Good Life Comes with Hardships

I was not born from a wealthy family, where everything that I might possibly need or desire can come to me on a silver platter. I do not have an option to stay off from work because my family does not have other means to sustain our needs. I have to pick and carry my own cross, more so carry the crosses of others because they see that I am able to do so, and they feel that they can't carry their's on their own.

"Good life comes with hardships" that's an idiom in our culture. I believe that there are truths in it, but it can also be a truism. It is both motivating and uninspiring. The idiom is also wise and contrastingly idiotic. It also charges a ridicule to those who fail to value hardships and those who are idle.

A good life is a pleasant condition and it is possible for everyone to attain. It is that state of life that everyone one surely desires. Our personal vision of this pleasing quality of life drives us to commit our mind and body unto it. So it is wise to see and capture all opportunities that will get us there. Then we push and strain our bodies and mind because we want to have a good life.

The wise says good life comes with hardships. So in my younger years, I studied hard, and in my working years, I worked hard. But, then I realized we don't really need to be doing things hard. Our masochistic tendency is justified by the seemingly truthful idea that hardships are necessary for a good life. On the otherhand, our sadistic tendency drives us to bring upon our hardships to others who enjoy a good quality of life because they are able to manage it so well.

Hardly do we understand that a good life is possible without hardships, without exhibiting masochism or sadism. The classic Socratic philosophy says that the end of sorrow is joy. This should inspire us to see that there is an end to hardships, but this does not say that we should be sorrowful in life to have joy. Those who are afraid of hardships never really get a good life, just the same as those people who can't find the best tools and strategies that will make their life easy.

Those who squander in a pitiful state of life believe that it is their destiny and so they accept they have to live with it and be happy with it. This thinking undermines our potential to be great, to excel and to succeed. A good life is a reward for hardships. But not all hardships end successfully rewarding, more so if life is so hard on you because others only think of what would be easy for them and not for you.

I associate the win-lose thinking to the id of the saying that "good life comes with hardships". Life can be more enjoyable and easy if we think win-win instead. This should translate to our behavior of being happy with other's successes and helping other's succeed in their life. To our personal state, we should be looking for the best means to overcome our hardships, by being responsible and committed to our own success but not to the detriment of others.

Born in the Year of the Rabbit

I was born in the year in the Rabbit, the chinese calendar say's so. The Chinese zodiac can be understood in hermeneutics, that is considering constructed realities based on traditional beliefs of a cultural group of people.

Chinese hermeutics believe that Rabbits are playful, creative, wise, agile, competitive and clever. I have subjected myself to believe that horoscopes are but coincidental. But taking into consideration the labor of men who brought all these together, I could not just ignore it because it is so rich as a cultural text.

Psychology also has its own system of classifying and describing individual personalities. Sociology also takes from science in understanding social and cultural diversity of groups of people.I don't have big pair of ears, no whiskers, no paws, and no furry skin, my tail isn't that up always. Rabbits too have big sexual appetite, which I've lost years ago.

But I am fascinated with the knowledge in this cultural texts of Chinese Zodiac, many of the descriptions that they have for those born in the year of thre rabbit just fit my personality traits. It's amazing for me, that I suspect that this had been a product of research, like maybe they are the earlier versions of psychological differentiation of human personality.

I remain cynical though. However, again I am to consider that astrology in the history of human civilization is part of metaphysics from which physics and other sciences were brought forth. The knowledge of ancient astrology can not simply be totally debunked.

Now, considering my faith and my humble understanding of human nature, I am affirmed that we are creatures of varied traits. Those traits that one possesses may be inherent to anyone or maybe everyone. We just don't notice, because we only pay attention to what we really want to look at and we are influenced so much by the desire of esteeming our self.

As an individual, I am a product of what nature brought me, what I brought upon my self and what others even those before my times contributed to my development. I am created, therefore, not by the alignment of the stars, but with how I put those stars in the alignment I want to so I can see my life path better. Now, the people around me, whom I share my self also have their share in recreating me, and I too in them.

I am who I am not because the calendar says it so. I haven't stumbled upon a scientific research yet, that our personalities are determined by year or date of our birth. I'd rather consider genetics, social interactionism, constructivism and cultural learning as more fitting perspectives to understand our individual uniqueness.

MRT or LRT?

I have two options en route to UP for my PhD, from Taft Avenue. I can go north or south, but both have its advantages and disadvantages, and from a commuter the difference between the two are clear, simple and even stupid.

South-bound, I have to take LRT1, get off at EDSA station, do some window shopping or snack at MetroMall if I have time. Since, I am most often in a hurry, I skip the latter in my itenerary. Besides, in peak hours taking the MRT even from its first station is a struggle. I get used to it though, because its the same thing in LRT1 at peak hours.

Rarely, that I can get a seat in LRT1. It takes one to be swift, alert and sturdy as a wrestler to aboard the train. One should be ready for a literal face off, and switch off his nostrils to avoid the pungent breath, arm pits and body sweat from other passengers. Body to body, its like mixed martial arts being sardined inside the LRT1 coach. There are more passengers than the space could take.

The worst things one could experience in this commute, aside from delays are faulty air conditioning and being sexually taken advantaged. Humps and bumps go with some forms of ass rubs and ball grabs. Another thing is the chance of losing your valuables from snatchers and pick pockets. My commute from LRT1 to Quezon Avenue via MRT takes a lot of time, but I learned to enjoy what it feels to be human inside a heavily packed train.


North-bound, I have to take the LRT and get off at Doroteo Jose. From Vito Cruz to Central Station, I get to enjoy scenery of Manila striding to progress, and a lot of greens especially over the Rizal Park area. From Carriedo to Doroteo, my mood swings to despair, as I see old buildings unattended and vacated if not condemned. The walkway to Recto Station of the LRT2 is a sourly open irony that pinches my heart.

The Manila City Jail seats there around a thick population of informal settlers, and in the background the FEU building, some other commercial buildings and the tall structure of the LRT2 Terminal. The commute from here to Katipunan is much smoother and I have higher chance to get a seat. Here, I learned of the difference between the MRT and the LRT.

Reviewing my notes from the class, I was interrupted by the loud conversation of two passengers who stepped in from Legarda station. One man bolsters to his companion, "You know this LRT is like the train in Singapore, it's big unlike the MRT". The other guy was surprised to know that trivia, and probably must be proud of what he heard. The first man continues: "Because the LRT means Large Rail Transit, and the MRT is Medium Rail Transit, that's why the MRT is smaller".

Huh!? I would have believed him, if I don't get squeezed in LRT1 and if LRT2 has guranteed seats always. I must be wrong to learn that MRT stands for Metro Rail Transit and the LRT as Light Rail Transit, or had the government changed its name to go with the fare hike?