Day 29: Fading flare

"If you don't stick to your values when they're being tested, they're not values. They're hobbies."

Hello Readers,

It’s certainly been some time since I last write. Honestly, I need to get back to being productive and being busy. It’s an amazing feeling, yet sometimes lauded at. Because of the need for such adrenaline, I decided to fly back home to avoid boredom and lethargy. Well, it’s been good and bad. But what’s been good and bad is a story for another day, or maybe never. Who knows?!

Anyways, earlier, I ran into an old friend from elementary school, and not in a way I would expect. It was around eight and I’m hungry, so I climbed on my bike and rode around the neighborhood for some food. I settled on a street food cart selling broken rice (broken rice is amazing!! Trust me!! Try it!! I’ll even buy you fish sauce!!). I sat down and a shattered voice came from above my left ear. I look up and in front of me stands a young and tanned girl wearing a casual T-shirt and torn jeans. It took me a while to realize her, yet I never told her that I was that guy running around elementary school with a tennis ball throwing at every guy I saw. She asks me what I would like, I told her what I want to eat and everything went like it’s supposed to. I looked at her during the whole meal nonetheless. I saw her running around from tables to tables and grabbing plates after plates. I saw her apologizing to other assholes for something that is not even her responsibility. I saw her made fun of, yet she is determined to please them.

She didn’t have any other choice. After the meal, I told her who I were, and we started talking. Her mom couldn’t make it pass the winter with some disease that is very much curable, but impossible for the family to afford. Her father forces her to give up on college and her dreams to help him out with the “business”, if you even can call it that. She told me she still has her essay the date her mom died, which, ironically, was about the notion that whether wishes can come true. She argued yes. And she held on to that argument now.

Sometimes, the fiercest fire is the one that is derived of oxygen and seems all but buried and dead, only when you remove the lid, it’s exploding and sparkling and shining through the night. It’s sad but yet, only the people in such difficult spot are able to retain the most valuable morality code. I live in a country where saying corruption is an issue would definitely be a massive understatement. Amidst all the negativity, I’m glad to find the little flares waiting to be reignited again, fueled by their values and sparked by their hope and dreams.

For that friend, I offered to take her to get dinner at a decent restaurant. She declined. She said I don’t have to feel sorry or pity about it. She said everyone is going through hardship and she’ll get over it. Then she smiled with her yellow-stained teeth and walked away to the never-ending list of demands. I hope all of her wishes come true. But more important, even if they don’t, I hope she keeps the precious values that she holds near her heart for the rest of her life.

Appreciate life.

                                                                                                                        Love Always,