Parade Charade

It’s so much better to join a parade that starts late in the afternoon. It’s a lot better than waking up earlier than early and walking down Panganiban to look for the group you’re supposed to walk with. Then, little by little, the morning heat starts to bake you; and you can’t escape it because you just have to finish that parade. At least, you don’t have that in the afternoon. But, it’s still so humid.

I’m just wondering. People are supposed to go out along the sides of the streets to watch a parade when it comes along, right? Why would people want to watch government employees from different offices in matching clothes walking down the roads in a parade? From what I understand, a parade should be a spectacular sight, something that spectators would push their way to have a clear view, that small kids would want to sit on their parents’ shoulders to get a view, that bigger kids would sneak through adults to get in front of the row. What for? To see LGU employees? What’s so exciting about that? I don’t mean they don’t look good or anything. It’s just that should not a parade be a superb, stupendous spectacle? Should not a parade be a row of large colorfully decorated floats, dancing mascots, performers with painted faces or masks with bizarrely unrealistic costumes? Should not it be more of a parade with jugglers in polka dotted suits, fire dancers, fire breathers and bubble blowers? But instead, what we get are the guys you meet when you apply for city permits. Your kids’ school teachers are there too. Why would I be excited to rush out of the house and on the sidewalk to see them. Again, I don’t mean that they don’t look good. I’m just saying that that’s not really what a parade should be. Well, there were good marching bands and a few majorettes; but a large chunk of that crowd are office personnel complying with directives to participate in an activity.

I think we could do that. We could invite businesses that would want to promote their products or services to join a competition of floats. (I would not mind watching a big bee and a clown running around the roads. ) A few months ago, high school students of a large public high school did a good job with their performances, parading from their campus to centro. They could do that in time for Charter Day. Now, that would be exciting. That’s something, parents should bring their kids to watch. With the way we’re doing it right now, we’re just obstructing traffic.

I guess there would be some people who would be thrilled to watch office employees on a parade. I guess, their family and friends on the audience along the sidewalks would scream their names. But I’m sure that many would just want to move along with their errands. But that becomes difficult when you don’t know where to get a ride with all the closed roads and the jeepney trips rerouted. What do we do? We try our luck by walking here and there to catch a ride. We go through this inconvenience because of this parade of personnel and the celebration after that. Yes, we will have closed roads every now and then, when the President visits, when a very important person will be buried, when a deadly virus spreads or something like that. But, I think the authorities owe it to commuters to direct where to go to, and what to do to get home or wherever. It seemed like commuters are left to their own devices to craft ideas to get home on a Sunday evening.

If the day had fallen on a weekday, it would have been a holiday. Since we didn’t get that holiday, could we get an arrangement and have it tomorrow? Maybe, we could have that arrangement. No? Why not? Maybe, we could just raise the flags for Rizal’s birth anniversary and go home and get some rest after that. I could imagine that personnel had additional work assignments for the Charter Day celebrations. They had to prepare for the activities. They had to wait until late at night to pack up. I think these people deserve a day off. This is not just because it’s supposed to be a holiday. They need time off for their physical and mental health. They can’t work their butts off and continue to work their buttss off. These guys have to rest.

Oh, well

Once again, I’m continuing my suggestion of lending donation for volcanic observation. If you’re going to Albay to view, do it with virtue.

2 Corinthians 2:14: “God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade.”