Saturday, December 03, 2005

working at a very young age

i was riding on a jeep near the carmen bridge , when a wet, rugged looking kid alighted towards the front seat. He is probably, 8 to 10 years old and he is carrying a wooden box filled with cigarettes and candies. It was already 6 pm and raining hard. He was so wet, yet still managed to smile when the driver ask for a cigarette stick. What a kid....he is supposed to be in school not on the streets selling cigarettes. I can still remember when i was in the same age. I was a grade 3 student in a public elementary school. I sell candies and the locally cocunut made "tira-tira" to my seatmates during classes. And on saturday and sunday, i roamed around Nazareth and Macasandig selling the cacao chocolate "tableya". It makes me smile when i remember that i used to sell my goods first to the girls who has a crush on me in the room. You know, elementary days were quite full of childish infatuations...so i take advantage of it. Sometimes, the girl i visited would cry to her mother begging her to buy my "tableya", just to impress me in one way. Hmmmm...it really make me smile. Im not so much a good looking but there were quite a few girls that appreciates me that time unlike when i was in college (smile!)....Also there was quite a situation when one of the girl's mother did not pay her dues, and i have to visit them everyday asking for the payment. The girl was too embarassed then that she will not come out when im there...i was grade 4, she was grade 3.

However, inspite i was already selling that time, it never occured to me to stop going to school. I was determined to finish my education. That time i always think that the only thing that can make me rich was to become an engineer. I cling to that belief surviving every hardship i experienced in the way. And now i am an engineer..but still not rich....hehehe perhaps theres a time for everything under heaven. I just believe that i have to go on..and never stop until my last breathe.

Sometimes when i see these working street kids, i would think that if only i am a millionare i would build a school exclusively for less fortunate kids only. I was a working student before and it was really hard then. Going to school in the morning and working until dawn. Worse,i was taking up electronics engineering at regular schedules in MPSC. So during class, i really sleep because of stress. Reason why ladies doesnt like me that much before..i was so thin and groggy at all times...hmmm or im just not really good looking hehehe. Perhaps i have to admit na lang.

Well, to end this narrative story of mine, i just want to tell everyone that perhaps education is expensive nowadays, it is the only way we can survive with a little comfort perhaps in this wild world. Work if you want to, but never stop going to school, it is the only next big step you can take apart from working on the streets all morning.

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