Perhaps Paula Jamie Salvosa, a.k.a. the Amalayer lady had a bad day and navigating the steaming chaos of one of the LRT stations in Manila’s train system is not exactly the best cure for a shitty day. But I can’t help but think back to how the Japanese, in their direst days following that really big earthquake and tsunami last year that leveled entire coastal cities there, remained the same reserved and composed people that they are.
So while I agree that many Netizens may have jumped at the chance to perhaps unfairly judge Salvosa based on a seconds-long video of her loudly berating a security guard at an LRT station, the fact is that between her and the security guard she was the noisy one. Many of us get judged on the basis of unintentionally noisy bodily functions — a loud fart or burp, continuous uncontrollable coughing, snoring, or a big splashing sound in a toilet cubicle. Life’s not fair. Having a bad day and a bad experience may be an excuse for a loud tirade, but you will be judged as the bad guy if the people around you maintained the presence of mind to remain hushed.
Goes to show there is never a wrong time to exhibit good manners. An inclination to err on the side of reservation, I believe, is the foundation of good manners. When you are raised well and bred well, that inclination is second-nature. For some of us unfortunate enough to have been raised on the other side of the tracks, maybe it can be learned. To the bottom-feeders, on the other hand, reservation is an alien concept.
Paula Jamie “Amalayer” Salvosa was entitled to a loud protest if, in fact, she was handled roughly by the security guard as she alleged in an interview…
“Tapos, ito ‘yon, hinablot niya ako sa left arm ko and I don’t know kung makikita pa rin siya but I have a bruise to prove that. Medyo malabo lang siya but I have [a bruise]. Grinab niya ako. Doon pumitik, doon ako nag-snap kasi grinab niya nga ako,” she said.
But to carry on a tirade for what it seemed to me to be another ten seconds or so was what I think did her in and turned the jury’s sympathy towards the security guard. Tough shit, right? Well, we can’t have our trendy 21st Century digital lives and eat it too. Every new thing is a double-edged sword and we all never quite know when these swords will swing along a path that crosses with our necks.
The best defense is a shiny armor, in the form of good breeding, good manners, and a healthily low level of self-importance. We are, after all, a nation of 100 million. No one of us is really that important in the bigger scheme of things to be spared the harsh scrutiny of our judgmental society. So Ms Salvosa, though you could be spending the next several weeks (or even perhaps the rest of your life) gnashing your teeth about how “unfairly” you are being treated online or how much you are a victim of “cyber-bullying”, there may be some chance that you’d pick up the only real lesson from this experience:
Choose the occasions to exhibit your English language skills wisely.
As boss Benign0 say…
Whatever. The point is, composure under duress is what separates rare class from common crass.
Have a nice life! 
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