Chivalry is Dead and So Are You

The scenario:
I was sitting at the window seat of the bus, my leg propped up on the high leg thingamajig common in provincial buses, sitting beside two old guys, when a feeble, old woman went up the bus. At 6:30AM, even the bus aisle is already full on its way to Manila. Standing squeezed at the aisle, the poor woman had to keep her balance as the bus flung from one land crater to another, while half of the passengers – all physically strong men – sit comfortably on their chairs, looking away from her direction.



There were men in uniforms – the navy, the police force, brawny guys in college uniforms. But nobody in these gallant “suits” (I say that with sarcasm, because that’s what I think they are: just suits.) bothered to stand up, do something outside their “call of duty” and said, “Here ma’am, take my seat.” So, three minutes since the old lady boarded the vehicle, I wake the old guy up beside me to let me pass through the strait-like space, so the woman could take my place instead (The other old guy though, told me to take his seat after a minute or two, which I tried to decline, because it is the OTHER guys whom I wanted to give their seat to the lady, not the oldies).

Image from http://www.famousquotesabout.com/on/Chivalry


A week will not pass that I will not experience a similar scenario to or from work. Sometimes, it’s in the MRT, sometimes the bus. Sometimes it’s a pregnant woman, other times, a mother with a hyperactive toddler, and other times, an old woman/man who looks like she/he can’t even make past the next minute. And time and again, I get really disappointed and try to keep myself from making an insidious rant on Facebook.


Now I am all for gender equality, dearies. I’m aware we live in very liberal times and that women are just as capable as men are, ergo, women do not deserve extra special treatment (of course I’m excluding physical battery here), like having the car door opened for them, pulling a chair for them to sit on during dinners, being given a seat in public transport, all those acts of chivalry. BUT, WOMEN WITH TINY KIDS, THE PREGNANT, THE DISEASED AND THE SENILE ARE ALWAYS AN EXCEPTION! Or am I the only one who thinks that?


I mean, don’t you think it’s lousy and a little bit embarrassing to see a lady giving her seat to another lady or worse, to an old guy, instead of male cows doing that little gesture of respect? I don’t really care if a guy doesn’t give me his seat in the bus or MRT/LRT. I won’t take it against him. That’s his seat, he paid for it, and he wants and needs that seat just as bad as I do. But when it comes to the pregnant and the old, this is not about chivalry anymore. It’s simply about having some consideration and a little heart.


There are worse times, actually. Those times when the LRT/MRT is terribly full and the males shove the ladies to get past them in line from behind (by that I mean, any line – in ticket lines, in lines going up the stairs, in lines for bag checking, in (a bit nonexistent) lines to get inside the train itself. Those times when the tricky assholes actually win by virtue of physical endurance and manage to squeeze themselves in the female area past the guards’ eyes. THE FEMALE AREA!!! Imagine that!


We Filipinos, like our Asian neighbors, are known for our distinct trait of being respectful of the elderly and of women. Sadly, it seems like this trait is slowly becoming extinct (like good men are).


And I can not simply join the bandwagon.


Because even if I was essentially raised without grandparents or not surrounded by pregnant women, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how it would feel when you reach that age (or that gestation period). Because I just don’t have the guts to hold a game of who outlasts who longer with these men – who pretend to be listening to their MP3s, to be asleep or to be looking out the window or straight head – just so I could cheat my way to saying I didn’t see that poor lady. I’d be ashamed of myself if I do that.


What the hell are parents and peers feeding kids these days anyway? Geeez. Mas mabuti pa ‘ata nung mga panahong pilit pinakakain ng mga titser ng Nutri-bun ang mga bata. May delikadesa.