02.28.08 kulturnatib

Failure

Nobody likes a failure. I don't. Especially when it is somebody I see in the mirror every morning. Yet, I draw some consolation from the fact that not all mirrors are the same. Some mirrors are better than others.

A failure reflected in one mirror could be more acceptable when reflected in other mirrors. Mostly because the mirrors are different. And, that is discounting circus or deliberately distorted mirrors.

Let me explain.

I hold a Philippine driver's license. As far as that is concerned, in Philippine mirrors, I am a success. Yet, I realize that this success is informed by the fact that I do not know if anybody really is or, in fact, can be a failure in the Philippines when it comes to obtaining a driver's license.

This, despite the fact that, like most everywhere in the world where obtaining such a license is governed by a process of determining suitability, aptitude, knowledge and skill at operating a vehicle for which the license then accords certain rights and responsibilities for vehicular operation in roads.

This process, in most cases, involve a two step determination; a written examination and another one, if the previous is successfully completed, that determines if theoretical or 'head' knowledge is applied into actual practice. A road test, in other words.

This two-step test, taken at its most basic definition, always involves the possibility of failure. Failure is, therefore, an inevitable or inseparable possibility in this equation.

In the Philippines, however, as far as obtaining a driver's license is concerned, failure is not an option. Because other options are readily available -- and often as readily accessed or sought after -- that can miraculously turn a failure into a success or that erases the difference between failure and success even before any determination is conducted. Often, such determination is done away with entirely.

In Canada my Philippine driver's license is good only for 90 days. After which, if I still want to drive legally, I must exchange it for one that is legal tender for roads here. This exchange involves the same determination that I went through, or should have gone through to obtain that Philippine license.

Unfortunately what is simply fact here is just as simply fiction in the Philippines where, as has been said often, laws are merely a suggestion, none of which are more obeyed than with traffic laws.

Fortunately, here, there are a wealth of resources for learning just what the traffic laws and regulations are which are embodied, most immediately, in traffic signs and signals.

It is even possible to take a 'rehearsal' test in the internet through the site of the driver's license regulatory authority. And that turned out to be not very different from the actual test which is done through a computer terminal which one schedules ahead of time and one must make sure to be on time to take.

I passed this test. But, not the road test.

I made an infraction that would ordinarily have earned me a citation, a fine and an entry on my driving history record that would have a bearing on my obtaining or being denied a renewal of my license in the future.

The infraction was serious enough that there was no possibility of an appeal, just as a police officer here would not be appealed to. So, I did not even try.

I take consolation in the fact that the system here will just as surely fail you as pass you depending on how you do simply by the rules of this system. Thus, even failure has its honor. The honor of simply going by the rules.