Best Posts in Forum: Dumaguete City

Way out of order dude,that sort of comment will not be tollerated on this forum.

 

You are supposed to honk your horn.

Horns are as important as headlights and turn signals in this country. Many times I have come up on some idiot looking the wrong direction preparing to cross the road. I tap the horn to get their attention pointed in the right direction. I tap the horn to let people know my intention to overtake them. I also tap the horn when there are large vehicles parked close to (or on) the roadway that I can't see the what's happening in front of them to give warning to any pedestrian or drivers that may be in their blind spot preparing to do something stupid (like merge/cross traffic without looking).

 

Oh my! What breaking news!

I take it you didn't do your research prior to making the trip or followed this forum. Your OP here is basically just copypasta of every single complaint that has been made on this forum since it was created.

I hope you didn't just read the Forbes article and say to yourself, "Gee whiz, I'll pack up my things and move to Dumaguete ASAP!"

It seems you have moved around the country quite a bit. You might just be best served with moving on to another city. I can assure you that the exact same complaints made previously here made little to no change to the way businesses operate or how traffic flows in the city. If you want to rant, well, go right ahead. Most of the members here have done so to relieve a bit of stress that living in Dumaguete will almost certainly bring. However, it is best to avoid making sweeping accusations against the local and expat communities. Chances are that most people are just as annoyed with it as you are.

 

hmmm,, such a huge and complicated problem. To understand maybe where I am coming from let me explain. I am an animal lover, I am not ashamed to admit that. If some one calls me a "bleeding heart liberal" for that, whatever ! I believe in compassion and standing up and helping any creature that cannot stand up and defend themselves. That extends to dogs, cats other animals as well as to abused kids and women, or a weak geek being picked on by a schoolyard bully. That does not make me a hero or a saint, but it does allow me to look in the mirror each morning and be proud of who I am. I am a meat eater and not a vegetarian. You will never find me holding a sign at a PETA rally whining about the cow,pig or chicken that was killed to put food on the plates of me and my family. I have personally killed animals for my food, but done so in the most humane way possible with respect for the animal I was killing. I have killed animals to put them out of their misery of suffering which they had no hope of recovering from. I did that with sadness every time. I have not had to, but would have no issue killing a coyote if I was a farmer and that coyote was killing my livestock, nor would I have a problem shooting a bear or mountain lion that came at me in the bush.

However, I would never shoot a stray dog on the street because he just happened to be a nuisance to me! Me, with the power of a gun in my hand looking down the sights at a defenseless creature whose only crimes were having been born into a life within a country whose people do not give a crap about animals, and that he might have irritated me. That would not make me a man, in my eyes or in the eyes of anyone I respect.

Now, where of course it gets very very complicated. We do live in the Philippines. A country that hardly shares my compassion for living creatures. The realities here are completely different than what I had grown up naively believing were consistent the world over. As much as I love Filipinos, the country and their culture in many ways, this issue is one I have real problems with. Everyday I will see dozens of cats and dogs, as well as children that are living a life of misery, and the people in this country do not care, nor will they help. The misery and need is so vast and the ability to make a difference is so small. Anything I have attempted to do had little effect and seems most often pointless.

Can this problem of stray dogs be solved? Not by the guy who has volunteered to shoot them, and not by an endless series of laws that will not be implemented. Only way it will be solved is by a complete change in the Filipino Psyche allowing them to figure out a compassionate and effective way to deal with the problem and then the will and efficiency to follow up. Maybe one day that will happen, but I am not naive enough to believe it will be in my lifetime.

What can I do? Sadly not much. I can however not allow myself to lose my compassion, nor become like the people who I feel have "got it wrong". I can and hopefully always will allow my actions to be guided by my compassion. I will not allow my heart to become dark, just because it seems the easy thing to do.

Gord