Tourists in Santa Rosa

It used to be so empty here.

We moved here in 1996 feeling like we were leaving reality behind. After us kids almost being run over by cars just outside of our house in AAVA, my parents felt like it was a good move to go down to Santa Rosa. Fewer cars, clean air, the promise of a brand new city going about things right. No more congested roads, no oversaturation, enough green around all the buildings.

Over the years, we were able to see things slowly being built, and it was really nice. Things we used to need to go to Alabang for, we can now get here. But something went wrong along the way after 20 years, and now, every Christmas season, our main arteries, the main roads of access to our homes, become as clogged as the arteries of many people during this festive time of the year.

I'm sure there's something to be said here about excess, and our weakness when it comes to fads, even when they're not really special, or even downright inconvenient. There is nothing down here in Santa Rosa that the swarming crowds can't find in their respective hometowns, but the idea that it's greener here, and that it's a hidden secret, or that there are fewer people: paradoxically, everything that their coming here in droves cancels out.

But that's not what I'm here to write about.

Every time I've gone out recently, I've come across behaviour that I'm not used to seeing here back home. Behaviour that's expected whenever I'm out in Manila: Reckless driving, people getting into your personal space, not flushing in public toilets, littering, etc. 

And I get it: it's easy to blame things on tourists. I have to admit I always assume that those people aren't locals. It's hard to believe that locals would treat their own home like a dump. But I also feel like that's a dangerous attitude to have.

Anywhere you go, the more people there are, the less mindful they are of their surroundings.

The first paper cup on the ground triggers ten more. It's just easier to do the lazy thing when it's been done before, and there are more chances of people doing the first shitty thing, the more people there are.

What I'm saying is, maybe let's just all take responsibility. Thinking that we're any different or better than people from other places by default make us no better than the Trumps of the world. 

I'm still pretty sure tourists are less likely to care for a place than locals, but it would be bad to blame any individual for having come from anywhere they come from. It would be best to assume that people occupying a place just act in response to what they view as the default, and the more people there are, the worse the default seems to be. Crowds are just messy, and the fewer people there are, the more pristine your surroundings look. The more likely everyone is to take care of it and keep it that way.

There is still a lot to be said about what could be changed by the developers, the government, the powers that be, because they certainly could have avoided this unnecessary influx of tourists that our city is not prepared to handle, but for us who don't have a say, we should just keep choosing to inspire good behaviour in each other by setting an example. Aim to improve apparent defaults.

Clean up after ourselves, and even for others (if we're lucky enough to find the rare trashcans) spare a little spritz from your poo-fume bottle if the toilets are a little stanky, let people through in passage ways, keep right, keep your voice down in restaurants, smile at people, say thanks, even help out a lost tourist!

I'm hopeful that things will slowly improve, but we have to work as a unit. "Tourists" will take care of our place if as locals, we suggest the good behaviour strongly enough, and make it very apparent as The Thing To Do. Hating on them does nothing. Just makes us have a false sense of entitlement. We are lucky to have found this place, and have all come from other places. Some, very recently! Let's just all be better, kinder, more proactive about our behaviour in public.

Or we can just stay home.