Of Laughter and Ants and Cooking Oil

Just finished reading an article about our (us Filipinos) aloofness and at times—disrespect to people of another country. Like my late father, I have always shared some mistrust towards the Americans since there’s some reason for it, but I have always said that—like my father—there’s no reason to revile them just as well. He even quoted one writer who said that “Rudeness is a weak man’s imitation of strength.” That means we need not be unfriendly to prove some sort of point.

Like before, I maintain in what I believe, that: a person who tends to be indifferent to another person of a different race would not gain anything but hate. Now, if you know of someone who attempts to malign you of your beliefs and culture, look the other way—it’s just more peaceful and it prevents you to start a fight (as wars are usually started). Therefore, simply make the other person cringe in frustration because you didn’t even to bother to react from his invectives and let him lead to an outburst of sorts.

Now, speaking of the Americans (because it was mentioned), there are only two Americans whom I’ve known personally, and had been friends with in my 28 years (I hear protests) of existence in this world: my college friend, Anthony Powers; and my sister’s boyfriend (they’re now engaged), Jim.

I can say that not only are Americans hardworking people, but they also love humor. We Filipinos are known to be lazy and it just feels wrong that we blame the tropical weather for it, and knowing or befriending an American has lots of advantages with regards to recoiling from our usual bad habits and learning a thing or two on how to laugh more even from our own follies.

However, it goes beyond that, and humor has no boundaries whatsoever. In fact, many say that laughter really is the best medicine—I mean, well because of laughter I look the same way I did ten years ago, although my liver does not perform the same way anymore plus the fact that I used to have a very sharp memory. At any rate, yesterday—or last night—while multi-tasking (frying different chicken parts, browsing the Reader’s Digest, drinking San Mig Lites, and smoking), I decided texting some friends with one funny piece from “Laughter, the Best Medicine.” It went like this: “Ants can carry 20 times their own weight, which is useful information if you need help moving a potato chip across town.”

The best reply was from Jimmy, who texted back, “See you next Sunday (for the Pacquiao-Diaz fight). Bring 80,000 ants. We need help with the San Mig :-)” You see, quips like these can really find you forgetting stress, and the multi-tasking thing.

One time, many years ago during college, I was with my pal Anthony Powers, when, after scoring some reefers from this guy named Nog-nog who operated as a clandestine “takatak boy,” Powers (who we fondly called), decided to visit his sidewalk repair dude friend, Mang Badong. When he inquired about how the repairs on his worn-out leather shoes went, Mang Badong, answering in a very polite manner, said “Anthony, mahirap nang magawa itong sapatos mo, hindi na kayang matahi ito kasi nabulok na yung banda rito sa swelas at matigas pa (Anthony, we’ll be having a hard time fixing your shoe since the leather around the soles have gotten rotten and stiff).”

Attempting to find another solution for it, Powers suggested (with that New Yorker’s twang), “Mang Badong, pwede pa ‘yan—lagyan mo lang ng cooking oil para lumambot. (Mang Badong, you can fix it, all you need is a liitle cooking oil to soften it).” Getting a little annoyed (but still sporting that smile of his), Mang Badong said, “Malabo na talaga Anthony, kahit lagyan pa natin ng langis yan mahihirapan talaga itahi. (Anthony, it’s really useless, even oil can’t solve it since there isn’t much more to sew).” Now, here’s when Powers quickly shot back, “Mang Badong, lagyan mo ng oil tapos lutuin mo tapos kainin mo nalang. (Mang Badong, apply some oil then cook it, after which you can eat it).

:-)