VIRAL: ‘Trese’ Creator Reminds Everyone About Teaching ‘Children Manners and Respect for Elders’

If you’ve survived school and life in general in pre-Google and pre-Facebook era, I strongly feel you know what hard work means.

With the advent of technology (internet and smartphones and such), we have a plethora of information at our fingertips. Unlike before when people had to go to libraries and manually write notes on paper, now all we have to do is click, click, hover, click, and read. We don’t even have to write anymore at times. We can just take a picture of the blackboard or the notebook of our most diligent classmate.

Has this made us lazy?

Sadly, it has, to some if not the majority of us.

Not only laziness, what’s with all the sense of entitlement? We may need to take things down a notch.

Hence, at times we need to be reminded. I hope the reminder is not too late that it comes like a slap on the face or a rock thrown towards you.

Shouldn’t we always try to be nice?

In this regard, Budjette Tan, the genius behind the crime/horror komiks “Trese,” posted the following story on Facebook.

Dear parents, please teach your children manners and to respect their elders.

Dear teachers, please teach your students how to properly write correspondence letters when reaching out to resource people for their assignment / project / thesis. And please teach them to be nice, courteous, and patient when waiting for a reply.

Dear Lazy Students, we are not here to do you assignments for you. (I still remember the student who sent me 20 questions and the first question was “What is the history of Philippine komiks?).

Below is a very recent example of a Lazy and Ill-Mannered Student. From his profile pic, he looked like he was only in Grade 4 or 5. Here’s a transcript of my chat with the boy whom we shall just call “AKID”:

Budjette reminded everyone – parents, teachers, students – about good manners and respect. He also called for learning how to properly and respectfully write correspondence letters. Moreover, he reminded students that assignments are your own responsibility and not the resource person’s.

He proceeded with a transcript of their correspondence.

AKID: pahingi nga po ng buod ng trese isyu 5

BUDJETTE: Hi AKID, Why do you need TRESE ISYU 5? Is it your assignment? It should be part of your workbook/textbook.

AKID: assignment po. tagalog summary po

BUDJETTE: But you already read the story, yes?

AKID: yes, pero diko makuha yung summary

BUDJETTE: Then you have to write the summary yourself. If I give you the summary, then I would end up writing your assignment, yes? 🙂

AKID: no i cant write in my self

BUDJETTE: Tell me… did you like the story?

AKID: help me
AKID: yes i like it give me the summary

BUDJETTE: Why did you like the story?

AKID: because this is beautiful and im learn

BUDJETTE: Ano ang naaalala mo sa kwento?

AKID: pwede naman pala magtagalog ehhh
AKID: yung duwende na katulong na pumatay kay heater

BUDJETTE: I’m more comfortable writing / talking in English. TRESE was originally written in English 🙂

BUDJETTE: Sino ang bida ng kwento?

AKID: si alexandra trese

BUDJETTE: If you can answer these three questions, you’ll have your summary of the story:
1. Sino ang bida ng kwento?
2. Ano ang problema na dapat masagot ni Trese?
3. Paano niya nalaman kung sino ang pumatay sa dalaga?

Ang sagot sa mga tanong na yan ang magiging buod sa kwento. Good luck!

AKID: pakisagot na po

BUDJETTE: Sorry, AKID. You have to answer this yourself. I won’t be helping you learn if I give you all the answers. Good luck with school 🙂

AKID: tang ina

AKID: sungit

BUDJETTE: Hi AKID, matino kong sinasagot ang mga tanong mo. Hindi tama na minumura mo ako. Tinutulungan kitang matuto kung paano gumawa ng buod.

AKID: oi

AKID: ok (followed by three cactus emojis)

To be fair, not all letters/chats/correspondence are like this one. Budjette posted towards the end a heartwarming note he received.

“Magandang hapon Sir Budjette. Hindi nyo po ako kilala at baka normal na po sa inyo ang nakakatanggap ng gantong pagbati, ganun pa man, gusto ko pong sabihin na maraming salamat sa mga obra na gawa mo at ng ibang artist na nakakasama mo po. Noong una wala akong hilig sa kahit anong gawang pilipino, pero mula ng naipakilala sakin ang Trese, binago nito ang pananaw ko sa pinoy komiks at di ko inakala na maaadik ako dito at sa tema ng istorya nito. Maraming salamat po! God bless!”

The post went viral. As of posting, it has ~2.9K Reactions and has been shared 1K++ times.

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