eye_spy ... i have you at the corner of my eye ...

i normally take jeepneys as my mode of transport on my way to work. i like it that i get to punish my lungs and breathe in the polluted air of the metro and at the same time to look at people as they get crammed inside the vehicle. i have this penchant of secretly staring at them while they have this far away look, thinking of god knows what. i take pleasure in trying to fathom and guess what each person is thinking. makes me feel like im this smart ass shrink who turns into an ugly dr. jekyll who would slice people's head to see whats inside it.

this evening was no exception. i spent a good 15 minutes inside the jeepney looking at this kid who was having tantrums and was bawling his eyes out while slapping his mom. the passengers were really bothered about the slapping and they tried to dissuade the child saying they will throw him out the running vehicle if he wont stop. the mother just shyly smiled, said her kid was just sleepy and hushed him. unfortunately the kid was a pain in the ass. an attention whore as most kids are. instead of stopping he cried all the more and i would have gladly smacked him in the head had she not stopped the jeepney and got off the vehicle. divine intervention.

couple of kilometers away from my destination, there were just four of us left inside the jeepney: a grade school girl, an old man, this middle aged guy and i. the guy was sitting near the door of the jeepney so he called out to me and handed over his fare. i looked at the money he passed and it was a shiny 5 peso coin. everyone knows that the minimum fair after the price roll back of gasoline is now at 6.50. he is short of a peso and fifty cents.

thats fine.

none of my business really.

i just passed along the fare to the girl in front of me who in turn stared at the 5 peso coin looking perplexed but nevertheless she handed the coin to the driver of the vehicle. the worst part of it was the driver returned some loose change thinking that what he got was a ten peso coin. the little girl handed over the coins to the guy and she gave him a questioning look. not bothered by the little girl at all, he pocketed the coins. before he went down the jeepney i gave him this look that says i-wish-your-dong-will-fall-off. i cant believe he has the heart to do that in front of the kid and just act nonchalantly as if nothing happened.

"sa mata ng bata ang isang pagkakamali ay nagiging tama kung ito'y ginagawa ng matatanda."

common decency is no longer common. its like a commodity badly needed by everyone now. *sigh*