LiFe iN a JeEpNeY RiDe!
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LiFe iN a JeEpNeY RiDe!
Web Administrator Wed Aug 12, 2009 6:28 am
Almost everyone has a jeepney experience that we love to recount again and again.
I live in a city where jeeps are a necessity of life if you want to get anywhere. From those scorching hot afternoons when you need to go downtown to those rainy days when you just want to catch a flick at the mall, the jeep is a life saver! If you have ever tried walking a mile under either conditions, then you’ll definitely be able appreciate its presence. On the other hand, smoke, dust and a mix of other sticky and sweaty aromas wafting from one nose to the next is always part of why I also hate to ride this necessity of life at times. And so goes my love-hate affair with jeepneys.
My first real jeepney ride, if I still remember right, was when I was in my budding age of 12. The years before, I wasn’t allowed to ride the jeep alone. They told me I was too young and it wasn’t my time (sounds like a love song to me). But that day, I had the freedom to ride on my own! In truth, it was just that there was no one who could drive nor accompany me to my piano teacher’s house.
So there I was after school, standing inside those yellow lines sprayed on the street to signify jeepney stops. I knew the route number of the jeep I was to take (A definite must know if you want to ride one!) but I just couldn’t bring my hand to reach out and hail one. I was scared of hailing the wrong one I guess that feeling goes with every “first” in our life.
I was thinking, “What would I do if ever I rode the wrong route? How am I supposed to get home?” This was at a time when kids were yet to see the likes of a cellular phone. Gosh, I’m not that old though! But at that time, the only phones were actually attached to a line and stayed at home. If I got lost, I was on my own.
I eventually did hail a jeep and reach my destination. But the fear of getting lost still didn’t go away.
Only after a thousand or so of jeepney rides, and hundreds of times getting lost did that feeling become diluted. Oh, I still don’t like getting lost but for someone who I like to call “directionally challenged” (I even get lost inside the mall!), it’s a lifestyle!
The fear has just been gradually replaced by the realization that one, the jeepney returns to where you first rode it. And two, you are allowed to get down at the same place where you rode the jeepney and just transfer to the right route numbered jeep.
Life is somehow akin to a jeepney ride. We fear of the day when we get “lost”: we fail, do something stupid, make a mistake, fail someone, or we simply don’t know what to do. But my jeepney rides taught me that we are allowed detours and u-turns.
We always say that we wish life was just like riding a jeep. And when we can’t seem to take it anymore, just yell “Para!” get off and leave everything behind. Well, we can’t do that but we can yell, “Para,” get off and transfer to a right route numbered jeep.
Getting lost is just part of the process of finding the way. And when we can’t seem to find our way, the best part of being lost is being found…
We don’t have to be so afraid of getting lost. There is that Someone who is always looking for us…
I live in a city where jeeps are a necessity of life if you want to get anywhere. From those scorching hot afternoons when you need to go downtown to those rainy days when you just want to catch a flick at the mall, the jeep is a life saver! If you have ever tried walking a mile under either conditions, then you’ll definitely be able appreciate its presence. On the other hand, smoke, dust and a mix of other sticky and sweaty aromas wafting from one nose to the next is always part of why I also hate to ride this necessity of life at times. And so goes my love-hate affair with jeepneys.
My first real jeepney ride, if I still remember right, was when I was in my budding age of 12. The years before, I wasn’t allowed to ride the jeep alone. They told me I was too young and it wasn’t my time (sounds like a love song to me). But that day, I had the freedom to ride on my own! In truth, it was just that there was no one who could drive nor accompany me to my piano teacher’s house.
So there I was after school, standing inside those yellow lines sprayed on the street to signify jeepney stops. I knew the route number of the jeep I was to take (A definite must know if you want to ride one!) but I just couldn’t bring my hand to reach out and hail one. I was scared of hailing the wrong one I guess that feeling goes with every “first” in our life.
I was thinking, “What would I do if ever I rode the wrong route? How am I supposed to get home?” This was at a time when kids were yet to see the likes of a cellular phone. Gosh, I’m not that old though! But at that time, the only phones were actually attached to a line and stayed at home. If I got lost, I was on my own.
I eventually did hail a jeep and reach my destination. But the fear of getting lost still didn’t go away.
Only after a thousand or so of jeepney rides, and hundreds of times getting lost did that feeling become diluted. Oh, I still don’t like getting lost but for someone who I like to call “directionally challenged” (I even get lost inside the mall!), it’s a lifestyle!
The fear has just been gradually replaced by the realization that one, the jeepney returns to where you first rode it. And two, you are allowed to get down at the same place where you rode the jeepney and just transfer to the right route numbered jeep.
Life is somehow akin to a jeepney ride. We fear of the day when we get “lost”: we fail, do something stupid, make a mistake, fail someone, or we simply don’t know what to do. But my jeepney rides taught me that we are allowed detours and u-turns.
We always say that we wish life was just like riding a jeep. And when we can’t seem to take it anymore, just yell “Para!” get off and leave everything behind. Well, we can’t do that but we can yell, “Para,” get off and transfer to a right route numbered jeep.
Getting lost is just part of the process of finding the way. And when we can’t seem to find our way, the best part of being lost is being found…
We don’t have to be so afraid of getting lost. There is that Someone who is always looking for us…
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