I was born into a transnational extended family. My father, the eldest among his siblings, married before his brother (younger by only a year), was drafted into the US Navy. As a consequence, slowly, the brother and his parents and seven other siblings eventually came to live in the United States. We, the family of...
Tag: life
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When I was an OFW, I got detained in Saudi
Thirty-six years ago, I left my wife Malou and our two young sons to take a job in Saudi Arabia. Back then I was called an “overseas contract worker” or OCW, a term that has since morphed into “overseas Filipino worker” or OFW. From a college teaching job in the Philippines, I became a supervisor...
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Be grateful, we’re not nothing at all
Most people would prefer hankering first for a fruition of what they want in order to be happy. As if, for them, happiness is a destination to be arrived at, a “there” and not a “here” or “now.” Seemingly, they can only be truly happy when they have attained their desired goals, when they have...
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Being ‘Filipino’
We’ve just celebrated our 126th Independence Day a few days back and, likely so, the euphoric spirit of patriotism and national identity lingers still to the fore. For my part, I cared badgering myself once again with the thought: What does it take being ‘Filipino’? My youngest son, my junior or namesake, who’s currently teaching...
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Save your pets in this extreme weather
“If it’s too hot for you, it’s too hot for your pet.” That’s a general rule that Anna Cabrera, executive director of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), wishes to relay to those who are worrying about the wellbeing of their pets in the extreme heat currently being experienced nationwide. The temperature is not expected...
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Time, through the looking glass
Before the advent of clocks and calendars, our mirror image was already a clever way to signify the passage of time. Our body is a stand-alone time-teller. True, it cannot show us the numbers on which the long hand and short hand fall. It cannot tell us how much time has passed, but it certainly...
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Running on that track
NEW YORK CITY—I played sikyo when I was growing up in the Philippines. Each time the captains of the opposing teams chose their players, I was the last to be called because apart from my small build I did not run fast enough. But I always insisted on joining the play, so that the captain...
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Smelling good (without going into debt to buy French perfume)
I used to have a keen sense of smell. It’s probably a vestigial faculty from my ancestors who, as hunter-gatherers in the wild of Panay, needed all their five senses heightened. But my nose has been dulled by age, Metro Manila’s pollution, and my own careless olfactory experiments. Once, I almost killed myself by being...
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Finding our way to happiness amid life’s difficulties
In my study of philosophy, I have learned from a few thinkers and philosophers who wrestled with finding meaning—and, thus, happiness—in the hardness of life, whence struggles and challenges are “sine qua non” (literally, “cannot be without”). The German existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, in positing that humans suffer for a reason, argued that we can...
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Do you know the way to San Rafael?
Getting to Barangay Lico in San Rafael, Bulacan, was half the fun. My batchmates at St. Paul College (now a university) of Quezon City, high school class of 1973, decided to meet at the home of Baby, our classmate until the fifth grade, then travel to the Central Luzon province in a convoy. The car...