Reasons to Hate the Commute

#510 Trip of a Lifetime ~ Ross_M_de_la_Cruz

[- Ed's note: initially, there was a small debate in the official forums about air travel being identified as "commute," because air travel is still a luxury for many ordinary Filipinos. However, it is still travel, and people still complain quite a bit about it, so it ended up being included.]

TAKE THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME.

OUR BIGGEST SEAT SALE YET.

NOW EVERYONE CAN TRULY FLY.

BOOK NOW!

Everyone remembers this pitch. It was all over the place - on holoboards, newspapers,  the Net. People were talking about it on the street. Flyers about it were distributed on Sinauna transport vehicles of all kinds.

"Now everyone can truly fly" was an enormous draw. Especially in a country where everyone dreams of getting out, but is always foiled by the high costs of travel.

The "Trip of a Lifetime" legal fiasco was huge, a few years back. Until now, we're still talking about it. It raised a lot of questions, mostly moral ones, like: can a company just implement any payment scheme they want, in exchange for services it already renders in exchange for cash? Can it really ask for non-material compensation in exchange for material products and tangible services? Can any company put a price tag on time and experiences lived?

But I'm not here to talk about JUST that.

I'm mainly here to talk about why I will never, ever fly with Sinauna Air.

***

First, I need to talk about my sister.

There were four of us siblings. The two eldest ones are both boys. I'm the youngest. The one who came before me, the eldest girl, was named Regina. I called her Ate Ging.

She was the sweetest person I knew. It seemed like she lived to take care of others. Even when she was a child she constantly fussed over everyone in our family compound - from our grandparents, who were already suffering from dementia, to our baby cousins, who were still learning to walk and talk and feed themselves.

She was the go-to person in the family compound: the one who would gladly take on any task, with little regard for her own schedule. Hardly a day went by when her catchphrase was not uttered: "Have you eaten? How was your day?"

We always had money difficulties, which was why we lived in the family compound and never managed to move out. Our older brothers helped out as much as they could, but being married themselves and constantly strapped for cash, they couldn't give us much. In fact, they were both still living in the family compound, with their wives and children, while they supposedly saved up to move out (they never did).

When it was Ate Ging's turn to go to college, our parents gave her a choice: either she went, and helped support my schooling by being a working student, or she would stop schooling and work so that i could be sent to school.

She chose the latter.

I had no choice but to go to school out of guilt because I was taking resources away from my saintly sister. But the fact was, I didn't like going to school. It was a stifling and painful environment. I couldn't stand it. In the end, I dropped out.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I resented her. I behaved badly towards her while I stayed at home and valiantly resisted finding work, in spite (or perhaps, because of) pressure from the family to support myself. I always just ascribed my bad behavior to being depressed.