Finally! I'm gonna have a sister...

Well, my mom's not pregnant okay? But I am gonna have a sister, by law that is. Coz my eldsest bro is finally gonna get married!!! He proposed last February 14, and I heard the news a day after while I was at the UP fair. I have to admit that upon hearing the news, I had a silly smile on my face and I was genuinely happy...beats me why. I must have seemed sillier than my usual self coz I was all alone in the Fair with that stupid grin on my face, hehe. Maybe, we just get naturally excited about events that you know change the lives of your loved ones- family in particular. Hmmm, and if they get...ehem..."busy", then my parents would finally be grandparents(something I know my dad has been wishing for for a long time, haha), and that would make me an uncle! cool! hehe:) Okay okay...i'm getting ahead of myself...they aren't a married couple yet, so I guess I'll just have to worry about the wedding details and stuff...ehe.

I'd say my mom took it well, and she was happy too. But then she started getting all inquisitive about the love lives of her other sons, haha. So in true hard-to-please-biased-to-her-sons-mother-type peptalk, she told me these stuff over the cellphone(sorry sa mga hindi Bisaya):

...Oi dondi ha, when the time comes na naa na moy mga girlfriend, tarunga ug pagpili ha. Kanang kaila nimo ilang background, the family, blood type, kanang wala'y mga sakit. Ayaw gyud ug pili ug mga diabetic...kay asus! Ayaw gyud anang mga masakitun kay mudako ra inyong gastos sa pamilya. Look at me and your papa, purya buyag, healthy mi. Ayaw sad nang mga tambok, kay mamroblema sad mo, dali mo magkasakit ug delikado and heart. Nya kani silang tanan, pwede ipasa sa mga anak, so ayaw gyud intawn ha! Nya pili sad mo ug nga gwapa kay mga gwapo raba intawn mo. Kaswerte nila noh, makuha nila akong mga babies. Ayaw nang mga dali matiguwang ang mga nawng, kanang mga sum-ol, kay mapul-an na ka dayon maski di pa mo tiguwang. ayaw gyud anang...(blah blah blah, haha)

....

Just earlier, on my way here from the UP Grail GA, I was about to take the long route by the sunken garden. But when I passed by the AS parking lot, I saw a bunch of cartolinas spread on the ground along the way. When I stopped to see what it was all about, I couldn't help but feel sad. It was an effort of a foreigner dad to help his son who is being held captive by a gang in Cubao. His 10 year old son, according to the written text, poorly scribbled but readable, was raped and is being kept as a victim of white slavery. He was selling all his belongings just so he could have a chance to save his son. In the other cartolinas, he posted pictures and articles and other information regarding the "rugby boys" gang. I was so moved by the list he came up with about the rights that should be afforded to his family and the things that were done to his family. From those I remember...

paraphrased
1. the right for children to be protected against rape and the sex trade.

2. the right of a foreign father to protect his Filipino child...

3. The right to protect ones family and home...

4. his kid was molested, raped ad threatened to be killed if he told anyone...

5. they were driven out of their own house and were beat up...

6. His(the kid) captors are making money from having the kid raped by high paying clients (white slavery)

...It's just a very despicable thing to hear about things like this. If its all true, then its really sad. Coz, he's pleading out in the open for someone to help his son, that these things are really happening and are actually going on as of the moment. And people just pass him by. How futile and sad it must be. Makes me wonder where the good guys are, where are the cops? Why is it so hard to help? What can be done? Why is nothing being done? And I ask myself...what can I do? probably nothing. I feel bad about not caring enough to find out if it's true. And even if I would find out, I doubt I'd really try to help. And what does that make me? A hypocrite. A philosopher without a backbone. So I walk away genuinely sad for his plight, yet totally ashamed of the fact that I am not too different aferall from all the others who walked that same pavement..and just kept on walking.

....

sorry, but i won't be ending with a quote this time.