_________________________________________ you must empty your cup so the He can fill it you must give away your wealth so He can enrich you - _________________________________________ THE ESSENTIAL FILIPINO discovering dreams - a british journalist breezed into manila with an assignment to write about ‘the essential filipino’ he smiled confidently over his easy assignment relishing the free tour as complementary reward - for three days, he ran around searching he rejected the business district of makati which reminded him of cold calculating london he went to historical places in intramuros but saw only a glimpse of the past not the present - next he tried the native cuisine at market market delicious yes but nothing on the essential filipino he was getting not only tired but also nervous that he has not found his ‘easy’ story yet time was running out, he had to go back in two days - he wasted the next day on inconsequential probes into malls, churches, monuments on his last day, he wrote his editor saying that no one can possibly write about the essential filipino in so short time, he asked for an extension - he was expecting a week, the editor was kind but he was given only one lousy day extension in desperation, on his last day he took a wild stab at marketplaces in singalong, he sat on a curb too tired to think - then he realized his mistake he was looking for places not people the thought hit him like a terrorist’s bomb the essential filipino is a person not a place how stupid could he be, he thought - sitting on the curb in exasperation he began looking at faces that passed by he noticed a boy selling fishballs from a rolling cart he had a torn shirt and was barefoot what attracted him was not the fishballs - the boy gyrated like michael jackson unmindful of the noisy crowd around him the journalist approached him noticing the headphones he wore he instantly realized it was loud music - music that drowned the noise and transported the boy into his inner garden the journalist had to scream in order to bring him back into the real world the boy removed the headphones - ***************** - JOURNALIST Hey, what are you doing? - BOY Fishballs, sir, wanna buy? - JOURNALIST Nice earphones, huh? - THE BOY GIVES THE EARPHONES TO THE JOURNALIST, WHO PUT THEM ON. HE INSTANTLY REMOVES IT, ALMOST FALLING FROM THE DEFEANING ROCK MUSIC. THE BOY SMILES AND PUT HIS EARPHONES BACK ON. - JOURNALIST Hey, wait, we’re talking. -
THE BOY REMOVES THE EARPHONES AND HANDS HIM THE TINY MP3 PLAYER FROM HIS POCKET. THE JOURNALIST EXAMINES IT. -
JOURNALIST Where did you get this? This is expensive, first-class mp3 player with first-class earphones. Don’t jive with your shirt. - HE FLICKS THE HOLE IN HIS SHIRT. - BOY I saved income from selling fishballs for one whole year just to buy that. Nice huh? - JOURNALIST Why don’t you buy a new shirt and shoes? - BOY No need. Not important. Waste of hard earned money. Clothes don’t make me happy, only music. - JOURNALIST You kill yourself selling fishballs the whole day for a year just to buy those? - BOY Why not? What would you buy? What is your dream? Me, my dream is now real. I don’t need shirts and shoes, just a dream of dancing to music becoming real. What is your dream? - AT FIRST, THE JOURNALIST IS AT A LOSS FOR WORDS BECAUSE HE REALLY HAS NO ‘DREAM’ IN MIND, OR PERHAPS HIS DREAM IS TO FILE A STORY, THAT IS ALL, BUT THAT IS NOT REALLY A ‘DREAM’. A DREAM MUST BE SPIRITUAL AND FOREVER. - JOURNALIST I guess I have no dream. Or yes I have a dream but it is not a good dream. - BOY Too bad. You must be very sad. Buy yourself an mp3. - JOURNALIST But that is not my dream. - BOY So what is your real dream. There must be something you really really like. - JOURNALIST I have been working so hard to survive that I forget what I really really like. My life is work work work. - BOY But I also work work work. Let me tell you how to have a dream. - ****************** - and so the british journalist was beginning to discern the essential filipino he was amazed how in his dire poverty the boy rejected the very materialism that was gradually destroying affluent society - the essential filipino was a free spirit who was poor and happy all at once perhaps it came from his insular environment or from his distant past, his austronesian roots of nomads in tiny boats roaming the vast seas - the journalist took out a notebook and started writing frantically the boy peers into his writing, trying to read and he says aloud ‘essential filipino … free spirit spiritual dreams … nomadic boat people … - ***************** - BOY (Grabbing the notebook.) I know this is your dream. You just don’t know it. What you write here is your dream. - JOURNALIST (Stunned at the boy’s perception.) I … I … I guess so. - BOY It is not a guess. You know it. Once you know your dream, you must get it, or else you will be very sad and soon you will die because you know you have no more reason to live for. You cannot live just to live, can you? - JOURNALIST Guess not. Thank you for telling me my dream. - ALMOST IN TEARS, THE JOURNALIST HUGS THE BOY AND GIVES HIM A HUNDRED PESO BILL. THE BOY IS STUNNED. - BOY What for? - JOURNALIST Because you help me find my dream that was right in front of my nose all this while. - BOY Yes, you cannot see things that are too near. You have to move back to see. - JOURNALIST Go, buy yourself more music. - ********************** - it took thirty minutes for the journalist to write his story at his hotel in ten electronic milliseconds the story was at the editor’s desk the editor replied - ‘this is the best story yet for a long time our journalists often write about absurd things but what you wrote is an important wisdom for the affluent world stay there for a month and write me more’ - the journalist had a field day his dream, like the boy, was now a reality he would hang around with street vendors later, he moved to the countryside and talked to farmers and fishermen - he immersed himself in the essential filipino poor, happy, equipped with a different kind of wisdom unknown in the rich nations he married a kalinga native and wrote a book a best seller entitled ‘discovering dreams’ -
via sisterraquel.com
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