Funny how life happens in a fast-forward pace – so fast that we cannot see and hear it anymore.
Even funnier is the irony that we can best observe life during a ride in the 40-kph-fast-running Philippine National Railways (PNR) train. Yes, if only we adhere to the “stop, look, and listen” reminder.
Stop
With the deluge of gadgets to keep us occupied, taking a timeout nowadays requires a lot of effort. Because being reached is so easy, we kind of obliged ourselves to check our emails, social media accounts, and mobile messages even on holidays. Can we even remember the last time we sat alone in a park without our earphones plugged in? Or the last time we waited in line without playing an iPhone or Android app?
Riding the PNR does us a favor of shutting off our virtual world. Distributing the estimated 70,000 daily riders among 78 trips can give you an overview of how crowded each train of “the sole operator of the extensive intra-island railway in Luzon” is everyday. It takes a strenuous attempt, a lot of courage perhaps, to actually bring out an expensive smartphone while unstably being arm in arm with a perfect stranger. The good news is, because we are not the only one who is without a companion inside the train, it is less awkward to be our bare person – making our gadgets lesser than a necessity, even just for a very short while. Anyway, it only takes an average of 4-minute-travel from one station to another.
Look
That lady with a lot of baggage and carrying a baby, that old man standing and gripping the handrail hard so he would not fall, those co-passengers who are dripping with sweat because of the heat, those people outside seated at the doorsteps of their houses just a very few meters from the railroad tracks, all of them – they depict reality. Since the PNR is at-grade or at road level and not elevated like the Light Rail and Metro Rail Transits, we become more face to face with most of reality as we ride the Metro Commuter type of service train of the PNR. Once the other two types, the Mayon Limited and the Bicol Express, will be back in operation, this reality may even broaden.
Listen
Then, we listen. Listen to the thoughts we have missed out while listening to our iPod songs or to the sfx when our flappy bird hit the pipe. No matter how loud the train’s whistle is, it cannot overpower the thoughts inside our heads. Perhaps we are questioning, and maybe appreciating, how these people wear a smile on their faces despite the inconvenience of standing in the middle of a crowded compartment or despite the fact that those outside are settling in an informal home. Maybe, an inner voice is urging us to do something about this seeming misery of others. No matter what our thoughts are, we listen – because it is the real life we witness at that very moment.
In the end, we realize that each of the 42 “Stop Look Listen” signages at every railroad and street intersections from Tutuban to Alabang are there not only to save the lives of those crossing. Without meaning to, “Stop Look Listen” are there for us too, passengers, so we can experience life. Come to think of it, it is pretty much the same as being saved.
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