The Five Year Rule

Apparently Ted Mosby can be in things other
than How I Met Your Mother

I was thinking about the future, as is the plight of a college senior, when I remembered a movie I watched on my first(?) date with the old ball and chain. One of my favorite quotes from Happythankyoumoreplease, a movie with Ted Mosby as a writer instead of an architect, is that five years from now you'll look back and think what an asshole you were five years ago.

Penn&Teller, pointing out assholery
since the dawn of time

There's a lot of truth to this quote, because I've never thought of myself as asshole in the present but whenever I think back to who I used to be... well, I cringe. It's not that I'm a terrible person from day to day, it's just that as I mature I tend to look back on what I did with my "I'm so smart now" glasses. This got me to thinking though, if I'm only an asshole from the perspective of future (actually, present looking at past) me, then what does that imply about my choices? I like that to think that it means I do the best I can in the present, and just accept that I might think it was stupid when I reach the future.

Apparently this is a misquote,
but I prefer this to the real one

What I take away from this is that every single stupid (or not so stupid) decision we make now is what will define us in the future. Every single mistake we make adds up in immeasurably tiny ways to contribute to the person that you will become, even if you are happy with the person you are now. Now, before all one of my readers tells me that I should quit the pseudo-philosophy-- I know that this post is quite silly, and that it will look even dumber in five years' time. But, and this is a big but, this is the post I need to make at this point in my life-- it's the right choice now, even if I might make fun of it later. Time is a funny thing, for one thing we it is almost impossible to define the present. Most importantly to me though, is the fact that time completely changes my perspective on almost everything. What was intensely painful yesterday might be the transformative moment of my life when viewed from the future.

An overly idealistic
but thought-provoking view on fathers

Largely, I suppose that it's impossible to tell where you will be in five years but now I try to use that point of view as my guide for choices. How will I view this decision five years from now? Well I'll probably think I was an asshole, but at least I can admit that.

Please Don't Pee on the Walls

Translation: (left) you can't pee here
(right) but here is fine

So another post about home, which is fitting since there's only a week left in Christmas break till I return to other home (school). Something that has been nagging at me since I've been back is the propensity for people to A)  Enforce the most asinine of rules B) tautological (repetitively true) rules C) be aggressively polite.

This sign is a warning about this sign

The first point about enforcing asinine rules is probably the most annoying thing I've ever experienced and I can think of two examples that really stand out. Back in high school we were hosting a rugby practice for the under 19s national team which meant that players from other schools would be coming, and perhaps even players who were no longer students at all. I watched as one such person stood arguing with one of our security guards (private school with a lot of moneys). I approached because the rugby player (whose nickname I would later learn was Pumbaa, no Timone though) as he didn't seem to be able to communicate in Tagalog. After talking to the guard, I found out that he didn't want to let Pumbaa through because of male earrings went against the student dress code. I explained that Pumbaa was not in fact a student, but simply a visitor, this of course did not achieve anything. I eventually told Pumbaa to just remove the earrings. In my defense, as soon as we got past the guard I did tell him he should put them back on out of spite. Yup, we showed him.

The second example of such silliness occurred this break as I went to the Department of Foreign Affairs (not the one where you sleep with foreigners) to renew my passport. I'd scheduled an appointment and arrived the recommended hour and a half ahead of time. However, upon arriving at the gate I had a second encounter with security guards. He held up his hand and told me that I was not allowed to wear shorts inside the building-- rather than ask if he'd prefer that I take them off, I asked if he was serious. More importantly, I asked him why such a rule existed. His response was, "it's our policy".  I then stood there angrily for quite some time and realized 1)that trying to hit a man with a gun would be ill-advised 2)it wouldn't help me get in 3) he was just doing his job. Once more, I was forced to sell out as I went to the closest mall and bought a pair of pants (the pants of my oppression if you will).

Superman wears underwear on the outside
but no one gives him crap (note to self: develop laser-eyes)

The silliness of these encounters leads me to what actually prompted this particular instance of bloggery. Driving around the city of Manila and its surrounding areas, you are bound to come across signs that say "please don't pee on the wall," or a variation thereof. It has always struck me as incredibly disheartening that such signs are necessary, shouldn't it be the default state of existence to not pee on someone else's property? Now, whenever I rant about this to my friends they say (in a voice you use to talk to idiots, or puppies) "Blaine, they're poor. They don't know better." or "They have no where else to pee." To this I say bah humbug. Being poor in no way means that you are stupid, nor does it preclude from using public restrooms. I don't know how it's come about but a lot of people pee on walls, and a lot of people just accept it. Granted I don't know how you would prevent this short of electrifying your walls (which while awesome, probably wouldn't work). My point here is not to solve the pee-crisis that has stricken my beloved nation, but instead to ask a question. Why do we choose to harangue people over silly things like earrings and shorts, while simultaneously ignoring people peeing all over the place. As much as it annoys me, I believe that it is simply a way for us to exert control in a world where we increasingly have none. There's no way to hunt down (and pee on as a golden rule type of thing) those who pee on walls, but if you see someone violating the dress code you can quite easily deny that person access to your facilities. I understand that this is a complex country full of complex issues, and just like any other country there are always cultural tensions.

Are Filipinos the Canadians of Asia?
We don't have Maple Syrup so I'm not sure

As I mentioned, many Filipinos ( the ones that I know) have a tendency to be aggressively polite, a tendency which might create problems when we have to enforce ridiculous rules. As much as it annoyed me to be told that I needed pants, I'm sure the guard enjoyed it even less since it required confrontation. At this point, I do have to wonder why we couldn't just let it go-- except of course for the fact that he didn't want to lose his job. The perfect example of this kind of pushy politeness is food. Whenever you go to a Filipino household, expect to be offered food. Even if you are not at all hungry, I advise that you accept because if you don't you will be constantly harangued with offers until finally, you are crushed by the wave of hospitality. I believe that this tension between pettiness and manners is what stems a lot of what I consider incongruous behavior in the country. Politeness is a virtue, but God forbid someone try to pass you on the road because then you'll have to speed up (no matter how slow you were going) and then maybe honk and flash your headlights. The high premium put on maintaining politeness and manners probably leads to a lot of forced smiles and gritter teeth. Tension which we have to release through what silly avenues are made available to us.

I fully support peeing on this "sculpture" by Duchamp,
but he'd probably approve