Discrimination anyone?

Friday, June 13th, 2008

I arrived the Regional Office of DepEd 12:20pm. All window transactions were closed, and will open by 1pm. So I sloutch on a sofa nearby. I was so tired I fell asleep.I was awaken by the sound of shoes coming near to my seat… it was a newly -rebonded woman who is about 22-23 years old, wearing a blue double-breasted blouse that looks like an office uniform, with her left hand carrying a leather gucci bag and her right, a black portfolio. Probably a liason officer, I thought. She sat beside me, looked at me with a raised eyebrow and began to comb her newly-rebonded hair.

A man overtook my turn to the "Receiving" window. The woman said to me, " Naunahan ka na oh. ". I said, "Oo nga. Ok lang.". The eyebrow raised again. After my transaction done, I said to her, " Mauna na me sa iyo. Your turn na.". The raised eyebrow again.

I wondered why in my mind. But I guessed it’s because of the black tshirt and old maong and the bare face I was wearing. Mukha kasi akong "gusgusin". But this is my favorite attire!

I found out later that the newly-rebonded woman was also my seatmate in the FX home.I greeted her and got a raised eyebrow and snobbish look for a response. "Maldita to!" I said to myself. Moving on the highway, I thought of calling the office and find out some problems that might have existed. In short, nakipag chikahan na lang ako sa aking Registrar… the newly-rebonded woman eavesdropped, and alas! she began to talk to me!and smiled at me!

I hired an employee last week. None of our old employees want to talk to this newly-hired employee, simply because they don’t like her " carakas" or "impression". I felt sad because of that. I assigned her to the lowest position in the workplace, and I found out that I wasn’t wrong in hiring her. She’s determined to work, in any kind of work and she’s patient and cooperative as well, in that lowest position, she didn’t mind it! She thanked me for trusting her. And I’m glad I was able to help her even a little.

Discrimination is an illness of the spirit that hurts not only the person who does it but also the person who receives it! Nowadays, looks terribly are deceiving. You can’t trust it to tell you his/her real personality. It’s not enough that we are only good to our own kind… there’s no reward in that. That’s natural! We have to extend to others who are lesser than us.Sometimes, a person is discriminated because of his/her past deeds that maybe are unacceptable to the people. Many commit the "holier than thou" attitude, and mistaken it for real holliness. Walang pinagkaiba kay Padre Damaso! Wala! Wala nga! Hayy..

Kindness is the antidote for discrimination. Next time, I’ll buy a new black tshirt and a new maong. : )