| Saturday, May 13, 2006 |
| Sunshine through the rain(bow...) |
Its a rainy saturday morning, and where am i? in the office blogging the day away. Hooray! what a way to brighten my day. (am i slowly turning into a blog freak...???)
I woke up at 7.15 in the morning and dragged myself out of the comforts of my bed with the torn cushion and the foam that would have spilled out, if not for the bed sheets holding them in. I fixed up my room a little, took a bath and dressed up. I chose a pair of jeans, which I wore the day before; a plain red shirt with an unstitched sleeve; a white hooded sweater that had discolored already; white socks with a hole on one; and a pair of white sneakers that I haven't cleaned since the day I bought it. As I was dressing up, I thought to myself, Eto na naman? Don't I have any other clothes left? poor me. I haven't shopped in a really long time.
I don't think much about what I wear anymore. I missed the old days when I would really carefully pick out what I'm going to wear for the coming week, iron them and line them up in my closet, in the order that I would wear them. I'd make sure that every article on my body, including bag and accessories were coordinated. Now, I think about what I'll wear while drying myself off after a bath and then I just take what clothes are available. I wear only one bag on all occasions, a really handy pink / orange / white sling bag that I got from Jakarta on my last trip there. I wear that bag when I go to the movies, to the beach, to attend a graduation, and to work.
Well anyway, so I prepared my lunch (leftover rice and tortang talong!!! mabuhay si victor for cooking this last night!!!) and then left the house. I rode a tricycle to the Antipolo - Ayala FX terminal in Bayan. I think I'm going to make this my permanent morning route. It's a few pesos more expensive than my old route, but the change of scenery is doing me good. I don't know if there is a jeep going from Antipolo to Ayala, cause that might be cheaper. But even if there is, I wouldn't ride it anyway. Mausukan pa ako.
It was raining a bit outside, and occasionally, droplets of water would hit me in the face. Ano ba yan? But then I saw the tricycle driver, wearing only a thin, sleeveless white shirt and a pair of black shorts, with nothing else to protect his body from the rain but the tricycle roof and a sheet of plastic running across the handles of his motorcycle. Instantly, I was grateful for my discolored white sweater that kept me from getting cold, with the hood that at least minimized the drops of rain that went to my face.
I got to the FX terminal and fortunately didn't have to wait long before the FX filled up. En route to the office, we passed by a wet market and a long road banked by fields or grass, squatters' patched up houses and then a river, which reminded me of going to the strawberry fields in Baguio. Along the way, I saw three small boys, the oldest being maybe around 12 years old, driving a Pedi cab, presumably to deliver something. The Pedi cab didn't have any thing to cover it at all, so the boys were so wet with the rain. The time I caught the little boy's face, I thought he was crying, because his face was twisted and he looked like he was straining from the weight of the Pedi cab. A little further off, I saw a lone metro aide, wearing a raincoat, clearing the road gutters of trash. And here I was, sitting snugly in the comfortable FX, protected from the cold, no rain on my face and feet, and occasionally even nodding off to sleep. And I still had the audacity to complain about working on a rainy Saturday morning. I wondered if they too, like me, had to drag themselves out of their beds that morning.
Sometimes, I feel bad about having more than most people, even if what I have is not what majority would call a luxury. Luxury for me is riding an FX instead of a jeepney. Luxury for me are used, unironed, unstitched, discolored clothing, dirty shoes and one bag. Luxury for me is a messy, dirty room with torn cushions for a bed. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I have so many more luxuries in life I haven't even begun to mention. Luxuries I would forever feel guilty about because they remind me of those who don't have these luxuries.
I would have cried if I thought it would do me or those people I saw good. But my tears won't keep them from the rain and the cold. My carrying this guilt and feeling bad for them certainly won't make their lives any better.
But I tell you what, THEY certainly made MY life better. Seeing them reminded me again of my purpose and gave direction to my life. Incidentally, I am handling an event on corporate social responsibility, which tackles issues like social development, poverty, etc. I think I just found the reason why I should love my job. Now I know what I really am supposed to do. |
posted by Tami @ 12:26 PM
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