An Independence Day post. I got this from http://leiron.livejournal.com/
It means working hard for six months
at minimum wage
only for your contract to end
and you’ll then be left to fend off the pangs of poverty.
It means going to school every single day
to learn that grades are what truly matter
and that the best paying jobs
hardly hire you for good character.
It means having to stop college
because your father is sick
and no one’s putting food on the table.
Ah well. So much for being a doctor.
There’s a call center agency down the street though…
It means squeezing into what used to be an army jeep
and to what is now an economic threat
extended for mass transport
with ten people cramming spaces
all to get somewhere with their lives.
It means going to mass every Sunday
and memorizing prayers and festivals
in hopes that the Almighty would see your faith
and alleviate you from your third-world pains.
It means having to walk with the jingle-jangle of coins
in your pocket.
It means seeing movies before they even show.
And if you don’t know what that means
get out of this country.
It means texting people to keep in touch with them
but only if you’re in the same network
and greeting everyone on your contacts list
“Good night!”
Just because you’re on unlimited.
It means living life to the fullest
in the streets
eating fishballs, riding trikes, window shopping, sitting at the fountains.
It means walking to the provincial health center
4 kilometers away
carrying your ailing brother who’s dying from typhoid fever.
It means driving under the most formidable force of nature;
Filipino drivers.
Enough Said.
It means going to the only drug store
in the world
that sells potato chips, diapers, deodorants and perfumes.
It means having to settle for second best
buying fake goods from Divisoria, repeating the adage
that “It’ll look orig when I use it”.
It means complaining about the rising prices of commodities
about how the government’s imprudence and poverty
but buying a new cellphone every month.
It means lounging around the sari-sari store
all day
drinking beer
topless
belly exposed.
Never thinking that if you spent that time working
you could buy two beers instead of one.
It means watching what passes off as news,
when all you see is nothing but gossip;
murders, rapes, that OFW who gets kidnapped,
while the real things that are changing the way you live
are hidden under the guile of politics.
It means being multilingual
where some languages have slang
you get languages within a language;
tadbaliks, bisaya, gay lingo.
It means giving a damn about what’s happening
today
but never working to do what we can to fix
our children’s tomorrow.
It means standing up
stopping whatever your doing
putting your right hand over your chest
and singing the national anthem.
Unless you’re a ditz, that is.
It means marching into the streets
whose names resonate with freedom;
Mendiola, Don Chino Roces, EDSA
placard and megaphone in hand.
It means looking back at the television
that you promised to ignore
when you hear the magic words;
Marcos, EDSA, People Power, Sexy, Raid, Shabu, Men’s Magazine, Patay, Gahasa, Rally.
It means going to rallies
rallies that blur the distinction
between revolutions
and street parties.
It means falling in love
in the most beautiful and dangerous way
a painting so beautiful no Renaissance artist
could ever hope to capture in canvas.
It means taking care of your old parents
no matter what
when most people would leave theirs in senior homes.
It means loving your country
the way a mother loves her drug-addicted son
never giving up hope that one day
rehab may actually work.
Oh well.
*parinig*
