One Versus Four

While I was having my lunch break at work today, I was able to talk to an applicant waiting to be interviewed.  We got into talking and since we easily got comfortable with one another, she was able to share some personal things with me.  (Yes, I'm that easy to talk to. Teehee! Or maybe, I'm just plain snoopy.)  She told me that she really needed work right now because she needs the money to pay for her siblings' tuition fees this coming June.  She shared that she was the eldest of five children.  The youngest was in high school.  And I really pitied her because I could just imagine the burden.

I have one child and the worry I have for her needs is truly bothersome.  In her case, she has four Via's to take care of.  And the needs are much more.  She wanted that her siblings have their school supplies ready even before June.  In my mind, I thought that it was going to be a big task for her because April is already ending.  And there is only one more month for her to gather her finances. 

She said her family lives in Marinduque and she was living with her relatives.  She told me that she has to pay three thousand pesos every month to her relatives for board and lodging.  I was secretly mad at her relatives for asking for that much from someone who is still looking for work and who is going to work for her siblings' education in the province.  

We had some relatives living here at home and they are most welcome.  We are lucky that we have some extra blessings to share to them.  I guess they are lucky too because we don't really ask for payment as if they were a business opportunity.

I wish that families don't ask too much if they are helping a relative.  I've known worse families.  I know someone's father who was in the States who stayed in a relative's garage because the relative didn't want to share their home.

I also have an aunt in the States who had three extra bedrooms in their house but refuse to let her sister stay there without paying for board and lodging.  

I hate those who have so much blessings but refuses to share.  I think providing a roof over someone's head is not so much as an inconvenience when you have extra space.  And I truly hate this aunt of ours for doing this to a younger aunt of mine.  It was utterly selfish of that aunt.

Anyway, let's go back to that girl who was ten years younger than I am but was carrying a heavier load on her shoulders.  She told me that her mother was working as a social worker and earning 1500 a month.  And her father was working in Napocor with minimum salary.  I didn't say it out loud but I thought that the mom should find another work.  It's good to help others but not when you're own family needs your help.

I pray that young girls like her would somehow turn successful in the future and will look back at this and find it a good story to tell... just like my own mother's case.