Instant Mami

Instant Mami (Instant Noodles)

Have you ever felt so down in your life? That everything seems to be hopeless? Right now, I am in a total dilemma. I wanted to rectify myself from being lost. It’s early morning now 3:00 am Sunday night of January. I can’t close my eyes and dream the solutions for this inner conflicts. I went up from bed and write instead, re-channeling my confusions and despair into writings. My ego cannot manage enough so I queued in for the defense mechanism called displacement but this isn’t about madness.

After graduating in college in 2005, the real world after is so tough and challenging. Living in the Philippines is so hard for a newly graduate. Competitions and Connections are the two ways to get a job. Competition is common because it happens anywhere in the world. But Connections? Well, you can compete with your credentials but you’ll surely drag down over those who got godfather, uncles, cousins, or distant relatives in general. They were born lucky, and I use to call them “Instant Mami” (Instant Noodles). The dirty culture is a continuous process and it runs from generations. The Philippine laws are more precise to prohibit this dirty practices but the laws seems limited on government agencies (yet I doubt) and just a figures written in paper for private companies.

I was able to find a job in two companies consecutively right after I graduate. Maybe I am lucky enough to have it but I am proud to say I am not an “Instant Mami”. When I quit my job to process something very important for a future career in far away lands. The moment I wake up every morning, I felt the ambiance despair and disappointments when I see the statistics of unemployment rates of the country on TV. I came to realize that I am part of it. I quit because I need to prioritize something. What if I never had a job since graduation, or had a job but never had the tangency from my profession?

There are thousands of graduates every year. But the chance of finding a job is a shoot in a blue moon. Even applying to work abroad requires to have a longer experience. But how can you have that longer experience if you can’t have a job within your country? Luckily, with remedial blessing of this proliferating Call Centers and English tutorials for Koreans started mushrooming every cities. The government even brag this achievements on the Philippine televisions that they can provide jobs for Filipinos. Well, I say thank you so much because our Engineers, Nurses, Pharmacists etc. ended up receiving calls from the U.S. and some become an English Tutors to the Koreans. What kind of country do we have? When will this country provide proper jobs for the degree we earned? When will this country inspire the pupas that the time they explore the world, el dorados of nectars are waiting for them?

I am not an activist. Never in my life I shouted on street protesting against the government. I view life full of hope and understanding. I adhere to the principle that no society, government, or country perfect enough to please its citizenry. I am just a human being who can feel the disappointments in life though not necessarily mine. I am just an ordinary Filipino who noticed something is polluting and savaging each Filipinos' full potential.