neighbours
Priorities have changed…
I found myself googling the term “davao
My goodness! How can I ever afford a 2M house and
lot, 200 sq m located along bo. Pampanga? Or yes, the 5M h&l along
buhangin? I know for sure, I don’t have the money for it. Mentally computing to
resell my current assets, it’s still so short, bisag apil pa lawas, ma hurt
rako kung hangyuon pa! HAHA
My biggest goal to date is to buy a property,
preferably just near downtown. I would love to have a residence maybe in el
rio, hillside, fortune and those familiar subdivisions just near our current
place.
I’d die working and I still would not be able to
afford 12M H&L in Insular, Woodridge or Robinsons.
It would be too much of a dream to own a place in those exclusive subd. Don’t get
me wrong; as much as I’d want to live in any of those, I know it’s not the
reality for me. not YET.
My priority is to move out from our village. Why,
because I feel that it’s too crowded and yes, my taste has changed. I want a
more peaceful, stable and controlled environment. Although I’ve lived there all
my life, I really don’t think it’s apt for my future kids to live in such place
with the conditions and feeds that I am currently getting from folks.
The only thing that I love about our community is
my childhood friends. Those people who saw my evolution during the sip-onon
days haha. I really treasure my neighbors who are knitted together and feels
like family.
I remember when Christmas is coming, we’d be busy fixing
up our tansans and alambre, drum or gallon as our instruments and we’d sing our
hearts out even if it meant being told, “wala pay pasko!” haha
I love the fact that I have experience that and so
many fun memories all because… I live there.
BUT as I live then… I also knew facts: I knew neighbours
who have nothing to eat or are battered or are drug users. I saw the rugged
side of life as children would run everywhere with thin limbs and big heads, malnutrition.
I saw how hard life is hearing stories about not having steady income and
accepting labada or children not being able to study because of financial
constraints. I saw brothers fighting, couples bickering and people simply,
tambay.
I saw life on a raw medium. I saw reality.
While I attended private schools and been with
friends and classmates who are in the upper side, I began to compare the two
realities.
I saw my neighbour struggling to make the ends’
meet while I saw my classmate struggling to bring the family back together. I
saw my neighbour taking up odd jobs, construction and stuff while I saw my
classmate absent for the class but present in Jacinto in her yosi session. I
saw my neighbour’s lack of something and my classmate’s perhaps, lack of
someone. I cannot weigh the extent of their difficulties.
So then, I realized both realities cannot be
quantified. I saw how the two realities are different but the same. I mean, most
people do struggle but the degree and aspect differs from each other.
While I get that the community that I grew up in is
far from ideal, I am thankful because I have learned at an early age that my
eyes should be open.
I just can’t be someone who’s make pakawala because
my parents can financially support or because I have this or that. NO. Far from
it. At an early age, I saw the cause and effect relationship of life.
What happens when I don’t study well? What happens
when I marry young? What happens if I don’t get a job? The answers are given, I’ll
look around and I can enumerate perfectly.
The more I mature, the more I desire for a
community of my own too. A new home for a new life. I would love to have a say
on my own place, own furniture, own space. And as pride would suggest, I really
want it to come from my OWN POCKET. It’s something that I would be really
proud. Hehe
I hope. I wish and I pray. Soon. Soon.
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