A professor of mine mentioned
that when the western culture screams “leave me alone”, the Filipino culture would
say, “don’t leave me alone”. One distinct characteristic of Filipinos is always having companions in doing the most trivial tasks. A lady always needs someone to tag
along with her pursuits, like the comfort room for instance. When buying a
dress, she definitely needs the approval of her friends before deciding on
which piece to take. On the other hand, men tend to court women through their
friends. As the cliché goes, no Filipino men go into battle alone, they often
use human shields…LOL!
After spending quality time
alone, I realized that I didn't feel depressed, low or at loss at any thing. I was
raised to be an independent woman who faces life’s challenges head-on, that means shopping alone, going to school alone, going to girl scout camping alone and more things I already forgot. Never
was I in the habit of asking my friends to accompany me at doing something,
unless we agree on doing something together, for practicality’s sake. Even when
I treat my son on occasions, I am more comfortable going alone with only him
and me, hand in hand. I was never the needy or clingy type, which is often
misunderstood as cold or unfeeling or simply "suplada". It’s just that I am not in the habit of
bothering people with my own business. Call it everything you want, but my
going solo in most things that I do is my personal brand of pride...pride that whatever I have and whatever I will have, besides my family, that's all thanks to ME. Thanks honey
for understanding that.
