Accents
Again, I’m leaving on a jet plane (2)
Oakland, California, Sept. 6—Marc Antony said he came to bury Caesar, not to praise him. What he delivered was a double-speak of a eulogy that only the genius of a Shakespeare could concoct. The impact was of such magnitude that it led to the downfall of Brutus and his fellow conspirators. In the big world of dear Cory Aquino and that of the supremely gifted Michael Jackson, there was no slain body, no “bleeding piece of earth” as what Marc Antony had spoken of the lifeless, blood-spattered Julius Caesar. Proud Death just claimed Cory and Michael Jackson in its own good time. Thus it was in the small world of our own beloved departed, my brother Ronnie. Faithful to Filipino tradition, we came to Bayan Ko to bury our dead and to praise him for what he was due.
“The time has come for me to leave,” goes the song. Again, I was leaving on a jet plane to the other side of the globe. Still coping with the family loss, I tinkered with the convenient netbook in the company of my USB storage of ideas. While being suffused in the sound of music, I continued culling from past columns during the long fourteen-hour flight from Manila to San Francisco, our port of entry. Just as I said last week, I like to believe these gems (ahem!) would create ripples in the mighty ocean of your mind. Yes, provoke a thought, after which, decide to agree or disagree. And, being citizens of a civilized world, let’s agree to disagree. No problem.
Job hunting
Even as our best and brightest continue to make their mark in the world, domestic helpers/caregivers remain as the most employable position abroad compared to slots for professional, skilled or semi-skilled labor.
A degenerate alien called our Pearl of the Orient Seas “a country of servants” at the same time denigrating the hapless (?) category. Indeed, domestic helper tops the list of the employed Pinoy in Hong Kong, Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait, Guam, Canada, London, Italy, Australia, you name it. So what? Methinks the degenerate name-caller belongs to the kind who, with distorted values, dons the veneer of the so-called class status. He (Chjp Tsao) should be subjected to a lecture on the dignity of honest labor.
“Disappeared” Ilonggos: Luisa Posa Dominado and Nilo Arado
They were abducted on April 12, 2007 in Cabanbanan, Oton, Iloilo, by elements still unknown. We, friends and relatives of Luisa and Nilo, remember their unrealized hopes and uncompromising principles— even as we cling to the hope that they still have the breath of life in them and have survived the long list of Desaparecidos (195 to date) under the administration of one Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Luisa is Iloilo’s spokesperson of SELDA ((Society of Ex-Detainees for Liberation, Against Detention and for Amnesty). Nilo Arado is a national council member of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines). Say, why may I not use the present tense?!?
Fun at sea in the cruise ship
The lure of the slot machines, the dice, the cards, the blackjack tournament, etc. at the Casino of cruise ship SENSATION was no match to feeling the sea breeze in the open deck, moments given to contemplation of the unfathomables—the wonder of the universe—inspired by the moon and the stars up above in the vast expanse of the night sky. You wished you were a poet.
Not to forget America’s most pervasive vice: consummate consumerism. Its ugly head reared in the shopping spree raffle of jewelry, paintings, and souvenir items plus other enticements to gobble your credit card or empty your wallet as if there’s no tomorrow, the global recession notwithstanding. It is said consumer spending and more spending will pep up the economy in the overall. Let the economists have their say. At the end of the day, you have your own personal economics to reckon with. (To be continued on Monday)
(Email: lagoc@hargray.com)