Life’s Paradox I

Along Howmart Road, you can see a family living in a shack joined to an unknown building's concrete enclosure. The head of the family is a tricycle driver, the wife unemployed and can be seen selling cigarettes or halo-halo now that summer has set in. They have nine kids including the unborn. The wife is pregnant again.

I have long been passing the road and I always see them especially the kids. There was this little boy who happened to be their son that caught my attention. He doesn't have anything to protect his body. He is nude roaming the streets, barefooted. I was sort of attracted to him, not that he is good looking but because despite the condition, he seemed to be a jolly boy, playful and unmindful of the situation. Papsie told me once that he is thankful I am not conceiving because our unborn child might resemble the looks of the boy (from an old myth) which to him is not cute as I always tell him.

I wonder how they live. Seeing the shanty, it can barely hold four people, to my calculation. They take a bath outside the shanty and also do the laundry there. I see the 'cute' boy, with mucus oozing in and out of his nose, eating whatever every morning. It can be a biscuit, a piece of bread, or junk foods. I wonder how he will be when he grows up. The oldest of the brood is already a tricycle driver. It was plain that they do not go to school. The boy next to the eldest roamed the streets and looks like a siga (a bully) (he was barefooted until he is in his teens). One of the boys is a canteen helper at the tricycle station. The only girl, which looks like twelve to thirteen years old, with disheveled hair, and untidy clothes, can also be seen along the streets.

It is hard to feel empathy to the parents of these physically and emotionally abused children. How can they be so selfish not thinking about the future and welfare of the kids? Is it ignorance? Is it nonchalance thinking that they can cope with anything hard life has to offer? I am not being judgmental here but they could have been more responsible. They could have borne fewer children, or better, only one child, or much better, not have children at all.

And here are capable parents who wanted to have kids or more kids but cannot have them anymore because of some health reasons or physical incapacity. They should be the ones having those many kids and yet they suffer unfortunate consequences of not having children or more children.

What a paradox.

Life’s Paradox I

Along Howmart Road, you can see a family living in a shack joined to an unknown building's concrete enclosure. The head of the family is a tricycle driver, the wife unemployed and can be seen selling cigarettes or halo-halo now that summer has set in. They have nine kids including the unborn. The wife is pregnant again.

I have long been passing the road and I always see them especially the kids. There was this little boy who happened to be their son that caught my attention. He doesn't have anything to protect his body. He is nude roaming the streets, barefooted. I was sort of attracted to him, not that he is good looking but because despite the condition, he seemed to be a jolly boy, playful and unmindful of the situation. Papsie told me once that he is thankful I am not conceiving because our unborn child might resemble the looks of the boy (from an old myth) which to him is not cute as I always tell him.

I wonder how they live. Seeing the shanty, it can barely hold four people, to my calculation. They take a bath outside the shanty and also do the laundry there. I see the 'cute' boy, with mucus oozing in and out of his nose, eating whatever every morning. It can be a biscuit, a piece of bread, or junk foods. I wonder how he will be when he grows up. The oldest of the brood is already a tricycle driver. It was plain that they do not go to school. The boy next to the eldest roamed the streets and looks like a siga (a bully) (he was barefooted until he is in his teens). One of the boys is a canteen helper at the tricycle station. The only girl, which looks like twelve to thirteen years old, with disheveled hair, and untidy clothes, can also be seen along the streets.

It is hard to feel empathy to the parents of these physically and emotionally abused children. How can they be so selfish not thinking about the future and welfare of the kids? Is it ignorance? Is it nonchalance thinking that they can cope with anything hard life has to offer? I am not being judgmental here but they could have been more responsible. They could have borne fewer children, or better, only one child, or much better, not have children at all.

And here are capable parents who wanted to have kids or more kids but cannot have them anymore because of some health reasons or physical incapacity. They should be the ones having those many kids and yet they suffer unfortunate consequences of not having children or more children.

What a paradox.

Arrgh!

This happened last week. A teenager from around the neighborhood swallowed his denture together with the crown. It must be a two to four-tooth denture. I don’t think nobody can quaff a full denture. And it must be very painful.

The good news is the doctor was able to get the denture from down inside with forceps. The poor boy immediately asked after the denture was successfully taken out of his esophagus, “Can I eat?” He must have been starved to death because of the accident.

The story why it happened was very amusing. He was with his friends drinking beer and he got occupied playing with his denture and accidentally swallowed it. Pulutan* was probably missing:-).

*Pulutan is finger food.

 

Arrgh!

This happened last week. A teenager from around the neighborhood swallowed his denture together with the crown. It must be a two to four-tooth denture. I don’t think nobody can quaff a full denture. And it must be very painful.

The good news is the doctor was able to get the denture from down inside with forceps. The poor boy immediately asked after the denture was successfully taken out of his esophagus, “Can I eat?” He must have been starved to death because of the accident.

The story why it happened was very amusing. He was with his friends drinking beer and he got occupied playing with his denture and accidentally swallowed it. Pulutan* was probably missing:-).

*Pulutan is finger food.

 

Ugly Work Scenario and Fag Questions

I don’t recall exactly when I talked to one of the auditors who failed miserably at the Performance Appraisal. The VP is not around so I decided to talk to him to encourage him to work on his potentials.

Disappointedly, he told me he feels depressed at the time because he did not expect to be the ‘goat’ of the group. I could understand how he feels but my objective was to explain where he failed. I cannot comprehend though the need of telling me that he had not received such a low grade when he was a student, and that he is a board passer. (“You fool, and why the hell did you fail the appraisal? You could have at least protected your reputation by doing your best!” – went my other self, and going back to the scene where I am currently in, I almost laughed.) The guy left after a while, telling me that he still feels depressed but that would soon disappear. I don’t know if I need to sympathize with him because he is such a weakling. Instead of working it out with self-realization, it was like self-denial that he truly failed to perform during the audit. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t able to withstand the verbal abuse he received from the others, who failed miserably as well.

—–

Question: What are you going to do if you feel so bored of the whole thing?

Answer: Amuse myself with thoughts of thumbtacking maggots on the cross.

Question: What would you choose to be, a chain-smoker or one with ulcer?

Answer: They are both gross.

Question: If you discover that your other half is gay, and you already have kids, what do you do?

Answer: Forget about the gay. I can be gay with my kids.

Ugly Work Scenario and Fag Questions

I don’t recall exactly when I talked to one of the auditors who failed miserably at the Performance Appraisal. The VP is not around so I decided to talk to him to encourage him to work on his potentials.

Disappointedly, he told me he feels depressed at the time because he did not expect to be the ‘goat’ of the group. I could understand how he feels but my objective was to explain where he failed. I cannot comprehend though the need of telling me that he had not received such a low grade when he was a student, and that he is a board passer. (“You fool, and why the hell did you fail the appraisal? You could have at least protected your reputation by doing your best!” – went my other self, and going back to the scene where I am currently in, I almost laughed.) The guy left after a while, telling me that he still feels depressed but that would soon disappear. I don’t know if I need to sympathize with him because he is such a weakling. Instead of working it out with self-realization, it was like self-denial that he truly failed to perform during the audit. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t able to withstand the verbal abuse he received from the others, who failed miserably as well.

—–

Question: What are you going to do if you feel so bored of the whole thing?

Answer: Amuse myself with thoughts of thumbtacking maggots on the cross.

Question: What would you choose to be, a chain-smoker or one with ulcer?

Answer: They are both gross.

Question: If you discover that your other half is gay, and you already have kids, what do you do?

Answer: Forget about the gay. I can be gay with my kids.

Patterns

Bernard is a product of a dysfunctional family. Their father dominated everybody. It was his rules that should be obeyed. Nobody should go against him. Their subservient mother rarely voiced her opinions and ideas. She will choose to be silent than to speak, even if it means speaking for her children.

The father refused the idea that his children should go to college. He believes that they can acquire jobs as high school graduates just like him. He wanted one of her daughters to go abroad to be a japayuki and earn lots of money. The daughter went with a separated man, had four kids with him, and is currently unemployed. The other daughter chose to work at an early age after high school and lived separately, away from home.

It only took several years before Bernard was diagnosed to be mentally ill. According to his mother, he was duped to trying shabu once, and perhaps that was the cause of it all. The institution for mental patients released him after a few weeks because his was not a grave case, and besides the institution had limited accommodations, which was solely for those with serious mental illnesses.

The community where the family belongs got used to the family’s scenario later on. When Bernard throws fits, it was such like another common event in their household. Barangay tanods will arrive to bring him to the barangay hall and keep him through the night. It is such a pattern that some people wonder if Bernard is really mentally ill because the causes of the sudden outbursts will always be that he was not given money to buy cigarette or food, or that he cannot sleep. When they talk to him, he can converse naturally. He can even bet on his horserace favorite just like every normal neighborhood fellow.

Bernard’s traits are intentional. He wanted everybody to believe that he is sick. When he is brought to the hospital, he forges his depression but rejects the idea of being admitted. Such is the case of people with Munchausen Syndrome, an illness where a patient intends to deceive medics and relatives into believing that he is sick. He believes that by doing so, he will receive support and attention, which is lacking because he was neglected or deprived before or when he was younger. And truly, he receives attention from his mother who supports him with cigarettes against doctor’s advice.

Munchausen syndrome is an artificial sickness. Those afflicted have indications by way of (1) total fabrication, (false claims), (2) simulation (mimicking symptoms of illnesses), (3) illness aggravation (attempts to worsen a disease), or (4) illness induction (attempts to produce an illness or symptoms of an illness).

False psychological disorders presenting depression is much less common in Munchausen Syndrome patients. Patients commonly fabricate anemia, rash, fever, and bleeding. These patients hop from one hospital to another, creating exaggerated tales of their illnesses, and very willing, too, to undergo tests. Unmarried, unemployed, and estranged men are those that tend to display these symptoms.