Random Snowflakes: Monday Group

In elementary school, there was this concept of 'cleaners'... the dreaded assignment. The class was grouped into five, and each group was assigned to be the cleaners for a specific day. The cleaners for the day had to come in early and leave late. I always volunteered to scrub the platform in front of the room; it was wood so it was easier to scrub than concrete. Some kids in my school had joked about it, and tried to make the burden lighter by declaring that, instead of being the cleaners for the day, we were actually the actors for the day; much like in the show, "That's Entertainment", where there was the Monday Group, the Tuesday Group, and so on.

There was this one instance when one rich, snobby classmate was assigned to be in a group with me. She said, "That's true: I am an actress. I'm not accustomed to such menial tasks!" (of course, since we were 9 years old then, she didn't state that in such a manner). One of my other groupmates laughed -- he was the one who called us the actors in the first place -- and said, "Really? Prove to me, then, that you are an actress. Go and act as if you're cleaning!" Needless to say, this male groupmate of mine earned my respect. Even now, I'm impressed by him. Imagine, he was 9 years old then, and he had thought up that idea! Suffice it to say that his willingness to clean was simply admirable.

I wish everyone was like that, willing to clean, I mean. OK, so I admit that my room isn't one to be considered as a model for magazines, but I think I'm willing clean when I need to. Just like last night.

February 14th of 2005, aside from being Valentine's Day, was the start of the February Fair for UPLB. [On a side note: I found out last night that UP Los Baños was the first to hold a February Fair in the UP System! Ha! Imagine that...] It was fun, of course, but the events aren't the focus of this piece. My focus is the people.

I had seen three FebFairs so far (not including this one). And, every morning, I would be taken by surprise when I leave my dorm and see the Fair grounds: it resembled a ghost town. There were no people around, just empty booths and a few pieces of paper flying across the field. You wouldn't think that it was jam-packed the night before. I was simply impressed that the people were actually self-disciplined to keep the ground clean.

Now, let me make something clear: I know that, generally, Filipinos tend to just throw trash wherever and whenever they want to. This I find absolutely irritating, but I've come to just accept it. But UP students, though, I expect to be more responsible. That they would have the initiative -- not to mention common sense -- to pick up their own trash. I mean, it IS their trash, right? So it isn't as icky as picking up other people's trash. I thought it'd be one of the ways they could express their gratitude for being a scholar of the state. I thought they were the ones who initiated to keep the ground clean.

But nooo~... When I stayed to the very end of the program last night, I was shocked when I scanned the Fair grounds. There was trash everywhere, both biodegradable and non-biodegradable. I just HAD to shake my head. We're in UP for crying out loud! Forgive me for being so idealistic, but...

GAH!!!

My goodness.

I saw a couple of my friends from my org picking up the trash, and I decided to join them. We started from the very end of the Freedom Park, and combed our way to the other end. (To those who don't know: the UPLB Fair grounds is about two to three times as big as the closed area during the fair in UP Diliman) What totally bites is that a LOT of students saw us picking up, and they didn't even decide to help!

That's another GAH.

There were about 10 of us, add about three street kids volunteering to help out. HA! I can't believe I would actually rank UP students lower than street kids in terms of initiative... It took us two hours to finish picking up trash in the area (the org tambayans NOT included), and when I looked back and scanned the field again, I couldn't stop smiling. It was so nice to see dark green grass (remember, this was already during the wee hours of the morning) without white and silver things scattered all over it.

Strange as it may sound, I felt totally happy.

Labels: elbi, feb fair