I have viewed in YouTube about a practice in Japanese schools where students or pupils are the ones cleaning their classrooms and corridors. There are no janitors, according to that video.  Through this, the Japanese authorities say, school children are taught to keep their surroundings and their cities clean.  And they grow to be a well-discipline breed.

Here in Cagayan de Oro, citizens wantonly throw their trash on the road.  The affluent, the needy, everybody – save the exceptions of course – simply ignore anti-littering rules.

All told, people simply lack discipline and respect for others. When will everybody grow up?

(Egay Uy is a lawyer. He chairs the City’s Regulatory and Complaint Board, co-chairs with the city mayor the City Price Coordinating Council, and chairs the city’s Joint Inspection Team.  He retired as a vice president of Cepalco.)