Unbounded

Good evening my dirty little city, it’s nice to be back.

Tonight will be a little different – no mushy entries, just pressing issues.

From the point of view of someone who’s born a Roman Catholic, who traces his roots in Mindanao, who was schooled in an Evangelist Protestant primary and secondary institution, whose father is a practicing Buddhist, and of course, was proselytized in college, being pious means just as much as being confused. So, for the sake of this entry, I’d like to better orient myself at the moment as a non-denominational Christian.

Now, can we talk about your religious convictions?

You know, it’s been a while since my mum pulled and nagged me to accompany her to go to Quiapo, and I miss that. I miss going to the mass with her (and get dizzy while in the middle of the service since there’s poor air circulation), buy red candles and red wax figurines for my late grandparents, shop around for the cheapest vegetables, and browse around at the newest collection of pirated media. Basically, I miss being immersed in that gritty masa (common people) environment.

Commuting to Tutuban, Divisoria Mall, 168 (which I have to embarrassingly admit that I haven’t been there yet) don’t count.

I also cannot stop reminisce about this instant message conversation that I had with a particularly interesting and articulate friend (whose name I’m not mentioning) about her religious beliefs, her ambitions, as well as her frustrations, and our opinions on what’s going around with the community. She’s a very devout Christian - kind, good spirited, and very eloquent. She writes, and she’s the type of gal that’ll leave you feeling good every time you think of not only her, but also of the abstract thought of how she thinks (i.e. depth of personality). And of course, definitely one who you would be proud to be bringing to dinner with your parents.

So as not to digress, since I’m getting carried away, part of our conversation was on… yup, you’ve guessed it, That national cry for 700,000 homes in 7,000 sites in 7 years.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the organization per se. In fact, I’m all for it. It’s a very ambitious vision and it tries to reach its goal nobly - In theory.

I volunteered myself to help build a home once.

I was an eager child then, eyes gleaming with youthful vigor, ready to make a difference in the world. Armed with my semi-leftist mentality, I went into this program orientation.

Needless to say, my expectations of philosophy sharing, exchanging, and were raped when I was initially confronted with a prayer session. Worship songs, zealous members passionately exclaiming their love for the Lord, and sharing of secrets.

My turn came. Because of my background, I was not familiar with any Catholic prayers/rituals so I hesitated. I mentioned my background to them and that I’m a little reserved when it comes to this (I’m a Roman Catholic but I’m not comfortable with sharing to them then), and I’d prefer to orient myself as a non-denominational Christian at that time. This was frowned. The youth leader insinuatingly bashed the Evangelist Protestants by saying being a Roman Catholic is so much more fun.

Let’s pause for a while. Where the hell’s the orientation? I definitely did not volunteer myself for this.

Now mind you, the problem that I’m pointing out is the people that make up the organization, not the organization. This is definitely the unfortunate case for our school chapter as the organization is under care by our YFC group. Again, a victim of the situation.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t that many volunteers from the Muslim, nor from the Protestant community. I, based on my personal experience would definitely not choose to be affiliated to one organization wherein the environment would frown upon you if you were different. On the other hand, I would be pessimistically surprised if these charismatic youth leaders (with their blind, half-wit donkey followers) would attempt to approach the “marginalized” religious community and invite them to have a healthy supercommunity of people towards a common good.

I'm sorry. Is that too harsh an observation for you? Does that sound too much like the truth?

I have the utmost respect towards my fellow unrepresented for not making a fuss about it, and seeing everything from a good light. Huge respect to them.

In all honesty, Meloto’s bold vision of selfless dedication to our fellow countrymen is something we should support. In fact, I’m urging all you people with nothing better to do, or to all you people with time to spare, to give a little of your time, to give a little heart, to give a helping hand, to build. Not only of houses, but homes, communities, and most importantly, a better future.

The humble idea unfortunately is skewed and more so blurred because it’s dripped with religious bias. But understanding where he came from, that his background was religious in the first place, I guess we all have to contend with its “original sin”.

Just be smart enough to understand the core value of the community building organization and discern what activities are relevant/irrelevant.

To end, a quote from HL Mencken comes into mind: “The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians”.