Monday, September 8, 2014

Be patient: Only God knows the perfect time

  Don't cling. "If a person loves you, 

it's unnecessary. And if he doesn't, why bother?"


That guy and I have met when we were in high school. We were both in the same year level but different sections. I have joined the school newspaper organization as a writer even though I was not enthusiastic about writing articles; he was also one of the members. I found him interesting, probably because opposite attracts, I’m bold and he is silent but I really enjoy being with him. He is out of the ordinary, whenever I see him I melt.(cheesy!!!eer but that's true!)


We've been a high school couple, at that time we were young and immature. Unfortunately our “first” relationship lasted for only a year because we both had to go to college, at first I knew that the love won't fade, so I was confident that after summer vacation he would still be there and we can continue as if nothing happened but there was one thing I failed to do, I didn’t keep in touch with him for two months not knowing that he began to lose hope and fell out of love.It was just like the Korean saying “out of sight, out of mind”. But for me it was not yet the end.

Since we went to different universities, it was hard for me to talk to him but I exerted an effort in order to save our relationship. I’ve waited for five to six hours in front of his university, I stayed near his house, I kept calling and texting him but I got only short replies, I was like a stalker but I didn’t mind that, even though some of my friends were telling me that I was degrading myself. One day, I spotted him with his friends and tried to grab his hands; his face was cold, instead of asking how am I, he just gave a smirk and said “it’s done, can’t you understand?” when I heard that I slapped him and walked away. (ang drama lang ng peg!!!)I didn't bother him from that day on.

It was hard but I set him free. I tried to date other people; however I couldn't get him off my mind. He was so special and nobody could replace him, and for some reason I had faith that he would contact me. I was crying for months but I tried to be as strong as I could. I met different friends, I became happy without him but whenever I pass through those places where we accidentally met,I stopped and looked around hoping that I would meet him again. 

We didn’t have any communication for 5 years. I had a boyfriend but I couldn’t help but to compare them, in spite of the fact that He did something terrible to me. He left me out of the blue but it was difficult to explain why I was still longing for him.

Facebook was really a big help. When I was surfing the internet, I saw my high school batch mates’ pictures they have created a group, so I joined. I searched for his name and added him to my friends’ list. At first I didn’t contact him because I was thinking that he was doing great without me. Until I realized that I was not fully recovered with our break up, I sent him a message but no reply, so I left my number and told him to contact me when he’s free.  After few days I received a message from a number that was not in my phone-book. I didn’t expect it was him since the format of his message has changed(alam ko talaga format text nya before). It took ages before he replied. We exchanged three to four messages but I couldn't be so nice to him probably because I was deeply hurt. 

I thought the reason why I was still looking for him was to make things clear. After few weeks of thinking, I decided to contact him again. At first it was just a casual conversation until we talked about the past. I told him that I was still mad at him. At that time we started to update each other, we noticed that we grew up separately, and now we could communicate better and understand each other like adults. It may sound “corny” but love is sweeter the second time around. We lived our lives separately for five years, now; it’s our 5th year again since we got back together.(Imagine it's been a decade!!!)



The reason why I wrote this story is to tell you that, Never get obsessed, Let them go and give them the space they want. Be patient – only God knows the perfect timing. Sabi nga sa movie "If you love something set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was.”

I am sure that he is someone I want to marry "someday" not now because we still have individual plans for professional development. I guess we were destined to meet. We grew up miles apart so how come we've crossed each other's path? Whatever that reason is, I could care less as long as I'm with him. 

Child Labor


http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/philippines-gold-mines-child-labor-economy
Through my research about child labor, I came up with four major reasons why child labor
exists.

First is the violation and enforcement of laws regarding child labor R.A. no. 1658 is an act
prohibiting the employment of children below 15 years of age in Public and private undertaking. However, it is being violated because it is not being enforced or monitored properly.

For example, in a factory there are thousands of workers, so the workers' profile is often not properly monitored. Sometimes they also intentionally hide child labor because they want to cut back production costs.

Second is Poverty. Due to this, poor children and their families would depend to child labor to attain basic needs. There are many factors to Poverty, if I would explain this further; this paper would not be enough, so I focused only on poverty as the reason for Child labor. Corruption is one of the main reasons why there is Poverty. Corruption in the Philippines is very rampant, that it affects the economic growth of the country. Another reason to Poverty is Unemployment, Lack of opportunities due to lack of education, it leads to having no proper income to obtain basic needs. And lastly is Indolence, a trait influenced by Spaniards. They
http://www.borgenmagazine.com/child-labor-today/#prettyPhoto
conquered the Philippines. They burned a lot of houses and they let the Filipinos work and gain
less money than them. That was the reason why Filipinos became indolent, because they we’re
thinking that even they work hard, it won’t never be enough. Spaniards also introduced siesta,which until now, most of Filipinos are still doing.

Third reason for child labor is access to free education. Though there is an easy access to freeeducation, there are still miscellaneous fees to be paid making it hard for the families to really send their kids to school. There are also failures in the educational system; instead on mandating that all children must go to school, the government allows the families to decide.Most of families would rather have their children to work and bring an income than going to school. Last reason that I came up to is the ethical tradition. In the Filipino community, it’s a tradition for children to obey their parents and elders, because they must compensate as much as possible to reduce the economic burden.


My opinion


Most of the kids who are into child labor came from poor families. I think the best way to end Child labor is to understand its root causes. Poverty is always the main reason of all social issues. Many families need child labor to attain basic needs. If we help these families come out from poverty and get a steady income, I think they would not sacrifice their children to work. However, the government should be the one to support this system and they may not be as enthusiastic about supporting this Idea, perhaps, because they don't have the capability to do so. Since greed and personal interests are also causes of poverty, I guess we should be wise enough to choose a trustworthy leader that would focus on the development of the country and not to steal money from the government. If we eliminate corruption, they would be able to give more opportunities to poor people to have a source of livelihood. It’s very hard for poor people to be emancipated from poverty if the government will remain unsympathetic to them. Chinese proverb says “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.