EDITORIAL - Let the adults be the good examples

Speaking during the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s Kalinga at Inisyatiba para sa Malinis na Bayan (Kalinisan) clean-up last week in San Pedro, Laguna, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said cleanliness should be taught to children at home.

"Ang kalinisan ay isang aspeto na sinisimulan sa mga bata pa lang. 'Yung mga bata, sabihan natin sila na huwag magtapon. Let's make this a way of life… Nagsisimula sa barangay, sa ating lahat. Magtulungan tayo, let's make a difference,” Abalos said.

We cannot agree more, children should learn about cleanliness at home from their own parents. But there is something else than should be done too.

We have said before that we Filipinos have this “culture of uncleanliness” when it comes to our environment. Most of us just don’t give a damn where our trash ends up and so we just discard food wrappers, water bottles, cigarette butts, plastic bags, among other trash, wherever we see fit.

Just take a walk in any major thoroughfare in Cebu City or any metropolis in the Philippines for that matter and you will see what we mean; trash is everywhere because people just discard them anywhere.

And this attitude has persisted in Filipinos for generations. We only need to look at how many decades of trash have been trapped in our rivers to see this.

We think we know where this “dirty attitude” comes from: young Filipinos saw adults litter indiscriminately and think it is all right for them to follow suit. Then they themselves grew up to be adults with the same mindset and had children of their own.

So what was that thing that should be done? Adults should set the good example for their kids.

Like we said in an earlier editorial, no amount of pontificating by teachers, parents, or any adults for that matter will work on kids if they are seen doing the opposite of what they preach.

Yes, cleanliness must be taught at home, and parents must set the example.