Hold the door

'had an interesting thing happened last Sunday... We were walking from the parking lot and ended up queuing up to enter the church door. First an old lady, next a Filipino, then us. It was a wide door but only half was opened so it can only fit one person at a time. The old lady entered then the Filipino guy followed her closely and just went in and let the door swing back to close. We immediately reached for it otherwise it'll hit us.

I am just amazed that even here in New Zealand, where locals would actually hold the door for someone following them when entering a room or building, still Filipinos, like this guy, just couldn't learn! This isn't the first time, by the way. I can not count how many times I've seen Filipinos do this. The same thing I saw when I was in the U.S.

How hard is it really to recognize that someone is following you and hold the door for him?? How hard is it really for us to start to care for others?

Yes this is such a little thing but even this we can't do??? Come on! No wonder our country is just spiraling downwards.

It's very very common in the Philippines that people don't "hold the door" for someone following them. But this isn't the Philippines anymore and yes it really is a good thing to "hold the door" don't you think?

I believe this is a very strong and direct reflection of how much most Filipinos just care about themselves. Look at how people just can't put their garbage inside designated bins. Look at how people insert in queues especially in jeepney stops. Look at how most people pull others down just to get ahead. These are just a few from the top of my head. I might update this post when I go back to the Philippines for a visit 'cause I'm sure it'll be very obvious.

Next time you get into Jolibee or the rest rooms or whatever, can you please look behind you to see if someone's there and "hold the door" for him? Please? It's really not hard and setting an example would definitely bring you joy. If you do it and one or two people sees you, chances are they'll do it too. We're gonna have to start caring for others especially our "kapwa" (fellow) Filipinos. Sooner or later, if we continue doing good, starting with little things like this, eventually it'll grow to bigger things and eventually the Philippines will slowly become a better place.

I remember a TV ad which basically said "Ang mali ay magiging tama kapag ginagawa ng mas matanda."

So please, be a good example and let's start changing our society one person at a time.

Your thoughts?