ovaltine sandwiches

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

View from a Tuesday Afternoon

It's nice to be the passenger once in a while because you get to observe the view. You might notice that a restaurant has closed shop or a new building is being erected. You get to read street signs and funny shop names (Krispy Krepe, Johnny's Chicken, the "Fried" of Marikina). But best of all, you get to observe the people: frustrated commuters hailing jeepneys, traffic enforcers looking hot and uncomfortable in their blue uniforms, and street vendors looking longingly at every passer-by.

Just like the old man with his cart full of corn and peanuts. He kept pouring steaming water on the corn to keep them piping hot. And he was razor-sharply aware of everyone who passed in front of his goodies. Everyone was a potential customer. But no one stopped. Still, he kept on pouring and arranging the yellow cobs.

Then there was this teen-aged boy, pushing his cart of coconuts. He was competing for road space against the merciless cars and jeepneys. It was a hot afternoon, but he had no choice to move on.

I remember one time before Spanky and I went inside a drugstore, I noticed a lolo (grandfather) selling sweepstakes. And what made him stand out in my memory was that he was wearing decent clothes. Sure, his white shirt was frayed and had a few, tiny holes beneath the collar; but he wore a pair of smartly pressed black pants, and polished leather shoes. The other sweepstakes vendors didn't care how they looked. Sometimes I think they purposefully dress poorly to gain sympathy. But this particular vendor had dignity. He made sweepstakes selling a dignified job--nothing to be pitied.

Spanky noticed him too so after going out of the store, we bought tickets from him. We asked him the mechanics of the sweepstakes, and he explained them to us politely. And when we left, he said, "Thank you."

In these hard times, these people are admirable. They could just get easy money through stealing, cheating or other dubious means, but they choose to earn money the hard way-- the honest way. For me, these people are heroes.

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