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A song by Buklod goes, several presidents have already come and gone but Juan is still homeless, dirtpoor and landless. Another Buklod song - tatsulok (triangle), made popular by bamboo recently, speaks of the struggle not between socialist and capitalist ideals, not between race or nationality but between the poor masses and the rich few.
Back in our college activist days, in the heyday of raging hormones, pristine ideals and naive ideas, such lines were enough to transform otherwise peaceful and slightly naughty college students into testosterone driven, rage fueled social zealots. Everything then, it seemed was the government's fault.
5 years later, with the idealism of youth tempered by the harsh realities of life outside college, with the dreams of the liberated masses buried under the heaps of monthly bills, grocery receipts and taxes, and the cry of the oppressed drowned by the cry of our wailing children, we realize..
Damn! Juan has been getting the better end of the deal all along! That bastard! He he
There you are working your ass off day in and day out to pay for your children's education, for the roof over your head and its utility bills, kissing everyone's bottom for that coveted promotion and saving like crazy for future medical expenses, and to top it all, being taxed heavily by the government for its pro-poor programs..
Juan, all the while, is getting free education (which he usually dismisses as useless), free or ultra-low cost housing and land, free medicines, free groceries,
free surgeries, etc, etc, etc...
Juan does not finish his schooling because he finds it too hard, yet gripes about the minimum wage he receives from his labor intensive job.
Spends like crazy on fiestas and birthdays and drinks with his buddies 5 days out of the 7 in a week and yet complains about the lack of government help for education, health and housing and gets teary eyed whenever he thinks about the family he just can't seem to support.
Sits on his ass all day long waiting for those damn community workers who were supposed to bring xmas groceries, or those nursing students who usually give out free food as a graduation requirement, all the while muttering why these people never seem to bring enough.
Impregnates his wife yearly, scoffs at condoms and contraception, brags to his friends about his sexual conquests and cries on TV about the fact that he can't feed or send his kids to school.
Rails against the injustice of the rich and the middle class having more money than them, and yet cringes from the very things that's needed to achieve the same level of success - education, financial wisdom and hard work. Relying instead on the government and corrupt politicians to give it to them on a silver platter.
Some Juans have grown quite comfortable living off the fruits of our Christian guilt, scratching on glass windows to be given scraps of fastfood, scratching car paints when rebuffed, stealing mobile phones then relying on sob stories to explain the fact why he did it when caught, asks for compassion from those well off and hates poorer neighbors who begs for the same from him.
Our government may have its own share of faults for the state our country is in and the rich may indeed be getting richer while the poor becomes poorer, but this does not negate the fact that there are also Juans out there who have overcome such roadblocks to success given the same odds. The maker of baguio kropek, buko juice brand, the founder of SM, and countless other Filipino workers abroad can testify to this.
For most of you reading this blog, dig deep enough and you'll find an ancestor who decided to work with what he had, who took that leap of faith just to change his lot in life, who created his own luck by believing in educating his children, who saved something out of his daily earnings, who learned how to manage money and to take risks. Who saw a way out amidst the dreariness of his life.
He lived in the same hovels as the other Juans back then, had the same meager education, did the same crappy jobs and had the same corrupt government.. And yet, he was different and he made a difference by breaking the chains that held generations of his family in financial bondage. More than joining the cry for change of those Juans around him, he changed himself.
It's not material wealth that draws the line between the rich and the poor not just in our country and everywhere else but wealth in mindset, drive and character.
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1 comments:
too true! too true! hehehe!
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