The "Senses of Urgency and Anticipation"
Posted on Wednesday 13 April 2016
The “Senses
of Urgency and Anticipation”
By Apolinario Villalobos
The lack of “sense of urgency” of some
people can be very irritating to those who are affected. These callous people
also do not give a damn if their dilly-dallying can result to a tremendous
disaster to others. This kind of attitude is oftentimes found among most
government employees who have the habit of setting aside jobs-to-be-done for
the next day. Most often, victims are those who apply for permit for business,
housing, etc. The government employees feel strongly that they are protected by
the Civil Service Code, which in the case of the Philippines, is very lax.
In private institutions employees are
strictly guided by the Codes of Discipline and Operating Manual, based on
which, a memo is immediately issued to employees who have violated a rule. On
the other hand, in government offices, some employees may not even have seen a
memo that contains a disciplinary action. As in government agencies, there are
also employees who lack the “sense of urgency” in private institutions, but
they do not stay long in their job due to their incompetence. Also, in the
government, despite the very obvious lack of the mentioned sense among many
agency chiefs that affect the daily lives of the citizens, they are not booted
out of their positions, for as long as those who appointed them are in power.
The “sense of anticipation”, may sound
strange to many. Unlike the “sense of urgency”, the aforementioned is not
mentioned often, much less, thought of. The attitude developed from the lack of
this sense is manifested by the “let’s-cross-the-bridge-when-we-get-there”
attitude, that oftentimes results to insurmountable regrets. Taking the
“bridge” as an example, those who think of it as just such, have obviously
failed to think that there are many kinds of bridge, such as “monkey bridge”-
hanging bridge made of vines, cables, or ropes, and those made of bamboo, wood,
concrete, steel, and it could be wide, narrow,, short, or kilometric. Having
failed to prepare options that should suit their requirements they regret their
failure to cross it with ease and haste when they are already there.
This kind of attitude is also prevalent
among those who spend as though, there is no tomorrow because there is
something to be spent anyway. But what if the breadwinner of the family is gone
due to unexpected death or left to have another family?...what if the
breadwinner losses his or her job?...what if there is an occurrence of sickness
in the family that needs hospitalization and lifetime medication?...what if
other tragedies occur such as fire?....is there enough money stashed for those
unexpected events?
Unlike in America where unemployment
assistance is provided, as well as, medicines and hospitalization, in the
Philippines, the citizens are left on their own with the “help” of
insignificant “benefit” from “assistance programs”. This glaring situation is
reason enough for the average Filipinos to really think ahead and be prepared
in case something bad happens. Unfortunately, this does not happen.
Both “senses of urgency and anticipation”
are affected by time if the latter is not given due consideration. For
instance, fresh graduates with honors arrogantly presume that their medals can
guarantee their being hired even if they arrive late for a job interview that
puts them at the end of the line. The arrogant and presumptuous bemedalled
graduates eventually end their quest as they get sidetracked by their
mentally-averaged counterparts, though, “early birds” at the site, and who get
slated for trainings after being hired. The philosophy behind a job application
is: being early for interview shows an unquestionable interest for the job.
Along this line, some travelers do not consider leaving home at the earliest
possible time in anticipation of “unexpected heavy traffic” due to “unexpected
accident” that could result to their missing a flight or important appointment.
Those mentioned are just some of the
instances that show, we cannot control everything in our life, just because as
others would philosophically say, “we are the captain of ourselves”.
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