deciphering the gap

sometimes at work or in any social scene in the london network, i always overhear various points to ponder. why there is such a huge edifying divide amongst the different colors? why are individuals bound by stereotypes? if our professional hive is multi-cultural by nature, how come most people cannot embrace the most minute of differences? what's the paranoia all about?

i admit it's difficult to picture life at its hardest and its poorest when one has romped in the niceties of first world living. but i've grown up seeing and observing poverty. cutting my teeth in the grade school situated next to urban tenements and getting exposed to the after-effects of the daily ravages of an inefficient government where only one percent of the population benefits from institutionalized corruption have left even the most avid nationalist disenchanted. a blue-collar reality in RP leads in more ways than one to a pauperized existence. there are no food stamps, no job seekers allowance from the government, no comfort-housing, no free health care. but despite all the knocks and the rippling effects of escalating rice prices, the populace persevere through the hardships.

although heralded to uplift and feed both the body and soul of a nation, the hardworking pinoy who became part of the diaspora walks the fine line in the diurnal struggle to a disparate continent. to most and to some, that remains an arduous task. work is not only humdrum and uninspiring but also a battle of wills that brings nothing but grief and anguish. the transplanted worker toils for more than a few extra pennies. probably because growing up surrounded by grinding poverty was a tougher reality than a dicken's tale.