A reflection on the harshness of life
I saw a post in my feed where a bananaque seller was picking up the thrown bananas (nalaglag yung paninda nya), and then the caption went
“If you think your life is too hard, go out and observe the world.”
This post gave me flashbacks of the Kara David documentaries that I have watched and the real people I came across along the road while commuting.
- I would like to start with the “Graham and salad” vendor. I was walking towards the jeepney stop to commute going home. Then I came across a chicken shop, so I grabbed a chicken fillet worth 15 pesos, a rice worth 10 pesos, and asked for a free soup. I was satisfied and felt happy because I only spent 25 pesos! I saved a lot! Yaaay! Because I was short on budget for that week. After eating, I went out of the shop and continued to walk. Just a few steps away, I could see a lot of vendors selling different stuff, like a mini bazaar beside the bridge. Then a motorcycle rider offered me, ma’am, salad, 20 pesos only. I snooped through his items, and there were still so many 🥺. I just smiled but said no. I felt reallyyy bad. Because I was also saving money at that time. I had a lot of expenses. And I was very full too from eating. I walked straight past him, but I could feel him disheartened. The next day, I didn’t see him selling again. And the following week, I didn’t see him either. I’ve been wanting to buy from him; it’s just that I am saving money too, and I am full. I would always say at the back of my mind that I would buy from him. Hopefully, the next time I see him again, I will surely buy it.
2. Balut vendors I came across on the roads. I could see that in certain areas, they have a slow income, but they are still going.
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3. The tired passengers. Some are standing inside the bus, going home. Others are sitting, eyes closed, consumed by the whole day of work.
4. The street vendors of thrifted shoes, cosmetics, etc. in front of the school where my bus stops. The street vendors in general. Sometimes they don’t have sales and the rain bursts. And I could only imagine how tiring it must be to carry their goods again, packing up to go home, with little to no sales.
5. The elderly people I meet. I could see in their eyes how lonely and tired they were. Yet some of them still need to work very hard 🥺 when they should be enjoying retirement.
6. The poor animals on the street. No proper shelter, no proper food, living a harsh life, cannot even speak for themselves but still managed to be kind to humans. Utterly heartbreaking. Especially when I see one asking for a play or food.
7. Kara David documentaries. What struck me the most was the documentary about the Filipino farmers. One farmer invested 40,000 in cabbages and spent 5 months growing a premium-quality harvest. Unfortunately, not all farmers sell out their harvest. Fully loaded trucks of harvest weighing tons are not sold; they are just thrown into the cliffs. Mind you, these are high-quality cabbages, in tons! The documented farmer was lucky enough to have a buyer for his truck full of harvested cabbages. However, these only sold for 10 pesos per kilo (25 per kilo would mean breakeven). It was heartbreaking to see the farmer holding his tears while receiving 22,000 pesos. This was minus paying the truck (9000), minus paying the packers (400 each, about 2600), paying farmers back home (2800), and other expenses, which left him only 6000 pesos to bring home. That was truly heartbreaking. His family is sunk in 200,000 pesos of debt. This is truly unfair for them.
I realized that my life, although filled with challenges, is still not as bad as others. Observing my surroundings like this helped me to appreciate and be grateful for the privileges that I have. It reminds me to be contented, to be kind, and to pursue good ideals because life is so hard and people could be having the worst day of their lives. Being kind is the least we could do for them.
Just by observing my surroundings, I am truly humbled. I am thankful for the blessings that I have. In a world full of hustlers always going for the next big thing, observing things like this reminds me to count my blessings and be more appreciative of what I have.
