life is ironic

Posted by Analyse at 6:54 PM

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

LIFE IS IRONIC. SOMETIMES, IT FORCES US TO MAKE A CHOICE, WHEN IN FACT, THERE IS NO CHOICE.

I have read this passage somewhere and that captured my attention and left me wondering about the irony of it. It may sound pessimist for some but a lot of us, in one point or another, could relate with this biting truth.

I will share to you a story of a friend who dreamt of having a better life with his chosen career but ended up tilling the lands - somebody else's land.

His family belonged to the lower class of our society - his father was a carpenter and his mother busied herself with farming jobs during planting and harvest seasons. As he was the bunso (youngest) in the family, his parents and his siblings decided to send him to school inspite of the financial difficulties. It was the only means to alleviate their social status.

Manila schools were of course out of the question, hence, he did a computer related study in our province's capital, thinking it will be a job of the future. Everybody in the family shared the same dream - a diploma - providing them motivations to work more.

Hélas, the diploma was on hand. It was time for him to prove himself in the real world. Unfortunately, he never landed in any job related to his line of profession. What was the problem?

Was he not competent enough?

I don't know. I don't think anybody could really answer that. He was never given the chance to prove his worth anyway. He was just exposed to the blatant discrimination of our society. A graduate from a never-heard school in a far away province trying his luck in the busy streets of Manila, who would hire him? Of course there will be some who would say, I was in the same shoes before and I nevertheless succeeded. Of course, of course. Lucky you. But were you really in the same shoes? He was a graduate of the new millennium when competition was stiff and discrimination was rampant.

And yes, to be positive, he triggered some small time jobs in Manila in order to sustain his basic needs...as a karpentero, kargador, waiter sa bar...

Did he exert enough effort to find a job?

Much more than you could imagine. Every CV and motivation letter he sent represented hard-earned pesos for him. Every refuse letter was a disappointment not only for him, more so for his family. Not only his stay in Manila was unproductive, most importantly, it was costly. He then decided to go home to the province - to work as a karpentero, kargador, waiter sa bar...but this time, less the charges.

Was he a loser?

I don't think so. The fact that he gave up in finding a job in Manila doesn't make him a loser at all. It was just the most practical choice at that point. He had no capital, he knew nobody, there was no opportunity - all these circumstances pushed him to move on and find another opportunity somewhere else.

Did he have the choice?

If you couldn't relate at all to his story, that means that you belong to the Elite Filipinos of our country. If you never heard of such kind of story, that means that you frequent the Elite Filipinos of our country. If you refuse to accept that such situations exist in our country, then I tell you, you've been dreaming for so long and it's time to wake up!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the most sobering experiences I had happened near Luneta park, when I was with a foreigner friend. A taho vendor came up to us, begging us to buy some of his taho because one of the guards in Luneta had just harassed him and threatened to call the cops if he didn't hand over the money he'd made.

The foreigner was a bit embarrassed by the whole situation so she half-turned away. The man became angry and asked her, "Don't you want to speak to me? Do you think I can't speak English? I'm an engineer!"

It was like a slap in the face for me... the realization that this guy had probably worked so hard just to finish his studies, and here he was - unable to use his skills, hawking taho, barely making a living, bullied by guards. It was a glaring example of how bad the situation in the Philippines has become.

Anonymous said...

awww! sad but true, life really is unfair at times. :(

Analyse said...

trivia..arrgh...that's disgusting! it just shows a simple measure of how opportunities lack in our country..

in the hiring process of one of the biggest industry in the philippines, i was kinda knocked by their blatant discrimination. the atmosphere was cool and formal in a reknowned hotel in makati. there were around 200 applicants present (they were pre-chosen already to limit the number) to take the exam. after the exam, they asked us to wait for the announcement of the result and after less than 10 minutes, they eliminated 15O applicants! among the 50 applicants retained, only 3 universities were represented - the big engineering schools in manila.

i was wondering if those young engineers present (there were not a lot) who were graduates of not-so-famous engineering schools from all over the philippines forgot their physics, chemistry and mathematics during the exam - the basic subjects!

or were we too competitive? ehem..

Anonymous said...

sad, but true. disgusting, also. :-(

-kala

Analyse said...

kala, it was really disgusting..it's like we're closing the doors of opportunities for them.

another example i see in my province is the education degree. for those who have lesser revenus, it's the most accesible as a college was built in our town itself. so now, we are super saturated with unemployed teachers and those who are first in line are of course those who have padrinos :(

mell ditangco (this is my pseudonym) said...

my brother owns internet cafes and computer stores in the provinces... he actually gets OJTs from computer schools; have them do networking, maintenance of computers, assembling PCs, diagnosing PCs, etc... Some of them become full time employees after they graduate. some have gotten enough experience from my kuyas businesses that they eventually have gotten jobs in manila.

did your friend try to get a job in the province? did he try to get an OJT during school?

maybe he will have better luck in the provinces? my kuya says he has a lot of competition in the provinces... that would lead me to believe the availability of work in the provices...

mell ditangco (this is my pseudonym) said...

hey, guys... cheer up... :)

Bokbok said...

Hi Analyse,
'glad to have found your blog...

Yes, I know what you mean for I don't belong to the Elite Filipinos in our country. I didn't have rough times finding a job before maybe because I was just in the right place at the right time.

Your friend and my sister are in the same boat, she finished college 4 years ago and is currently going through the same problem. She's already sick and tired of these seasonal/contractual jobs. >_<

Bonne journée,
boks ^_^

Analyse said...

mell, i hope there are a lot of entrepreneurs like you in my province. sad to say that computer business is not 'in' there, a friend of mine started one but didnt really expand, lack of clients.

bokbok, hmmm, cute name hehe...should i say 'glad that you found me'...bienvenue...can i link you up?

my sister too experienced the same difficulty, she found a job 6 months after school...i guess she's on a permanent position now, buti naman!