Accents
Beyond ‘trabaho lang’
At times in the workaday world, we hear the stressed employee say as he goes about his work: “trabaho lang.” Yes, it’s just a job. Be done with it. Everything gets mechanical, perfunctory, emotionless. He/she hurries up with the routine, oblivious of the “tlc”—tender, loving care that must go with the work at hand. Absent is the human touch we all long for especially when we are hurting as when we cry in pain in government hospitals or puericulture centers.
“Trabaho lang” is usually followed by the cold “Walang personalan.” Yes, nothing personal. Absolutely neutral. In conflict situations, the person sits blasé on the fence — the character that the French Nobel laureate Albert Camus spoke of as being hand-in-glove with the executioner. The uncommitted fence-sitter who sits comfortably while the world plays out. So much for the philosophical underpinnings of the Camus dictum.
Let me speak of instances when the milk of human kindness overflows to douse the cynicism in our souls. That’s when a smile, a word of concern, a tender gesture blend to make our day. Life’s rough edges get polished, and we move on strengthened to reach our goal — the pathway cleared of obstacles.
We didn’t find the token “trabaho lang” mentality when my husband Rudy and I tried to avail ourselves of medical attention while very much ensconced in the heartland of America. The tender, loving care—the “tlc” to reiterate what patients conveniently shorten—was alive and well just when we needed it most. The place: the Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Medicine Center of the Mercy Hospital at Redding, California. Dr. Ron Speigle, the surgeon who operated on my husband Rudy’s big toe, went through the processes while conversing with us in a voice kind, soft, and reassuring. In his last check-up, he said the wound has started to heal and that the fine white line of the new nail has appeared and will continue to grow. The news was music to the ears! The good doctor’s expertise enabled us to fly to the homeland and be present at the funeral rites for my brother Ronnie.
Working as a surgeon during the Viet Nam War, Dr. Speigle recounted how he had been to the Philippines on a short stop-over while war raged in another land. He didn’t stay long enough to take in the beauty of Perlas ng Silanganan or face the underside of our country. Slightly bent in his 70’s, age has not diminished the sheen of his professional life. On his way out, as a way of bidding goodbye, I said “Viet Nam veteran,” to which he did a salute in true soldierly fashion.
“Tlc-typified” is Jennifer Kirkland, Case Manager at the Wound Healing Center. Able, friendly, meticulous, what else shall I add? I may run out of the positive adjectives. When I called her “Jennifer Jones,” she remarked that I must love old movies, recalling in my mind the English nurse in love with the American soldier (Rock Hudson) in the movie version of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.
Tall Chris Fischer, she of the radiant face and model’s stance, is one nurse I know who easily breaks into laughter. When I asked how long she has been in the profession, she said 23 years, and I thought all along she must be in her late 20’s or early 30’s. One example how beauty defies age, to paraphrase the poet. Chris joked that she started being a nurse at age 2. When she learned that we would be going home for my brother’s funeral, she said that families do gather on two special occasions: weddings and funerals. How true.
Russian-American Rita Sorkina has all the muscles to push Rudy’s wheelchair from start to finish at the San Francisco airport. It was a long way from the security line to the check-in counter, but she possesses the stamina required for the position of Passenger Assistance Specialist. All the while, we talked about our families as we coursed through the long walk. She spoke of the skills of her daughter, I think in Management it was. Rita has spent more than ten years on the job and considers the airport a second home. She was so spirited in pushing the wheelchair, there was no trace at all of the detached “trabaho lang” mentality we find in some airport aides.
On this flight back to Bayan Ko, Rudy and I found one bright spark in the company of Analyn T. Lota, a kababayan nurse employed in Texas. Seated across the aisle from us, she was with her mother on their way home to Pampanga. The flight attendant was nowhere to be found as passengers kept streaming in. Without the strength and height to put my carry-on luggage on the overhead bin, I was blocking and delaying the flow of passengers. Analyn readily lifted the suitcase for us. A kind soul had just come to the rescue before I got overwhelmed. And how handily Analyn retrieved the luggage when I needed the laptop for some computer work during the thirteen hours inside the plane.
Often enough, in the face of adversities, we hear the optimistic bit uttered in solace: Hope springs eternal in the human heart. And may I add, so does goodness — springing forth beyond our expectations, beyond “trabaho lang,” beyond “walang personalan.” I like to believe the fount of goodness doesn’t run dry. (Email: lagoc@hargray.com)