19/10/2017
I grew up in a very small town in the Philippines during a time when everyone treated each other like family. We went outside to play with neighbors; we got dirty and we ate whatever our nanay cooked. We ate adobo, pansit, fried chicken, tinola, paksiw na isda, tocino, nilaga, ginataan, bola-bola, tinuto, daing, chorizo, turon and lots of fruits and vegetables.. We played piko, tumbang preso, softball, patintero, syatong, taguan, jackstones. We bathe when the rain was heavy and we caught gurami fish in the canal. We could take a walk in the streets and ride our bicycle (with no helmet) around. We weren't AFRAID OF ANYTHING BUT OUR ELDERS. We were taught RESPECT FOR OTHERS AND THEIR PROPERTY. As a child you didn't speak if an adult was talking. We called our parents' friends Tito and Tita, never their first name because that was disrespectful! If someone had a fight, it was a fist fight - kids didn't have guns when we were growing up. When it got dark we knew it was time to go inside. Occasionally, we stayed out to catch fireflies. We loved going to school because we had loving and caring teachers and we got to see our friends. We watched our mouths around our elders because we knew if you DISRESPECTED any grown up you would get a spanking! We need to get back to those times because we're losing our children to a society with no respect for authority, no compassion for others. Ang magandangg kaugalian ay dapat pinananatili kahit ito ay galing sa lumang kapanahunan.