of pigs and boys

At three o'clock in the afternoon today, I swore to myself that any morsel of belief I had that chivalry was still alive went down the drain.

Why such a hasty conclusion? Blame it on these two chauvinist pigs that kept giving me nasty glances and hoot calls over their shoulders as I was walking home from school. Have these boys (for they do not deserve to be called 'men') no decency? Have they no respect? I was severely appalled by their behavior, and if I had my way, I would've come after them with a Swiss knife. It's a good thing that I didn't because one, I lost said Swiss knife in my dad's car sometime ago, two, I'm not exactly one for violence, and three, as much as I hate to admit it, I was outnumbered: two pig heads against one girl. Go figure.

It didn't help much with my disposition that it had started to rain, and I was without an umbrella. I'd tried calling my kuya for a ride, but no one would pick up. I had no choice but to brave the rain. But then, a stranger came up to me with an umbrella, and asked me where I was headed. Instinct told me to flee; my mum didn't drill into my head 'never talk to strangers' for nothing. But it was raining, and he was offering, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and give him the name of my subdivision.

Turned out, he was my neighbor (one that I had never met before nor seen around the village), and I visibly relaxed. We went on the ten-minute walk talking in Tagalog (don't look at me, he started it), and though it was kind of awkward, I did feel that this was Bro's way of telling me that not all guys were pigs. My guy classmates may be rowdy, but they're sweet. And Mark, the boy with the umbrella, was especially nice. Looks like you guys have redeemed yourselves, huh?

To the douche bags of the world who have ever disrespected or hit on girls, consider yourselves lucky. Next time around, you won't have such luxury anymore. To those decent guys, keep up the good work. This world definitely needs more of you. And to Mr-stranger-neighbor-umbrella-dude-named-Mark, thank you. My mom may have scolded me when I got home for not answering my phone, and my brother is probably royally pissed at me because I left him waiting back there when he was supposed to pick me up, but at least you saved me from more douches and pneumonia. I owe you one.

So chivalry isn't dead after all, but then again, it is still hanging on a thread there, but whatever. Suddenly, the world is right again.