Like I always say, I like to keep my mouth shut. But there are times when enough is enough, when I have to speak my mind out sometimes.
Last Saturday, my brother and I were playing basketball in another section of our subdivision. The basketball court was adjacent to an empty lot populated by trees and grass. Scattered throughout the lot were mounds of dry leaves and twigs, ready for burning.
Unfortunately for us, an old woman had prepared a sizable heap of organic junk on one end of the lot. She began starting a fire and soon enough, a thick plume of smoke, swept by the winds, was covering the basketball court.
Frankly, I was annoyed. The day before, the same woman had also started an open burning session. And, let me tell you, playing basketball isn't exactly a pleasant experience when you're breathing suffocating smoke into your lungs. So, I decided to chat with the woman and, perhaps, coax her into stopping her habit.
What I didn't expect though was the woman's defensive attitude. Far from the congenial, old lady I thought she was, she was extremely annoyed at my meddling. It didn't help at all that I brought up the fact - a wrong decision, in hindsight - that there is already an ordinance ( Wrong again, it's a law. Two laws, to be more accurate) penalizing the open burning of waste material. She rebutted this by saying that they've been doing this for 10 years now yet I was the first to complain about this practice.
I knew I couldn't win this one so I walked away. Surprisingly, after I stepped back into the court, my brother and I spotted the woman causing a ruckus. She was now talking to several people: presumably, her neighbor, her daughter, and some kids.
Just then, another lady, Ate Irisel (?), was starting another fire with her mound. By this time, I was getting exasperated and I approached Ate Irisel. Out of frustration, I asked her if the neighborhood could at least set a date or time when they would all light up their mounds, making open burning a weekly one-time deal ( since then, I've started researching better alternative options to this suggestion which I will discuss in another post, perhaps).
Then, the real confrontation started. A group was approaching us, consisting of the old woman, her daughter, Rolly ( a neighbor who is a smoker), and some kids who had fun taunting me all the way.
The opening salvo came from the old woman. Her battle cry was: "Nabastos jud ko sa imong gibuhat dong ba!" After hearing that, I was surprised because I couldn't recall anything I said in our initial conversation which was offending or insulting in any way. Maybe, I could have come off as someone arrogant and presumptuous by the way I, a newcomer and an outsider at that, was interfering with the ways of an established matriarch. Nevertheless, the old woman was furious and I was left mentally shaking my head as to what the cause of this rage was.
Rolly was a little trickier to handle. He had listened to some kids who had overheard my comments. He said I was making a big deal out of it solely because the smoke was interfering with my play. That was true but I also pointed out that I had been playing for quite some time now in their court and my mere annoyance over the nuisance of open fires have developed into a more general concern for the public safety of the neighborhood. I pointed to kids who might be at risk, playing basketball amidst the smoke.
In the end of the discussion, he said, "Sus, dahon lang mani dong," a brazen attempt to belittle the issue. He also pointed out that were it not for their efforts of starting fires every now and then, the whole lot would be a mess. The garbage truck wasn't picking up the junk so the neighbors burn it instead. He also belittled our efforts to help by asking if my brother and I were well-connected and said that everyone would be better off if we started collecting and disposing the garbage for them ( as our way of helping, of course). He was also irritatingly sarcastic, at one point, saying that he'll ask his neighbors to stop any burning if ever I was back in the court playing basketball.
Obviously, I vowed to return with a solution ( The best, so far, is to just leave any leaf, twig or branch to rot and degrade into the soil, making the soil more fertile with better nutrient retention). Hopefully, I'll have a chance to sit down with the neighborhood's president, a lawyer by the name of Mr. Ceniza. Maybe then, we can have a more fruitful discussion on how to address open burning in his turf ( Chances are, he might not even be aware of this).
To end this post, I still have to ask myself: why bother? Clearly, I have no personal stake at this. To Rolly, the old woman, and Ate Irisel, I'm merely someone who plays basketball in their court. But the fact remains that what they're doing is wrong and no matter how commonplace or how insignificant the issue may be, if I let it pass, then what does that speak of me? The important thing here is I know I'm right and I know I have the power to act on this issue.
Last Saturday, my brother and I were playing basketball in another section of our subdivision. The basketball court was adjacent to an empty lot populated by trees and grass. Scattered throughout the lot were mounds of dry leaves and twigs, ready for burning.
Unfortunately for us, an old woman had prepared a sizable heap of organic junk on one end of the lot. She began starting a fire and soon enough, a thick plume of smoke, swept by the winds, was covering the basketball court.
Frankly, I was annoyed. The day before, the same woman had also started an open burning session. And, let me tell you, playing basketball isn't exactly a pleasant experience when you're breathing suffocating smoke into your lungs. So, I decided to chat with the woman and, perhaps, coax her into stopping her habit.
What I didn't expect though was the woman's defensive attitude. Far from the congenial, old lady I thought she was, she was extremely annoyed at my meddling. It didn't help at all that I brought up the fact - a wrong decision, in hindsight - that there is already an ordinance ( Wrong again, it's a law. Two laws, to be more accurate) penalizing the open burning of waste material. She rebutted this by saying that they've been doing this for 10 years now yet I was the first to complain about this practice.
I knew I couldn't win this one so I walked away. Surprisingly, after I stepped back into the court, my brother and I spotted the woman causing a ruckus. She was now talking to several people: presumably, her neighbor, her daughter, and some kids.
Just then, another lady, Ate Irisel (?), was starting another fire with her mound. By this time, I was getting exasperated and I approached Ate Irisel. Out of frustration, I asked her if the neighborhood could at least set a date or time when they would all light up their mounds, making open burning a weekly one-time deal ( since then, I've started researching better alternative options to this suggestion which I will discuss in another post, perhaps).
Then, the real confrontation started. A group was approaching us, consisting of the old woman, her daughter, Rolly ( a neighbor who is a smoker), and some kids who had fun taunting me all the way.
The opening salvo came from the old woman. Her battle cry was: "Nabastos jud ko sa imong gibuhat dong ba!" After hearing that, I was surprised because I couldn't recall anything I said in our initial conversation which was offending or insulting in any way. Maybe, I could have come off as someone arrogant and presumptuous by the way I, a newcomer and an outsider at that, was interfering with the ways of an established matriarch. Nevertheless, the old woman was furious and I was left mentally shaking my head as to what the cause of this rage was.
Rolly was a little trickier to handle. He had listened to some kids who had overheard my comments. He said I was making a big deal out of it solely because the smoke was interfering with my play. That was true but I also pointed out that I had been playing for quite some time now in their court and my mere annoyance over the nuisance of open fires have developed into a more general concern for the public safety of the neighborhood. I pointed to kids who might be at risk, playing basketball amidst the smoke.
In the end of the discussion, he said, "Sus, dahon lang mani dong," a brazen attempt to belittle the issue. He also pointed out that were it not for their efforts of starting fires every now and then, the whole lot would be a mess. The garbage truck wasn't picking up the junk so the neighbors burn it instead. He also belittled our efforts to help by asking if my brother and I were well-connected and said that everyone would be better off if we started collecting and disposing the garbage for them ( as our way of helping, of course). He was also irritatingly sarcastic, at one point, saying that he'll ask his neighbors to stop any burning if ever I was back in the court playing basketball.
Obviously, I vowed to return with a solution ( The best, so far, is to just leave any leaf, twig or branch to rot and degrade into the soil, making the soil more fertile with better nutrient retention). Hopefully, I'll have a chance to sit down with the neighborhood's president, a lawyer by the name of Mr. Ceniza. Maybe then, we can have a more fruitful discussion on how to address open burning in his turf ( Chances are, he might not even be aware of this).
To end this post, I still have to ask myself: why bother? Clearly, I have no personal stake at this. To Rolly, the old woman, and Ate Irisel, I'm merely someone who plays basketball in their court. But the fact remains that what they're doing is wrong and no matter how commonplace or how insignificant the issue may be, if I let it pass, then what does that speak of me? The important thing here is I know I'm right and I know I have the power to act on this issue.
1 comment:
I like your thought of letting everything rot in the ground. Maybe you could start a composting pile and let them maintain it and they will really have some great fertilizer for their gardens.
Good Luck man but sometimes people cant see the smoke b4 their eyes
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