Accents
Hot chocolate topped with chuckles
In the long span of my motherhood, there's one memorable birthday that fondly surfaces in the mind: My youngest daughter Raileen, the 'Inday" being the baby in the family, wanted "icing" on her 5th year. "Bisan wala cake, basta may icing, icing." It was all right even if there was no birthday cake as long as there was the icing for her to relish on. Talk of the sweet innocence of childhood.
What you are about to read are two forwards that have escaped my delete key—choice bits I've kept intact in the USB: "Dagohoy in the States" and "Life is Like Hot Chocolate." Like the icing on the cake scooped to whet the taste buds before a delicious bite of the real thing, I will start with the toppings or chuckles followed by sips of the hot chocolate.
But first, this brief prologue for the amnesiac Filipino: It was on Rizal Day, Dec. 30, when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced that she wasn't running in the forthcoming presidential election, but she did anyway, and the "Hello, Garci" tape became history. Recall, too, how the Arroyo camp questioned Fernando Poe, Jr.'s citizenship. Poe, Jr. insisted he was a Filipino and the court ruled so.
Dagohoy in the States
It was the first day of school in Washington, D.C. and a new student named Dagohoy, the son of a Filipino immigrant, entered the fourth grade.
The teacher began, "Let's review some American history, class. Who said 'Give me liberty or give me death?" She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Dagohoy who had his hand up. "Patrick Henry, 1775." "Very good," said the teacher.
"Who said 'Government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth'"? Again, no response except from Dagohoy: "Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg , 1863," he said.
The teacher snapped at the class, "Class, you should be ashamed. Dagohoy who is new to our country knows more about our history than you do." She heard a loud whisper from the back: "Screw the Filipinos." "Who said that?" she demanded. Dagohoy put his hand up. "General John Pershing, Manila , 1896."
At that point, Jack, another student said, "I'm going to puke." The teacher glared and asked, "All right! Now who said that?" Again Dagohoy answered, "George Bush, Sr. to the Japanese Prime Minister during the state dinner, Tokyo , 1991."
Now furious, another student yelled, "Oh yeah? Suck this!!" Dagohoy jumped out of his chair waving his hand and shouted to the teacher at the top of his voice, "Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky, the Oval Office, 1997!"
Someone shouted, "You little shit if you say anything else, I'll kill you." Dagohoy yelled, "Congressman Gary Condit to Chandra Levy, Washington, D.C., 2001!"
The teacher fainted.
"I'm outta here!" muttered one student as he sidled to the door. "President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Baguio City , December 30, 2002!" Dagohoy responded.
As the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone said, "Oh shit, now we're really in big trouble!" "Saddam Hussein, on the Iraq invasion, Baghdad , May 2003!" Dagohoy bellowed.
"Now, I really have to run," Jack muttered, heading for the exit. "Gloria Macapagal Arroyo again, Pampanga, October 4, 2003!!!" Dagohoy shouted triumphantly jumping with glee.
Then a burly African-American boy grabbed Dagohoy and strangled him, about to give a fistful to a frightened Dagohoy. Then an Asian boy stood up and shouted, "Hey easy on him. I'M A FILIPINO!" Dagohoy then blurted out before he got socked out, "Fernando Poe, Jr. Manila , January 2004!!!"
Life is Like Hot Chocolate
A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups—porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite—telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.
When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases, it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate. Your job, money, and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate; man chooses the cups.
The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate.
(Comments to lagoc@hargray.com)