SIX UNUSUAL THINGS THAT HAPPENED DURING THE POPES VISIT It was an unusual event, a once in a lifetime occurrence. The last time a Pope visited the Philippines was twenty years ago. Who knows when it will happen again? So as expected, there were other unusual things brought about by this unusual event. I listed down six, although there were others which I decided to keep to myself for prudences sake. See if you agree with these or if you can add more… 1. Discipline in a crowd. We’ve all been witness to the pushing, boxing-out, and rudeness whenever there’s mass congregation of people, whether it be distribution of relief goods or a concert by a foreign artist. It was a pleasant surprise to see mammoth crowds during the Pope’s visit yet everyone was behaved. 2. Goodwill among people. There was a general feeling of good vibes among the people. There was no mudslinging among politicians, most news was about the Pope’s smile, the hearty Pinoy welcome, the cute seminarista and Swiss guards, and most of all, the inspirational message that Pope Francis brought to the Filipinos. People who attended the mass at Luneta and waited for the papal motorcade spoke of a friendly and festive atmosphere on the ground, with strangers talking to each other and doing random and small acts of kindness to their countrymen. 3. Light traffic for days in Metro Manila outside the Christmas/New Year Season and Lent. With the exception of areas where there were road closures due to papal activities, the streets of Metro Manila were a pleasant drive, contributing to the overall sense of goodwill among Pinoy drivers. Unless you come across some driver in “Beast Mode”. 4. Politicians kept a low profile. Kudos to the collective desire to maintain focus on the Pope and his message, almost all politicians kept a low profile, with the exception of a very few who slipped through the cracks. 5. Very Minimal Complaints about Mobile Phone Service. We are probably all guilty of going into Beast Mode whenever we experience dropped calls, choppy cellular reception, dead spots and other service interruptions of our mobile phones. But during the Pope’s visit, we endured completely zero service for hours on end but there was no public clamor to crucify the telecom companies. Everyone understood that the service interruption was necessary to ensure the security of the Pope. In other words, the people were united in understanding a responsibility that government had to perform even if it caused inconvenience to the public. The telcos even sent messages to explain the interruptions. Unusual indeed. 6. Raincoats for All. As I viewed photos in social media, I noticed that everyone braved the rains by wearing plastic raincoats, from whatever social class they came from or fashion sense they had. Not a few posted their raincoat-clad selfies, showing how they were one with not just the Yolanda victims of Tacloban but the Pope himself who wore a yellow plastic raincoat over his papal vestments.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 05:09:30 +0000