Frankly, I was out enjoying the holidays – the food, the shopping, the time spent with loved ones, catching up on my favorite stand up artists like Russell Peters and George Carlin – as well as checking out newer artists such as Trevor Noah, Maz Jobrani, and Bill Burr.
I was aso checking out for good buys. But apparently, I felt I already had all I needed to be comfortable – so there was no pressure for me to get new stuff. I didn’t care about the new Iphone either – my android phone was doing just fine. Sure the Iphone and the new Samsung phones had nice camera lenses – but by golly… I already have my Nikon DSLR for taking pictures.
Oh and by the way, I was able to check off one of the items in my bucket list – watching the Blue Man group live at Universal Studios Orlando. It was an audiovisual orgasm as far as I am concered. The music was riveting, the lights were captivating, the act was definitely not a tacky ABS-CBN show that headlines the likes of Ai Ai de las Alas.
On the first week of December, I was already up and about showing a guest from Mindanao around. She was on this study tour for journalists and her last leg was in Tampa. She happened to be a friend of a friend. To make a long story short – I gave her a whirlwind tour of Central Florida – to include the Salvador Dali museum in Tampa, Downtown Disney and Universal City Walk in Orlando, and the Ocean Walk in Daytona beach. The irony of it all is that when she returns to the Philippines she will be receiving a Ninoy Aquino award in Journalism – yeah gawds… am puking to death.
I was able to take time off by the third and last week of December so there was ample time to shop stuff for Christmas and the new year. Bought durian, rice sticks (bihon) and galungong from the 1st Oriental Market on West Colonial rd in Orlando, got Thai jasmine rice from Costco, supped on hot pho at the Vietnamese soup place.
Two days before Christmas eve, the house was filled with the scent of everything from mercedes de brazo (durian flavored) to lumpia shanghai, pancit luglug, fried galunggong (love it!!!), baked spaghetti, fruit and macaroni salad.
New year was filled with pyrotechnics – and no, we had no casualties in my hood. I had fun trolling the pinoy cities (like Davao and Cagayan de Oro) that had a firecracker ban by greeting them HAPPY ALL SAINTS DAY on new year’s eve. Frankly, I saw a picture of pathetic Dabawenyos just looking at the firworks in Samal Island.
For short, I was having so much fun that paying attention to a Pinoy wedding of people I don’t personally know – specially a dude named Dingdong (that’s another word for a DICK mind you – now whether dingdong is a dick or not for scheduling his wedding without checking the storm schedule is another matter).
Two things caught my attention however. This poor vs rich thingie – and the art of distracting the pinoy masses with the irrelevant.
There were lots of folks who decried the “ostentatious display of wealth” – even this PCOS elected de facto “lawmaker ” – Seneres was citing a law on the matter.
So what if there is an ostentatious display of wealth
As far as am concerned – if you earned it, as long as you are not physically hurting other people or destroying their property – do as you please.
Now if you stole the money – that’s not acceptable.
But if you earned it fair and square – your only “crime” is that it hurts the pride of people who want what you have – but are not willing to do what you did. I say RUB IT IN!
Wealth is not limited to money – on can have wealth of friends, experiences, networks.
Still, material wealth does measure your character to a certain extent.
Do you have discipline to save up?
Do you have foresight to set goals?
Do you have perseverance to follow through?
Do you have the chutzpah to seize the moment?
Note that lots of rich were also poor once upon a time.
The question is what did they do to take them out of poverty.
What did these previously poor people do – to rise out of poverty.
Admittedly, in the Philippines there are some who became wealthy thru cronyism – and these people do deserve criticism.
But, there are also lots of people who rose out of poverty without having to resort to cronyism.
Note that rising out of poverty does not mean becoming filthy rich.
It’s understandable that the “poor” are irked by the rich display of wealth because it shows the poor their underside.
It reminds the poor – that while they were telling these folks – it’s useless, or you can’t do anything about it – these people proved them wrong.
That yes, they can do something about their poverty, that yes they can rise about it – if they work hard, persevere, work smart.
It reminds the poor that they are poor for a reason. And yes the hardest part is dealing with the fact that one’s poverty is one’s choice really.
To me that’s the dividing line between the victors and the losers. The victors accept the reality of their poverty and decided to do something about it. The losers – well, you know them, they are still out there complaining about their lot of life and how unfair the world is – and that they deserve relief – such as government assistance – or laws to stop the wealthy from showing their wealth.
Pinoy Mainstream Media: A Convenient Distraction
The more pressing issue of this wedding however is not the “extravagance”.
What this really boils down to is the role of Pinoy mainstream media in diverting attention of Filipinos from issues such as the continuing hijacking of the electoral process and the pork barrel.
Hello, COMELEC just awarded a contract to SMARTMATIC and its PCOS machines. We have had an unlawful defacto regime since 2010 – and we are still going on with the charade. If this were Marie Antoniettes’ France – the Aquinos, Marcoses, Binay, Drilons, Abads, Solimans, DeLimas, etc – and all these politicans would have tasted Robispierre’s guillotine.
Or the continuing capture of the economy by the crony oligarchs and their criminal partners. The glaring incompetence of local businesses and the criminal regime in addressing the needs of consumers for transportation, communication, education, and health – and the consumer restrictions that prevent Filipinos from taking their hard earned money to non-Filipino firms has been glossed over.
By what? By the fucking wedding of a dude whose name is synonymous to a DICK.
That’s soooo pinoy.
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