invictus’ den

Who would deny that life is not as glowy as it was in our playground many years back. I got off from my work with all my complaints about another day that doesn’t satiate me. I cross the street with an air of confidence… traffic here immobilizes all those fancy cars, ’twas never difficult to get through the other side of the street…. unless cars start hnking and you’ll get startled.

I was greeted by this boy selling sampaguita. The child in me gave in to have a talk with him. He’s skinny. His figure is more like a six years old than that of a ten year old which is his actual age. For whole day, he walks barefooted in the busy streets of Makati, amidst people in their business suits. Perhaps no one ever notice that he is, after all, people here only notice somebody unless they get bumped into each other head to head in the underpass… He made those strings of sampaguita, and sell them for P20. In a day, he could have a P100 pesos out of those. Saying this make me wonder what are the whereabouts of his money for him not to allot for a slipper… and pictures of shanty, of overcrowded room, of stench played in my mind. Yeah, as in  the song "Paraiso"… "matching rags for their clothes, plastic bags for the colds… (houses) made of cardboard roofs and walls."  In other words, that of poverty… Still, he manage to have a wide smile and teased his companion for the holes in his shorts… anyway, young as they are, they deserve such…

Off I go. I opt not to buy a sampaguita from him. I just thought that simple talks like that do not require an exchange… that is a cue from the old beggar who refused my bill after having a talk with her along the dark aisle in Antipolo church… and my, I forgot to ask his name. Maybe I am now numbered among those busy people who always fail to notice…

Then I struggled against the impatient crowd to grab a seat in the jeepneys. Inside, you could hear no one brave enough to talk… Everyone seems to tired to talk… and to listen. Usual you could hear is but the, "nakikisuyo po, bayad po." At lesat that was a courteous  way of saying. Others would simply blurt out in "bayad" as if those siga in the streets. Sometimes though, it would require you much patience extending your hand for those whom you "nakikisuyo" with, care not to listen. Either they are dozed off to sleep (or pretending to be) or busy with their keypads… Wheew! That is what become of us. The human contact was blocked by those inhuman ones whose taglines are "connect lives," "saan man sa mundo." Might be right but hey, human is he who sits beside you…

Of course, I too keep my silence. Or else they would throw coins at me if they’ll not throw me away… for causing such disturbance. Sometimes I hum my favorite songs and find myself singing out the lyrics. At least it is a change for both of us… hehe…

Then you get to wrestle with your tongue to a driver who claims he has already given your change… Hear those PI words from him who curse heaven and hell for situations like that. Care enough to look deeper in him? Yeah, he too is tired… not just for the day but perhaps of this lifetime. Who would not be? Imagine the family he has to fend and the storming rise of the fuel. And if I am irritated by my day while I am working in an air-conditioned room, having my regular meals and coffee breaks, how much more for this man who’s day is spent back and forth the dusty, heavy streets, not considering the inconsiderate sun and sometimes inconsiderate passengers….

So if everyone would just fail to hold on, that jeep would explode.

Then despite, that was still a beauty. That boy with his sampaguita can bring home a bill that would jubilate at least some members of the family. The  driver who bought his sampaguita would smell its fragrance and put a smile on his tired lips… and at least a passenger (it could be you) would notice it… and a heavy day could be light… so goes my thoughts….  And the effect of goodness is very contagious… and I believed one is not calloused enough not to pass the goodness that is done unto him. Consider those ones who returned bags of money to thier owner despite the desperate need to have them… of a mother who adopts an abandoned infant, adding a mouth to feed in an already hungry family than to abort the baby, or even just a thought that many still struggle to survive. Many still choose to live rather than be fatal and jump themselves to death from the nth floor and end it all.

To me, it’s a wonder… a wonder to be awed as of the moment for it might only be for the moment. If not, still it is. At least I get by my days. Many failed to wake up this morning…. And it is always good to sow seeds of hopes than to scatter that of despair.

Qoutes to live by:

"There’s so much beauty in the world that I can’t contain. And my heart gave in."                            –American Beauty

"I’m glad you can now see, for it is really a beautiful world."                                          —THE EYE

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