slacker mommy files

    Tonight, Leejay and I ate out. We ate in Bigoli in Trinoma around nine-ish and we saw this child about seven years old trying to discreetly sell sweets among the diners in the restaurant.

    Our initial thought was “Where in the world is this boy’s parents? Why are they making him sell these candies this late at night?” and we went on discussing about how those poor boy’s parents be so callous or the idea of abuse. After dining, we saw the boy leave the restaurant, so we kinda followed him to see who was with him. What we saw made us change our earlier opinions.

    They were four in the group, two young boys and two girls barely out of their teens. They were all carrying small shoulder and tote bags containing sweets for sale, and they all seemed to be siblings. I was ashamed for jumping into conclusions. It may be that the parents have no idea what these kids were doing aside from taking a stroll in the mall. It might be that these kids were just trying to augment the family income in one way or another. It is still mere conjecture but it’s a whole different story from the one we initially thought.

    Another event happened tonight that prompted this post. I got a text message from my brother, Phil. he was having some domestic problems with his girlfriend, Shell, and her daughter, Lynn. As a person, my brother is very passive and he often stands as arbiter between arguments. It just so happened that his girlfriend was scolding her daughter through her exam reviews and he was kinda having too much of it. In the end, he ended up getting beaten by his Shell and he was contemplating about leaving them and going back to my parents.

    Being married myself, I told him that he shouldn’t do that, since he committed himself into being part of that family. I told him not to run away from them since it would be unfair, especially to Lynn.If Lynn is having problems with her mother, he should be the one to be there for her, to pick her up and make her smile. Also, he has to take his responsibility to that family seriously. He’s not getting any younger.

    Responsibility. Who would have thought that such a small word could bear so heavy a burden. It is very easy to say it, but many would attest on hard to live by it. Some of us would take up responsibility for things that are not ours to start with, like those siblings in the mall; while others would try and run away from it when it gets to heavy to carry.

    I admit that I am not the most responsible of persons. Indeed I am quite irresponsible, especially during my late teens to early tweens. but I am all that i can to better myself and to take responsibility for my family, my actions, my life. It is not easy. It is never easy, but we can only try to live up to that responsibility. I just wish my brother would finally have to courage to face up to his.