Thursday, July 19, 2007

Expectations and Aspirations

We all have aspirations and expectations in life no matter how minutely inane and insignificant that may be to our other fellow pedestrians. Most of the time, we inappropriately laugh, or plain outright ridicule at the simple dreams of some of us. If you ask your neighborhood "magbabalut" (duck egg vendor) on the spot while you are buying a "balut" or two what his aspiration at that moment is, he would readily say, "sana mabili lahat ng balut ko" (I hope I sell all my duck eggs). Simple, practical, concise. Then what? You may ask yourself. But before you can utter the words, your "magbabalut" would blurt out a litany of his own need why he has to sell as many eggs as he can. Needless to say he might have too many mouths to feed or one of them is sick and he needed the money to provide that very basic need. One will truly admire a pedestrian such as this one, his voice hoarse by shouting "balut" while lugging a basket filled with his precious duck eggs aspiring to sell and expecting that the return for his effort would be fruitful for the night or day. More admirable than those able bodied muggers and crooks who victimize hapless pedestrians. So much more than those men and women in power whose aspirations is make a quick buck and expecting they can get away with murder because of their privileged status in society.

I have been around with lots of different kinds of people in my life and there are still so much more that I have yet to meet. I have been with the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich in this country. Yes I have even broken bread with them in their houses and/or places of business. I have been to their parties or sorties. Socialized with owners of the largest malls and hotels and the scavengers that make a living out of the trash from their establishments. These encounters I will cherish for the rest of my life since I learned and still continue to learn than with all the books that I've read and seminars that I have participated in.

Much has been said about the inequalities of society, and the reason why people do what they do depending on which strata or level they belong to. Not all poor people will resort to illegal means to make a living. Not all rich people are on the moral compass just to preserve their social status. Most of us are indifferent on the goings on since each and every one of us have our troubles to attend to. No matter where you belong to, we are all part of society's machine and we all have our parts to play in this stage called life.

It is in our nature to choose to be either good or bad. That is what sets us apart from the lower species. All living beings has the power of choice. But only us humans can discern between good and evil. We unconsciously have the power within us that can change the aspirations and expectations of other pedestrians around us, no matter how rich or poor, depending on the choices we make.

On this note, it is not impossible to think that the lowly "magbabalut" can eventually influence where Henry Sy will put up his next mall or where that mugger will position himself to literally make a killing without being caught. I will discuss more about how this can be possible in my future blogs.

In the end, no matter how young or how old. No matter how rich or poor. No matter what level of educational attainment one may have, we all have aspirations and expectations in life.


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