Saturday, February 14, 2009

After all the holidays..

Quack, I didn't realize that I have not updated this site until my cousin said so...  hmmm, now I don't know what to say and just like any aspiring writer I have a material everyday. I just didn't write it down.

A lot of events has transpired. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Valentines day, and birthdays of people who are dear to me.

Last week, with only a few hours of sleep I grudgingly got out of bed, showered, dressed slowly, called the cab and off to work I went. The cabbie was a cheerful, heavyset Mexican with his first born daughter in Freshman year in college. She just returned from a weeklong trip to Catalina Island.  When complimented about his good parenting, he said he believes in God and that's the answer.  Of course I had to ask if he is a Catholic, symbolic logic right, which to my dismay he said no.  He said that he has a very strong relationship with God and that a man with religion prays hard the whole day, beats his wife and does not work to support his family. 

I must admit we  both had blinders, just like you and me.  All these preconceived ideas has no purpose nor meaning.  Again and again I hear about it in the Gospel, in the homily, and it was brought home by the moral ethics lecture in RCIA. He said, "You have to see me, to love me."  Political correctness is sometimes not the answer to all our differences. In our effort not to hurt we tend to ignore and therefore unable to address the issue.

But let me not distract you from all that musings, last week a friend moved to a new apartment, a group of us helped her or rather I watched them move, I cooked and provided company, that's what I am good for hah!

Anyway, my main point of the story is that I am so pleased that my friends and friends of friends were there to help that it made the task easier.  In the Philippines, there is this thing called "Bayanihan", one of a Filipino characteristic, where neighbors help each other to complete the task.  I believe this started when folks are into farming.  So harvesting is completed easily when it is a collective effort.  See the image here showing a group people moving a house.

3 comments:

Theresa said...

that is a cool picture!

moni cousinhood said...

Oh la la...I remember that almost-blurred image of your ancestral home 40 years ago being moved from its original place to a more strategic site, with all the sweating and shouting men underneath, that is, carrying the whole house with your youngest brother aboard! Oh....memories...

moni cousinhood said...

or...was it really 40 years? Or I am...well, past 40 actually...but I do think it's ages ago