here & there

Alright. Let's get this over with.

Before many of you rise up in indignation at my juvenile frustration with the trivialities of my(our) daily life, I politely and respectfully beseech you to shut it. Because while there are those of my kin who are suffering under poverty, disease, and corruption back in the Philippines (a fact that even a simpleton cannot deny), it does not mean that I possess the same mental and emotional stamina to be as spirited as them in all my daily mundaneness. I may be significantly weaker than my impoverished counterparts.

Breezing through several psychological and anthropological aspects, surely it cannot be denied that when roles are switched and I am placed in a tropical shack whilst those under financial distress are put in a situation of being stable in all aspects of living... reactions may seem to vary but are, in fact, similar in the sense that they are "trivial" (a description that I'm beginning to find rather irritating) and evoke reactions that stem from exasperation with the dull. If one observes the "normal" toils of the average young adult belonging to the middle class, what does one see (listed in no specific order):

1. The urge to branch out and explore either mentally, emotionally, sexually, geographically, financially, etc. The idea of expanding horizons still remains. And how does this come about?

2. BOREDOM. Now that's not to say that absolutely everyone becomes bored with everything that they do; but I will be bold enough to call you a liar and a bigot if you claim to have never once felt an overwhelming sense of ennui in any particular moment in your life. But for this rant's sake, I do limit the criticism to those who tire of everyday routine or those who seek excitement and spontaneity (woo for you!). So if you believe yourself to be completely content with your mediocre life, then good for you.

3. And since I just happen to love being vague, the third category will include all problems that you, surely a person of the middle class (higher, lower, doesn't matter), face. Now what could that possibly be, you ask? For starters, one could never be without too much money to pay off several things like your car, the ever-expensive gas that goes into that car, your college education, your clothes that make you look oh-so-chic, the food that you crave at ungodly hours of the day, little luxuries that are subjective to an individual (personally, I enjoy notebook, journals, and sketchbooks), etc. But not only is that one problem. Looking at the social aspects of our insignificant little lives, there always exists tiny problems within relationships between even the best of friends, disgustingly sweet lovers, the most darling pair of mother and daughter, and so on and so forth. Going into the work-/academic-related problems is just asking for a brain aneurysm due to the recollection I will have to undergo in order to create an impassioned point.

It is pretty obvious to almost everyone that there are worse things going on in the world. However, bringing up that point as an argument against someone who chooses to complain will do virtually no good. One chooses to utilize that argument to make the aforementioned complainer to stop. Surely, then, the brute ends his tirade, much to your and everyone else's relief, but it does not erase the tiresome burden of the problems he spoke of.

I do not mean to belittle the "worse things" that are going on in this world right now. If anything, I confess to several times during which I wish for the whine-y fellow to shove it because of complaints of, let's say, "not being able to pay off the two Beamers [he] bought his twin daughters for their sixteenth birthday" (true story, by the way). In no way can a mere observer experience the pain of war, famine, and plague. In no way can a mere reader of newspapers feel the anger and the hate of those who suffer under inflicted political, social, and emotional pain.

But I do not ask for much--not money, not love, not even hate. I only ask for the smallest amount of patience towards a lowly 18-year-old girl and her entrance into a hypocritical reality with no expectations of being able to talk to anyone.