October 24, 2011.
A manic Monday for me. I worked for 8 hours again.
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I started my 8 o'clock class by 'awarding' my student. I didn't give her an award for having an impressive output in writing, but rather I was taken aback by her lack of simple vocabulary and her lousy grammar construction. Then there went my non-stop claptrap.Well, yes, I forgot once again the reason why she's studying with me. I was supposed to be kind to her. Spoonfeeding is not my biz nonetheless. I go for inductive learning. Discover what's hidden. Discover the grammar structure and its purpose.
My 8 am class seems like a 4pm session. Only to my surprise that I know it's just 9 am and I still have 7 more hours to bear. Poor Leemuel.
My day ended with a writing class too. For the record, It's my first time in 6 years of ESL teaching to have 5 hours of writing classes in one day. Brain drain. From transposing dangling modifiers, correcting punctuation marks, strike off this, strike off that...,. Pahlllesseeee... but then again I come to think, I am a teacher. I should transfer the skills I have. Not a hard job, isn't it? Think again darling.
Around 5:30pm, as planned, I was on Baby Girl's high barber's chair waiting to have her cut my hair. After some trimming she did, voalah~! My hair was short again.
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| this is BB Girl |
A little hungry and tired, Matmat, Jayn and I decided to eat something. As usual, we didn't argue that much for we complement each other when it comes to food. We eat almost anything. LOL. We ended up ordering 'Batchoy' in Deco's. Matmat got 'special' while Jayn and I had 'Extra Super'.
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| This is how we fill our hunger~ |
After some time, while we were enjoying our food, Jayn looked outside. With the foodshop walled in glass panels, we could clearly see passersby along the sidewalk.
What did she see?
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| How could you eat well when the scene outside where you eat is this? |
. A young boy. Half-naked, with sun-baked skin and with hair clustering with dirt, sitting on the sidewalk with a rather young baby boy wrapped in his arms. "Look!", Jayn muttered. I and Matmat also looked at them. We choked as the young boy looked at us with his eyes similar with those of a puppy coaxing his master to feed him.
There was silence. From our usual 'dinamuhal' (squabbles) , we were silenced by what we saw. We realized that while we were busy filling our stomachs, there, outside, a meter away from us, behind the glass wall, two young angels were starving. We felt uncomfortable. We had no magic nonetheless. We just couldn't recite a spell that could make a banquet appear in front of the two wretched innocents. We couldn't do anything but tell each other how bad we felt. A few minutes later, one of the women who were sitting adjacent to our table went outside carrying two pieces of 'pan de sal' in a plastic bag and gave them to the poor children who athirst for something to eat. Our hearts, in our silence and in our shared sentiments, salved from guilt. At least, there was someone who tried. After a few moments, an older man with his son sitting at the back of our table, called a waiter and asked him to bring the two boys a bowlful of 'Batchoy' which was supposed to be their take home delight. We felt relieved again. We felt sad nonetheless. Jayn said, "If only we had heaps of money." With her tears welling in her eyes, she sighed. Yes, "If only we had lots of money, we wouldn't be just looking at them." I echoed.
In the middle of discussing about life miseries, two nuns who were crossing the street caught our attention. As they were approaching to the spot where the too pitiful boys loomed while feeding themselves with the food given to them, the three of us said, "Let's see how those nuns react when they see the boys."
Yes, the nuns were dressed in their 'casual' attire perhaps, they were not wearing the usual habit and a wimple... (because they didn't look like penguins) They were just wearing a shift dress in gray color and a veil. they were off for shopping perhaps.
--------- THEY IGNORED WHAT THEY SAW ----------
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| wHY not point it on your forehead?! |
They almost stepped on them. They merely looked at them and marched their way on. In our minds we said "mga wala huya:" [shameless]. How could they just ignore those boys?
I had nothing against nuns, priests or any religious leaders, but for what we saw, a clear picture of hypocrisy slapped my soft face. Those people would usually talk about helping others, sacrificing for others, talking about selflessness. They might have turned their backs on the worldly passion, yet they have catapulted themselves into the pillar of lip service. I am not generalizing them. I can never quantify who really FOLLOW their calling and who are those who just stay in the convent for pleasure and be freed from household and family burdens. Hay nakow~~~~~~~ [ that's why i can never blame anyone who never believes in true religion] pweh!
With what we witnessed, the three of us talked about the reasons why there are a lot of Filipino children left suffering. Who is to blame? The parents? For sure. They have the biggest contribution to the plight of their families. Poor families creating poorer families. Unless at least one or two of the family members exercise effort to meliorate the quality of their living, they'll all die poor, and certainly they're just guilty.
With the RH Bill as one of the pressing issues in the country, I guess it's high time a solid decision be made by the concerned authorities to somehow answer this problem the country is facing.
What is RH Bill for anyway? Many Filipinos don’t give a damn regarding the issue mainly because anyone can easily get contraceptives from your nearest 7-11, Watson's or Mercury Drug store. That's how they understand this. RH Bill is all about contraceptives they say. Come on! This is to promote information on and access to both natural and modern family planning methods, which are medically safe and legally permissible. It assures an enabling environment where women and couples have the freedom of informed choice on the mode of family planning they want to adopt based on their needs, personal convictions and religious beliefs.
>HAVE PITY ON YOUR CHILDREN. BE RESPONSIBLE.
I WOULD HATE TO SEE WHAT I SAW. PLEASE.
good night~!
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