Younger Generation

We were standing in line for a taxi on our way home. It was our grocery schedule, you see. When it was our turn for the next available taxi, I immediately jumped in. I was in a hurry to get home. My thoughts were on the tasks waiting for me at home.

As soon as I sat inside the cab, I smelled something. Smell of food, actually. A faint smell could come really strong in an air conditioned and closed cab. That was when I noticed a plastic full of foods. The first thing that came to my mind was that a passenger left an unconsumed food. As I looked closer to the plastic, I realized that that content was not unconsumed after all. They were left-over of foods contained in a plastic bag. The bag was even wide open.

The taxi driver seemed to have read my mind. He said a group of students left the plastic bag. The students came from San Beda College, Recto. When they reached their destination, they left their trash behind. The plastic bag was there sitting at the back seat.

How would you feel if you were on my shoe?

I do not know really if these students were from San Beda College, Recto. I had not even seen them to know that. Maybe these students just happened to be in front of San Beda College when they got the taxi. Or, maybe there are really students of San Beda College. We can never really know.

The thing is that, they are students. As the driver even said "Tsk...tsk..mga estudyante pa naman!"  Let us not generalize. After all, not all students are irresponsible. However, incidents like these are quite disappointing. Do you know what was the first thing that came to my mind? "I wonder how these students are at home?" Do they just throw their garbage anywhere? 

Our national hero had once said "Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan". The younger generations are the hopes of our country. After all, they are the next generation who will run this country. If these kids can not even learn how to deal with their own garbage, how could they handle bigger responsibilities?

Do you know that we can read people by how they reacted to and deal with little things? Mistakes in the past had thought me that lesson. Some might say this is a small matter. But really, what does this say about this group of students? What do you think?

Personally, I am hoping, really hoping, that this is not the picture of the younger generation.