Ika 5 ng Agosto 2008

I was up and about early today due to my commitment. My son has been cooperative the past few days with some admonition on my incessant shouting. Difficult as it may be at times, I tried my best to heed my son's appeal. I had to admit though that my son who is showing uncharacteristic precociousness is the more reasonable person in this case. He must be up to something......... In the weekend, he put me in my proper place as I kept on shouting for him to switch the TV's channel while I was grooming our dogs in the garden which he did and I failed to realize until he pointed it out. I had to offer him chocolates as reparation for my transgressions.

Well, I really have big plans for today and the rest of the week. Luckily, a tricycle was in sight minutes after I stepped out of the house. A few meters away, an elderly lady neighbor flagged the same tricycle. My elderly lady neighbor, a retired teacher, is MIL's new kachikahan or small talk engager in our small village when MIL does her jogging or more like walking. Shamefully, I don't know my neighbor's name because I just give her an acknowledgment or greet her every time I pass by their house or respond to her with a po or opo when she is outside sweeping fallen leaves or tending to her grandchildren. More shamefully, she knows my name. That is no problem though because I need not address her by her name for as long as I use the compulsory po and opo in my sentences when i talk to her. Thank God for our vaunted Filipino culture.

The 10-minute or so ride was more like a day of conversation with my elderly neighbor as I would learn about her chika with MIL who is also a retired teacher. That makes a common bond between them. She would tell me that MIL would always ask her where she was in case MIL couldn't find her in front of their house. I would learn that she's been to Canada and do not desire to go back there because of the cold weather. She also has several relatives and balae (I would clarify what this means) or parents of children-in-laws abroad. She would tell me her balae sometimes lament the fact that they have been made as caretaker of household and nannies of grandchildren or caregiver to other elders. Sad but true. She continued that they might as well go back home if they don't want to be placed in foster homes. I hardly contributed to the conversation as I defer to the elderly in such situations. She was not done talking when I had to get off. I paid both our fares. She was reluctant but I told her I am the one with a job..... not really a false sense of generosity but just another Filipino characteristic. She yielded, thanked me and said goodbye.

I rode a waiting van and started reading my book. As I was just getting started, an elderly gentleman, a casual acquaintance that hubby knows from his network, sat beside me. I put down my book. Again, I don't know his name but I know that he is a decent man who is also a lay minister in the Greenbelt Parish. He knows hubby because he works for a Japanese organization which deals with hubby's company, a Japanese firm. Our conversation started with family life as our children are about the same age. He married late and has a daughter who is a college freshman. I also have a daughter in college. Compared to my earlier talk with my elderly neighbor, our talk was two-way and spontaneous. Then we shifted focus to his service for his ministry......... and then politics particularly GMA's recent cabinet appointments particularly of Tito Sotto, Ralph Recto, and Mark Lapid. I asked him what his Japanese employers and clients think about the current situation. As expected, they are not too happy with our unstable policies and political noise. At some point, he would tell me that I should probably go back to reading as my book was just on my lap. I continued talking to him because he was quite an engaging conversationalist. He got off ahead of me and we waved each other goodbye.

After talking with two elderly persons for which I had to trade reading my book for my classes tonight, I figured that life and its lessons are better learned from people who have been there long before me. Then again, my son is also figuring out prominently in my learning process; teaching me values that I should be teaching him. So today, wisdom transcended generations as I would learn from both the young and the old.

PS: Kagabi habang nakasakay sa jeep, dumaan ito sa isang lugar na dinadaanan ko tuwing umaga. Napansin ko ang isang matandang puno na nakatayo sa gitna ng konkretong bangketa. Araw-araw ko dinadaanan tong punong to pero nagyon ko lang napansin ang puno na maraming bitak na dulot marahil ng mga elemento ng kalikasan. Sa umaga na halos masalubong ko ito, isa lang itong sagabal sa akin dinaraanan. Pero kagabi, parang ibang anyo ng puno ang nakita ko sa kinaroroonan ko. Kung lalayo pa ako at makikita ang kabuoan ng punong ito, marahil ibang pananaw ang mabubuo sa aking isipan. Naisip ko rin na sa buhay siguro kelangan, lumayo tayo sa isang sitwasyon para maunawaan mabuti ang mga bagay bagay.