my way or no way

One holiday morning, I headed up north to experience the culture and lifestyle of the province. I lodged in a mediocre hotel and stayed there for 2 nights.   In my short stop there, one significant thing caught up my attention . The entire area forbade smoking. As I entered into a guys toilet, my nose began to smell the strong cigarette smoke. It was really worse. I held my breath and almost did not sniff for a few seconds. As I look onto the wall, a sign was posted: "NO SMOKING."

"It's either my way, or no way." This is a common saying from people who are stubborn. They just think of themselves, thus, they don't mind the welfare of others. As long as it's good on their part even if it risks others, they still push through and enjoy it.

Stubbornness originates from insensitivity. Insensitivity comes from lack of understanding. Lack of understanding evolves from stupidity.    

no cellphone

I had to experience living without voice communication through phone for almost  2 weeks when my mobile phone got blocked and was unusable. The night I knew that my phone couldn't be used anymore, I never  irked nor got angry at someone who played with and accidentally blocked it. I told myself to have it fixed in the customer service center near my home. So, the morning after, I immediately proceeded to the center to have it repaired.

The clerk told me to wait for 10 days before it's going to be fixed. At first, my forehead got creases but I had no choice than to let them fix it. And for 10 long straight days, a mobile phone had been nowhere to find.

In this generation where technology has been becoming a necessity, people grumble if they don't have or get to use a cellular phone. Without it,  it seems like their days aren't complete anymore. Whether for business sake or for personal use, a mobile phone has been a cardinal thing on their pockets. Conspicuously, it has appeared larger than life.

Can you live without your mobile phone?  Have you ever tried not using a cellular phone for a week or two? Test your patience. 

the buck stops with me

"I was not the one who suggested it," a woman shouted in a meeting.

"Neither was I; my bet was the one which was voted out," another woman remarked  while in a meeting.

"It was Ethel's idea. It was only hers, not us," the last person yelled blaming Ethel as the only one responsible for the fall out.

The buck stopped with Ethel.

When something bad happens in a group or team, it is most prominent to expect that no one would like to take the blame. It may happen that someone would pinpoint another as the one responsible for a failure. Or maybe some would likely adjudge someone for not doing good in a circle. Failure is like a ball of hot fire that no one would like to hold so everyone passes it from one to another.

As I turned on the TV, I heard this news about two politicians maligning each other because they were accused of pocketing millions of money intended for a lucrative project in their areas of responsibility. One man pointed out that the other was really the mastermind of the laundering. The other man emphasized that the former took all the money and he got none. They mudsling each other, yet, both were held liable for the wrongdoing.

Would you also tell that it was Ethel's or someone's idea why a project failed in your group? Would you pass the blame to others just to wash your hands from an act you were held responsible?  

wooden peg

I remember a man in my 'barrio' who died of having a lump on his foot.

I was a kid when I got to know this man who enjoyed life in his earlier days. His house was next to my family's and I had some close encounters with this guy. But only one incident shattered his dreams which resulted into his tragic ending.

He went to a field to bathe his buffalo. As he got down from the buffalo from washing its back, he stepped into a small wooden peg. At that moment, it hurt a bit and he thought it was not really something serious. After a week, his sole got hurt again but still he ignored the pain. Months after months, his pains had grown stronger and stronger. He took pain killers to alleviate the pains. But after 2 years of getting some attacks of pain from his foot, he got the shock of his life.

Only after a couple of years he went to see a doctor. Only then he knew that he had a bone cancer. The doctor advised him to have his foot cut and it was removed immediately after. Complications on his foot already spread on to his leg so the pain went up reaching its back which led to the loss of his entire leg. But the cancer cell was so stubborn that it hit his entire body. He was given another two years of medication but the disease was not good to him leading  to his early demise. As he was on his deathbed, he exclaimed this to his mother, "Neglect killed me. It is because of neglect why I turned out like this. I am sorry."