BUHAY AMERIKA

This got forwarded to me.
Sharing it here.

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Original message from Aizon:
HAY BUHAY AMERICA TALAGA
A friend named "Maeng Ni" posted this.
Lahat ng sinabi niya nakakatuwa at totoo.

Akala ng mga tao na nasa Pilipinas kapag nasa America ka akala nila madami ka ng pera. Ang totoo, madami
kang utang, dahil credit card lahat ang gamit mo sa pagbili mo ng mga gamit mo. Kailangan mo gumamit ng credit card para magka-credit history ka,
kase pag hindi ka umutang o wala kang utang, hindi ka pagkakatiwalaan ng mga kano . Pag wala kang credit card, ibig sabihin wala kang kapasidad magbayad.

Akala nila mayaman ka na kase may kotse ka na. Ang totoo, kapag hindi ka bumili ng kotse sa America
maglalakad ka ng milya-milya sa ilalim ng init ng araw o kaya sa snow. Walang jeepney, tricycle o padyak sa America .

Akala nila masarap ang buhay dito sa America . Ang totoo, puro ka trabaho kase pag di ka nagtrabaho, wala kang pangbayad ng bills mo sa kotse, credit
card, ilaw, tubig, insurance, bahay at iba pa. Hindi ka na pwedeng tumambay sa kapitbahay kase busy din sila
maghanap buhay pangbayad ng bills nila.

Akala nila masaya ka kase nagpadala ka ng picture mo sa Disneyland , Seaworld, Six Flags, Universal Studios at iba
pang attractions. Ang totoo, kailangan mo ngumiti kase nagbayad ka ng $70+ para makarating ka dun, kailangan mo na naman ang 10 hours na sweldo mong
pinangbayad sa ticket.

Akala nila malaki na ang kinikita mo kase dolyar na sweldo mo. Ang totoo, malaki pagpinalit mo ng peso, pero
dolyar din ang gastos mo sa America. Ibig sabihin ang dolyar mong kinita sa presyong dolyar mo din gagastusin.
Ang P15.00 na sardinas sa Pilipinas $1.00 sa America , ang isang pakete ng sigarilyo sa pilipinas P40.00, sa
America $ 6.50, ang upa mo sa bahay na P10,000 sa Pilipinas, sa America $1,000++.

Akala nila buhay milyonaryo ka na kase ang ganda ng bahay at kotse mo. Ang totoo milyon ang utang mo. Ang bago mong kotse 5 taon mong huhulugan. Ang
bahay 30 taon mong huhulugan. Ibig sabihin, alipin ka ng bahay at kotse mo.

Madaming naghahangad na makarating sa America . Lalo na mga nurses, mahirap maging normal na manggagawa sa Pilipinas. Madalas pagod ka sa trabaho. Pag dating ng sweldo mo, kulang pa sa pagkain mo. Pero ganun
din sa ibang bansa katulad ng America .
Hindi ibig sabihin dolyar na ang
sweldo mo, yayaman ka na, kailangan mo ding magbanat ng buto para mabuhay ka sa ibang bansa.

Isang malaking sakripisyo ang pag alis mo sa bansang
pinagsilangan at malungkot iwanan ang
mga mahal mo sa buhay.Hindi pinupulot
ang pera dito o pinipitas. Hindi ako
naninira ng pangarap, gusto ko lang
buksan ang bintana ng katotohanan.

Letting Go

I lost my cellphone recently.
It slipped out of my pocket (I can see it all in my mind), while I was on a taxi, on my way home.
I cried a little over it. I was hoping to use that phone for a very, very long time. It was a favorite. I got that phone with a purpose. I needed a phone that was compatible with my palm, and it turned out the phone was already a model that was out of production.
I took the effort to go through every store in Greenhills just to look for it.
And I found it.
And loved it.
And then lost it.

It was funny, but it was the same feeling I had when I was looking for my palm. It felt like I was looking for an antique item. They were not the latest fads, and the store sellers might have found it weird that I was looking for items that were not very popular anymore.

Anyway, because modern life dictates that I will need a cellphone in order to continue living, I went off to the second hand cellphone shops one rainy afternoon when the queue for my jeep ride was rather long.
I went from one shop to another asking if they had phones less than one thousand pesos. They thought I was asking for a model.
But I eventually made a six hundred peso purchase.

I miss my old phone.

It takes a while to get used to a downgrade. But I have this intention to hold on to my P600.00 prize, as a sort of punishment (my previous phone was the fourth phone Clark Kent and I lost between the two of us in just a year), or look at at this way - a reminder - that it was just a thing.
My friends were very nice about it when I told them about my loss.
"Di bale adda kasukat na nga maymayat." (It doesn't matter. It will be replaced by something better.)

Hey, I got a text message.
My P600.00 phone works. That's all that matters, right?

Sigh.