Doctors and McDonalds

I was sick again early this week. My gastritis will kill me one day, I am quite sure. I didn't have it for quite awhile so I was not ready for the intense pain. I was on the floor writhing in pain. I normally hate to go to the hospital but this time I needed prescription for ANY kind of pain reliever. Anyway, so I went...Well, It was my first trip to a Swiss emergency room and I was not so impressed. I think doctors here rely too much on expensive tests to think for them that they have forgotten how to THINK! If being a doctor is just about reading blood test results then what's the point of studying medicine? My sister was able to diagnose me in 1 minute (and accurately predicted the drugs that I should take), whereas the doctor here took hours and hours even after me telling her multiple times that I have gastritis. She was quite fixated on the appendicitis angle...well, anyway, now I am in recovery but the bad part is it is still quite painful for me to eat anything oily or spicy. I find myself dreaming about a McChicken sandwich. I swear, as soon as I am well it would be the first thing I will eat!The last time I had one was 2 months ago.

McChicken as advertised by McDonalds

I remember thinking then that it tastes exactly like the first time I tried it. Keep in mind that that was in the Philippines 25 or so years ago. Trans fat aside, that's what I like about McDonalds, you always know what you are going to get unlike for medical care.

Sweetheart, we love you!

Sweetheart
In memoriam (1996-2009)

We named him Sweetheart because we were all loveless when he arrived in our lives. For 12 years he protected and loved us. He was a good friend. He was our sweetest sweetheart. I know he knew what he meant to all of us. He had been sick for a few months but somehow he waited until I arrived home (like Argos, Odysseus' faithful dog) and my sister to get married before resting forever. He died early morning the day after my sister's wedding. We like to think that he waited until everyone was safe and happy before he allowed himself to succumb to his illness.

We planted a gumamela (hibiscus) bush where we buried him. I take comfort in knowing that our Sweetheart will bloom into red gumamela flowers continuing to bring color and happiness to our lives.

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love.
For me they are the role model for being alive. ~Gilda Radner

On Tracy, Malu and the great divide

The Philippines is divided into two worlds--the "haves" and the "have nots". Some "have nots" pretend to be a "have" and the "haves" always make it a point to prove that they have and that they have a lot. Somehow, these two worlds very rarely meet and when they do, both have a tendency to deny each other's existence. For me, this is the prime reason why the Philippines is poor.

In my mothers time, it was quite fashionable to look down on the poor. Being matapobre was cool. The poor are poor because they are stupid and lazy. Rich people, on the contrary, are intelligent and hardworking. Growing up, somehow, I really thought that was really how things worked.

For me there were two events that broke the deal. The first event happened when my Italian friend Marido visited the Philippines last year, she was shocked when she saw the shanties near the airport. She has never seen real poverty before. My mom promptly assured her that what she was seeing were not real Filipinos, they were merely squatters. I was shocked! I then argued with my mom in Tagalog that what she said was complete BS. The second event rocked me to the core. Caught in traffic in Manila, there were some street children knocking on our car window asking us for money. I told my daughter to give the boy the McDonald happy meal that she bought just for the toys but had no intention of eating. She then replied to me, "but mommy that's not a boy that's a beggar!" My goodness! She definitely did not learn that from me. Somehow, the two worlds separate very early in life.

The point is, the accident of being born into a well to do family doesn't make a person more superior. A stupid rich person without a rich family would end up in the slums too, maybe even worse. If you are driving a BMW or going to an expensive school that your parents paid for, that doesn't mean you are cool or a better person. If you never have to work your whole life, that doesn't mean you are above all the rest. These things only mean that you are a low life parasite sucking on your parents blood. Under no circumstances can you look down on people who unlike you have to work hard merely to have food on the table.

Tracy and Malu are not unique. I know so many Filipino expats who are irritated when they are mistaken to be OFWs or domestic helpers. I know so many people who make fun of the Aetas because they have curly hair and dark skin.Unfortunately, Tracy and Malu exist in all of us. That's the problem. The only way to move forward as a nation is to start thinking that we are ONE nation.

Most politicians are coming from the "haves" (or was a "have-not" but became a "have" then got amnesia). If they don't consider themselves to belong to the same world as the "have-nots", how can they alleviate poverty? How can they improve on the lives of the poor when they can't internalize the hardships or even the existence of poor people? Filipinos for them are only the people having the same background, educational attainment, social status as themselves. How can the Philippines have sincere programs for poverty alleviation when rich policy makers don't understand what poverty is?

The fact is, there are a lot of rich people in the Philippines. If let's say, 10% of Filipinos are rich that means there are about 8 million rich Filipinos. That's the population of Switzerland. If this minority would care enough for the other 90%, we wouldn't be where we are today.

So people of the Philippines, look around you, observe, and see. Because only after you have seen, can you make a difference.