Keep Right

Yep. That's what the sign said in my high school. And the sign was everywhere too. Not just in the corridors, it was on the walls of staircases, in the cafeteria, even in the library.

And now, here I am, working in the US, and people don't seem to have the same rule of thumb.

And I thought that the KEEP RIGHT rule was rule of thumb here too, because, hey, everyone drives on the right side of the road, right?

I go down to take my yosi break (doot-di-doot-di-doo), I turn right at a corner, and there I am, face to face with a tall african-american, who just turned left on the same corner. I mutter 'excuse me', he mutters 'sorry' and we do a little shuffle, coz I try to move right and he moves to his left. I then move left (not easy, mind you), and he moves to his right too. In my head, I go "What the ^@$#!!!!"

And so I think, maybe it's just a general rule in my country. Just like it's a general rule int he US nto to honk your horn unless absolutely necessary (and it's not the same way in Manila, believe you me). But I may be wrong. I come from a third-world country called the Philippines, and that's my excuse.

They should put that rule down somewhere in US books. Maybe it'll end up preventing a war. Or maybe just prevent people from making their own lines in the cafeteria.

Hey, it won't cure AIDS, but when you read KEEP RIGHT, you hope people remember that and try to dig deeper and see why it's such a good rule to have in your life.

"Okay, Judge, here's the deal. This is my first offense, and I have always managed to KEEP RIGHT before. Gimme a chance will ya?"

Might work, you think?

Well, maybe you're right. It might not work when you're talking about murder or millions of dollars. But what the heck, i'd give it a try if a policeman pulls me over.

Doot-di-doot-di-doo.