Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Simple Joys

I again realized the simple joys of Life via a trip to Camaya Coast beach. This isn't about the usual trip to the beach though.

It was about 7 in the morning and our coaster (care of work) was roaring through a near empty Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway. I was sleepy, like most of the media people in the van, having to get up early so as not to to be embarrassed by our 5.30 call time. However I chose to defy the gravity that were calling on my eyes to sleep some more. So as to look at in awe what nature still has left. Mountains(don't know what) and rivers and plains of ricefields lovingly pictured by my seat window.

It was about 7 in the morning and yet people were already tending to their fields. Farmers ordering their pet to probably pick up the phase. Children laughing, from afar, probably to go to school. The carabaos, still a form of transportation, pulling some things.

I wondered if my brother can still remember the days back when we would go swimming in our province in knee deep water where we would often be joined by tadpoles (hahah,. totoo!)

'A sense of progress', this phrase struck me the most when another writer noticed a jollibee in Bataan and commented that the place has a sense of progress. I only got to talk to the writer for a few minutes and I really haven't delved into his views as to what progress is and to how is a place ready for tourism. All I know is that he doesn't like Boracay now because of the social pressure. Which i agreed to, it defeats the purpose of vacationing. (but that's another topic)

I mean how would you know if a place is indeed civilized of in progress. Does a fastfodd chain serve as a marker? Or probably a high technology of defense system? When the Spaniards came they easily made a fool out of us because they had guns? Can a gun compare to an arrow?

Can you say that you are more civilized even though the people had already a method of doing things their own way. I'm not saying no to progress. I'm not saying that a tractor shouldn't replace a carabao (give the carabao a break). I'm not saying that i should be writing this in hand or typing in a typewriter instead of a keyboard with the joy of a backspace key.
All I'm saying is---don't fix what isn't broken.

-----I think one reason why our Filipino culture and the Filipino indigenous tribes are slowly fading is because of our acceptance of the Western way of life.

How I, would someday love to live in a nipa hut, just somewhere near a sea coast without a block of cement nearby.