After long grueling weekdays of school work, paper jobs and personal pressures, I usually give myself a treat of mouth-watering finger food along the street—fish balls, chicken nuggets and tempura. This iodine-rich chatting appetizer seems to be every Pinoy’s common food—rich or poor, popular or the never known, married or single and anyone else. Indeed, people differ by taste and this has been proven by many acquaintances I have made in my close friend’s little stall selling this stuff. In my hours of stay in the little resto, I realized that there is something more in the scenario of selling and buying than its usual routine. It dawned to me that there is a deeper expression of life in every customer who drops by.
A young lady for instance, who dropped by to have a ten-peso serve of fish flats came as the first subject of my observation. She wasn’t actually conscious of the length of time before her order is cooked but instead, her head was about to twist 360 degrees in search for someone. In my personally opened conversation, she later on confessed about her desperate feelings for a guy who has never reciprocated her love for him. While enjoying the taste of the fish flats with an extremely hot sauce, she then expressed her hopes and dreams for her love life. I sympathized when I heard the words of regrets and disappointments caused by a man who was never serious over the relationship. We turned out laughing when she imagined the guy dipped in the hot sauce and with her wide mouth and sharp teeth, was crushed into pieces. That was probably a very common scenario but it has taught me a lesson of genuine love and responsibility in managing a relationship. Truly, gone are the days when men mean their words. How many girls must order hundreds of fish flats and tempura just to satisfy their emotional needs? How many more girls must desperately confess their heartaches along the streets because of these unpardonable intentions? My feelings go for the girl whose honesty was never paid off. Her love eventually went spoiled and her story can be remembered as “Memories of Fish Flats”.
A bachelor also touched my heart when he personally shared his rags-to-riches story. He is from a basically poor family and he struggled to college. We went teary-eyed when his story reached to the day of his graduation. At first I thought the exaggeratedly hot-flavored sauce caused the tears but it wasn’t when my emotions really was crushed. This time, the chicken nuggets gave way for us to ponder on life’s possibilities when seasoned with hard work and faith. As a teacher, the boy gave me a tip before I start my lesson and that is, reminding my young, innocent children inside the classroom about the virtues of patience, perseverance, determination and faith. Conclusion: if all the emotionally weak youth will also drop by and eat chicken nuggets there at that place and with the boy as the keynote speaker, truly, we’ll produce more professionals out of encouragement and advice.
Little lessons of life are indeed great treasures of the heart. From the little stall of tempura, fish balls and chicken nuggets, every time I drive home with my bicycle, I am always filled with parcels of truth that no money can buy. This also reminds of the beautiful line from the poem Desiderata and I quote: “…listen to the dull and ignorant, they too have stories to tell.” I am not judging my acquaintances as dull and ignorant but I am generally speaking to everyone’s ability to touch someone’s heart. Hans Christian Andersen once wrote: “Every person’s life story is a fairy tale, written by God’s fingers.” I wish that someday every person will get the courage to tell his story and eventually change this world.
Filipinos are really wise people. They use time wisely—nibbling the fresh cooked tempura while pondering on life’s very essence. Now I know, whatever music my heart beats, it’s only a bike away and there goes a new session of life’s fish balls and chicken nuggets. Go for a bite and celebrate life!
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1 comment:
i miss their fish flats and chicken nuggets too..
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