Here are my notes via the “Memo” app of my cellphone:
12/24/2011 23:38. Later that evening, I managed to stay put for about 42 minutes and listen to Maw. I wondered how people can get along despite differences in language amd culture. She said to accept them and try to find out how to communicate.
12/24/2011 23:25. To demand people to understand him and his ways of living, he doesn’t care. If his worldview is not acceptable to you, he doesn’t care.
12/24/2011 23:24. I forgot the add this morning’s notes about how Filipinos are scattered all over the world. Despite speaking 80 different Filipino languages and several thousands of dialects, Filipinos always support each other through FAITH.
12/24/2011 20:00. Paw didn’t do anything to help the boy behave. The boy refuses to forgive the Paw for not being smart enough or good enough to raise a son who wanted to play ball. The boy forgot how his Paw was working hard, being silent and not complaining. Paw continued to believe the boy knows everything. Apparently, the boy doesn’t know when to humble himself and continues to manipulate situations to his advantage.
12/24/2011 19:58. Maw expressed her sentiments about how the boy received free food, money, clothing and everything else from his elderly parents while he lived in the house for over thirty years. He forgot the hardship of Maw taking care of him and his sister in the absence of Paw, nine months out to sea.
12/24/2011 19:55. Maw told an old story about Andy, an elderly Filipino guy whom we met briefly at their house before he passed on a few months later. He came to America and brought over his siblings/relatives, who later didn’t call to find out if he is alive and well. Instead they disregarded him as if he was nothing after all the help he has done for them. I recall how the old man, a practical stranger to us, shed many tears as he told his story.
12/24/2011 19:54. Maw told an old story about how Mrs. Simpson, one of her patience, had a sister who took of her during her old age. She left enough money so that the sister could take a bus to attend the funeral. During her dying/old days/age, Mrs. Simpson’s only daughter was nowhere to be found. This is a prime example of how each generation has children who don’t care/abuse the elderly after all the loving and caring done during the growing years.
12/24/2011 15:47. Maw mentioned how the boy didn’t put himself down in a humble way but continued to resist the truth by interrupting Paw who couldn’t finish his sentence, to laugh as if possessed by a demonic presence at the truth and to place himself above everyone else as if he knows everything.
12/24/2011 15:45. Maw shared her wisdom about how a house cannot be raised “successfully” without a solid foundation. Success then is purely the rest of the way. The boy must learn his “foundation” and avoid giving himself too much credit. Without his parents feeding him, wiping his ass, clothing him and putting a roof over his head, he would not be where he is now. The sentiment is further extended to the girl mistreat the boy — both of them manipulate each other.
12/24/2011 15:07. At 03:06pm, the boy walked out of the house again after I flicked him off. Maw wouldn’t stop “verbally abusing” him with the truth: that our maternal relatives make contact with us online via Skype; since the manipulative boy just lives two minutes away from his ailing elderly parents. Paw had asked him to tell the three of us what he doesn’t want us to do or say so that he won’t have “hurt feelings”. He didn’t want to tell the truth because he might hurt our feelings.
12/24/2011 07:21. Carlos S. coughed loudly to my left as I walked back to the table where Maw and Paw were eating our pre-dawn breakfast with Fred, the usher who won’t leave us alone. Carlos coughed again and I would flick him off each time. According to Maw, his hyperactive wife, Gloria S. appeared to be scared of him. Maw tried to talk to her but I noticed that the bug-eyed woman wouldn’t say much to Maw.
12/24/2011 07:13. Lights off.
12/24/2011 06:26. A priest from outside our area preached about the Philippines being the only country in Asia that could speak 80 different Filipino languages (excluding several thousands of dialects), along with Spanish and English from the eras of 1530 to 1898.
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