L.C. Clark's Blog, page 12

Be Kind to Your Eyes

   We spend a lot of money on shampoo for our hair.  We pick the latest and most beneficial depending on our hair texture.  The same goes for the skin, from lotion, toner, facial mask, dermabrasion, all the way to facelift surgery.  The feet gets expensive signature shoes.  
   What do we do for our eyes?  The one organ that leads us through life is the most neglected.  We order prescription glasses when we are forced by necessity.  Ladies batter their eyes with tons of makeup, from powder or cream shadows to mascara, to heavy fake thick lashes attached with glue.  Then they remove everything with a chemical called eye makeup remover.
   The use of eye makeup started in Biblical era (2 Kings 9:30).  Cleopatra is portrayed in history and movies based on her life as big on eye makeup. From: http://www.newyorker.com/ The Filipina caught on when American cosmetics arrived in the Philippines.  Still in the 50’s, lipstick was the most commonly used.  Revlon was my mother’s brand.  Mine is Maybelline.  My daughter’s is whatever catches her attention.
   We spend on cellphones, cover them with glitters and all it could say is what we type.  The window to the inner person, the eyes, transmit involuntary messages like anger, fear, love, etc. that even the best trained actor can’t fake.  Our eyes can speak volumes in a glance.  It reflects the person’s racial identity through color and shape.  Even babies who can’t say a word show intelligence with their eyes.  The eyes show compassion towards others better than money changing hands.  
From: wikimedia.org   If the eyes could complain, what would it say?  I heard mine speak to me.  Now, I wash my eyes daily with a couple of drops of Visine at the end of the day and in the morning as soon as I get up from bed.  That’s not too expensive considering that the eyes age without discoloration.  Blue eyes will be blue from cradle to grave.

See also:My Mother's Generosity Who Created Sunday The God of the Poor

The Nice Guy

From: http://www.pets4homes.co.uk/   My mother taught us not to hurt rats or curse or call them names.  She insisted that we call the creatures “mabait” instead of rat or mouse.  Mabait means ‘nice guy’ in English.  Some people chase rodents with a broom or any weapon around the house.  Mother said we are to dispose of the rodent inflicting as little pain as possible.  She said rodents are to be treated kindly or else they will retaliate by eating holes in your socks.  To emphasize the point, she said that even if all our socks are kept in the same drawer, the mouse will only eat the sock that belonged to whoever said something offensive.
      I have not had any encounter with a rodent since I was a child until this past Saturday.  I took out the garbage and failed to close the screen door.  A ‘mabait’ managed to slip through the door.  That night my daughter and I were watching television when she heard an unfamiliar sound.  She checked it out and found the mabait eating a hole in the loaf of bread laid out on top of the microwave.  The rodent ran off to hide.  We cleaned up the kitchen of exposed food and swore to never again leave dirty dishes on the sink. 
   That night, I was terrified the rodent would eat holes in our clothes.  We got too careful about closing our bedroom doors while I figure out what to do to get it out the door.  The next morning, Sunday, I went to my religious meeting.  I picked up an elderly member on the way.  During the ride, I mentioned my problem with the mabait.  She suggested a product I have not heard of before, a kind of glue that sticks to rodents not kill it.  After the meeting I went looking for that glue.  I found it and laid it around the house that night.  
   Overnight, the mabait has been caught.  I didn’t think it would be so quick.  Over breakfast, I marveled at the efficiency of the glue and reminded myself to thank the sister for bringing it to my attention.  I heard the mabait make some baby noise, it was just a baby, judging by its size.  I thought it was trying to ask for help.  I had the urge to buy it a cage and make it a pet.  My daughter feared that I might do just that.  I put it in a bag and dropped it in the trash outside.  I leave its future in God’s hands.
See also: Pets for the Poor Wisdom of Birds Nature's Toys

Sesame Street versus Ibarra St.

   In the late 50’s and early 60’s in Pasay City, Philippines children played in the street.  Homes with television were few.  Children with no television set at home watched by peeping through windows of neighbors.  Shows were created for adults.
From: www.toysperiod.com   Along Ibarra Street, we played with trumpo or tops as it is called in English.  The contest was to break each other’s tops by hitting it with the metal pin while spinning on top of it.  That may sound barbaric but the exercise honed the kid’s survival or killer instinct.
From: thumbs.ebaystatic.com   We played with Teks cards.  Each child has a designated card to represent the owner.  The bunch was flipped in the air and the card that comes down face up wins.  The owner of the winning card was paid in cards by the losers.  Eventually the one who has won most of the cards gets to sell some to the losers for money, nickel and dime.  This game fostered cunning.
From: cdn.empowernetwork.com   We had pocket wars between neighborhoods fought with tirador or slingshot made from a Y shaped tree branch with bullets made of folded paper bent into V shape or pebbles.   This could actually hurt but whoever complained to the adults will not be welcomed in the game again.  We nursed our wounds and moved on to fight another day.  This game taught sportsmanship, teamwork and loyalty to the team.

   By the late 70’s I was a mother of three.  The world became more dangerous.  I became paranoid.  We left Ibarra Street for the more tranquil Tahimik Street in Imus, Cavite.  Tahimik literally means silent.  I kept my children indoors.  I stocked up the freezer with Magnolia products so they didn’t have to go out for ice cream.   From: http://theteamprosales.com/I encouraged them to bring their friends home.  I invited their cousins to spend summer vacation with us.  We spent weekends in the mall or swimming in hot springs.  We took their playmates swimming with us.
From: http://www.thewrap.com/   When I was at work, they spent their time in Sesame Street.  They learned to sing the alphabet.  They found harmless creatures like a vampire who loves to count.  The monster ate cookies.  The biggest character, Big Bird, didn’t bully.  Ernie and Bert taught them about friendship.  Oscar the Grouch who lived in a trash can taught them the worst thing that can happen to a homeless is become grouchy. Hence, my children grew up with a very unrealistic view of life.  
   They all got bullied in school and didn’t know how to defend themselves.  I didn’t know how to handle it because I was not bullied.  From Ibarra St. to the public elementary school at the corner, there were enough childhood pranks, teasing and thug brawls.  I learned the valuable lesson of when to run or when to fight.
See also:
Tamboy – A Legend on His Own StreetThe Standbys of Pasay 
On BullyingPasay City Kids

A Bird’s Life

   My friend Edith and I have been doing cart witnessing on Wednesdays at the Daily City BART from as far back as January 2015.  We stand by the bus stop.  The three hour long shift has been gratifying partly due to our growing affinity to the birds in the area.
   In the US the birds are protected by law.  Doves and crows are all over the place, with a few seagulls here and there.  Recently I have been prompted to feed the birds in Daily City BART.  I save any stale bread or the ends of bread loaves from home.  I toast the bread to make it crunchy, then I crumble it with a blender.
   Edith and I enjoy feeding the birds.  We feel the birds are actually beginning to recognize us.  A man, a perfect stranger came up to me to commend us for our efforts.  He said I would get good karma.  I don’t believe in karma but I know Jehovah God appreciates kindness shown to his creatures.  “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky.” (Genesis 1:26)
   Just as Ecclesiastes 9:11 says, “I have seen … that the swift do not always win the race, …nor do the wise always have the food, … nor do those with knowledge always have success, because time and unexpected events overtake them all,” the past Wednesday was a sad one for Edith and me.  A bird, one of our birds as we have owned them in our hearts, was caught under a bus right in front of our eyes.  It was an upsetting sight.
   I looked at the birds perched on the roof of the bus stop, half expecting to find them horrified and grieving.  They simply looked the other way and went on with their lives.  
   The typical grieving time for humans, according to something I read, is about six months.  Still for some, it stays for a lifetime.  In this regard, God gave the birds a gift we didn’t get, immunity from despair.
See also:Wisdom of Birds Pets for the Poor Nature's Toys

Muhammad Ali, In Memoriam

   Boxing champions come and go but once in a rare while one rises above the pack.  I knew little about Muhammad Ali but like most Filipinos he had a place in my heart.  I knew he changed his name from Cassius Clay and became a Muslim.  It was big news when he lost his boxing title and was thrown in jail for refusing to be drafted in the military in 1966, at the height of the Vietnam War.
   He claimed to be “The Greatest”.  According to Hauser, Thomas in The Importance of Muhammad Ali, “He set an example of racial pride for African Americans and resistance to white domination during the 1960's Civil Rights Movement.”  The Filipinos known for personal, family and national pride could relate to his racial pride.
   The fight between Ali and Ken Norton in 1973 where Ali suffered a broken jaw literally brought tears to my eyes.  The significance of this is that I have suffered personal tragedies like terminal illness and divorce without shedding a tear. 
   Then, the Thrilla in Manila happened in 1975.  The third and final fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier was held at the Araneta Coliseum.  Ali Mall, the first shopping mall in the Philippines opened in 1976, a block from Araneta Coliseum, in honor of Muhammad Ali’s coming to the Philippines.  It has four floors, 100 shops & restaurants and has undergone expansions and renovations in the 80’s and most recently in 2009.      In 2006, I moved to Louisville, Kentucky not knowing it was Muhammad Ali’s hometown.  There I found the Muhammad Ali Center, established in November 19, 2005, almost 30 years after the Philippines honored him with Ali Mall.  Obviously, Ali is loved by the Philippines more than the city where he was born.
See also:Boston Globe’s Spotlight The Newsroom to a Filipina 1 Creator of Poverty

Paperback Writer

From: wikimedia.org   In the 60’s, writers were at the mercy of publishers.  The printing cost was outrageously expensive back then.  The printing machines were big and heavy so that manufacturing and importing them would take years maybe even decades to break-even.  From flat-bed printing press to offset printing to rotary printing press, production of reading materials were labor intensive, which further added to the overhead cost. 
   As a child, I wanted to be a writer.  Adults in the family discouraged me.  They said, there’s no money in it, writers starve.  Authors become famous after they have died so that they never enjoy the fruits of their labor.  Publishers used and paid the printers.  If the books don’t sell, they lose a bundle.  Thus, the criteria for the acceptance of manuscripts for publication was so stringent that few ever make it.  You would think that in the absence of cable television and electronic games, people would be reading more books.
   In the 70’s, I sold advertising space for a Manila daily broad sheet newspaper.  That was when I knew firsthand how printed space cost outrageously.  I gave up on my dream of writing.  Then, life happened, marriage, children, divorce.  I totally forgot I ever wanted to write.
From Wikipedia   In mid 90’s, book printing got computerized.  Copiers went all over the place.  The personal computer came into the picture.  It made it easy for writers to edit their works, no more erasing typewritten errors with white-out.  I got myself a Macintosh but didn’t use it to write a book.  Instead, I used it to learn office software and got myself an admin job.
   At middle age, I landed on dialysis, alone in America.  The patients at that dialysis center shared television.  If one didn’t want what was showing, the 3 hours and 30 minute run felt like forever.  I bought myself a laptop and started to write a love story, mine.  Without literary training, not even a seminar or workshop, I started the first page describing the day I met the love of my life.  Then I went from page to page.  Three years later, my book has reached three hundred sixty pages.
   I gave it an ending, asked my Multimedia Designer son to make me a cover.  Printing companies were asking a thousand dollars I don’t have to print 500 copies I probably won’t sell.  I was about to give up again.  The dialysis techs noticed I have not been using my laptop.  I told Kurt, a very nice young man, that I have finished the book but don’t know what I should do with it.  He advised me to put it up on Amazon.com in digital download format, which I did in 2012.
   Over the years that followed, I edited the book three times from page one to last.  This year, Barnes and Noble accepted it for sale in paperback form.  Dreams fall into place when you least expect it. 
See also:Flaws and All The Email Ordered Wife – 2nd EditionBlog's 1st Anniversary

Pets for the Poor

   Every year, approximately 2.7 million pets are euthanized in animal shelters in the United States.  For a country of animal lovers, where do we put the blame for those deaths?  Illness, aggression and overpopulation are 3 major reasons why shelters have to euthanize pets.  This brings us to the question, with all the animal lovers fighting for animal rights, why are these pets not being adopted.   From: www.supercoolpets.com From: www.dogchannel.com    The strict animal protection laws have made it very expensive to keep a pet.  The most common reasons why people relinquish or give away their dog is because their apartment does not allow pets or if pets are allowed, a hefty sum is added to the rent.  
From:www.yarn-store.comPet owners in America have to provide dog food, veterinary treatment, a dog walker, pet toilet and/or diapers, trainer, sweaters for walking out in winter, etc.  Thus, having a pet is a luxury.   
   The poor in America will have to find pets they can afford.  I remembered my son, Joseph used to have pigeons in the backyard.  He made the cages himself.  Here in America, birds are untouchable.  They are everywhere, dropping on cars, nesting on roofs and a flock has been residing at the train station.  I have been making bird food for them.  I toast stale bread or the ends of the loaf then break them in bits with a blender (dry).  Then I enjoy watching the pigeons eat.
From: bugspray.com/   Recently, I discovered bugs in my stock of rice.  They are harmless tiny creatures that live off the starch that covers the uncooked rice.  I washed the rice in preparation for cooking and found two.  They looked dead.  I thought they may have drowned.  I picked them and laid them on the rag by the sink.  After I got the rice cooker started, I went back to the rag to dispose of the bugs.  They are gone.  I looked and found them inching towards under the microwave oven.  I picked them up and instantly they looked dead.      I caged them in a zip lock bag with some bread.  Every time I pick up the bag they play dead, then wait for it, they start to move.  Those buggers know how to play dead to protect themselves!  Another marvel of God Jehovah’s creation, their almost microscopic brains can outwit a human!  
TORE   I went home for a three-week vacation to the Philippines in spring of this year.  I fell in love with my cousin’s dog, Tore.  Now I’m back in the US I shop at Dollar Tree for dog biscuits and toys.  I send them to Tore.  In return, I get videos of him.  It’s a long distance love affair.  If Tore and I start chatting on line, someone please get me a psychiatrist.
See also:Wisdom of Birds What Creates Homelessness Creator of Poverty

Keying In

   This afternoon, I came out of a building and tried to key into my car.  The key didn’t work so I flipped the key, thinking I put it in wrong.  It still didn’t work.  I started to get worried.  I took a hard look at the car.  The tires didn’t have hubcaps.  The door looked too big.  I realized it was khaki colored.  My car, Trixie, is dark gray.  I walked away to find Trixie.  
   A police car was parked right behind the car with two policemen observing what I was going to do next.  Apparently, the car I tried my keys in had an alarm that silently alerted authorities.  I thought the presence of the police had nothing to do with me.  I went into my car and drove on.  At the first red light I saw the police car following me.  That’s when I realized I was a suspect.  When I turned left, the police car went on its way.
   This is what happened a year ago.  I found my dark gray Toyota Matrix parked right in front of our gate.  I started washing it.  I tried my key on the passenger side door but it didn’t work.  I found some dents at the back.  Dents have been known to mess up door locks.  When I got to the front of the car I noticed more scratches.  Then I saw the plate has been changed!  
   “Someone has vandalized my car and stole my plate.  I am getting ready to call the police.”  I told my daughter after I finished washing.  My daughter ran out to check it out.
   “Mom, this is not your car!  That one is!” She said, as she pointed to another gray Toyota Matrix with my plate on it, parked just two cars away.
   All those mistakes would not have happened if I had a red car like See also:No Logic 

The Tricycle Driver

   I was raised by old school women, my mother and grandmother, who knew how to handle money.  They were thrifty to a fault.  Between their generation and mine, I developed a unique way of managing finances.
Game and Watch
From: upload.wikimedia.org   In the 80’s, when medical attention was required, I took my children to Medical Center Manila (MCM).  When I needed medical attention, I drove to Philippine General Hospital (PGH), left my kids in the car playing with their Game and Watch while I suffered the long line for free diagnosis.  Afterwards, we spent the amount I would have spent on a private hospital in Pizza Hut.
Bangkok   In the 90’s my sons had families of their own.  I took my daughter on package tours paid by credit card.  I called it “5 day millionaire-2 years poor”.  I scrimped to pay the card and make ends meet for 2 years.  Then, we’re ready to go touring again.  We went to Hong Kong, then Bangkok, Thailand, then Cebu on board Superferry. Hong Kong
   At that time, my daughter lived in a Ladies Dorm inside University of the Philippines, Los Baños campus.  I was living in another Ladies Dorm in Makati City where I worked.  There was a tricycle lined up at the corner two blocks from the main street where I take a jeep to my office.  I skipped the tricycle ride to save money since it was only a two block walk.
   On a nice day, nobody noticed my choosing to walk.  However, one rainy night, I walked in the rain past the tricycle lined up as usual.  It was a clear day till it started to rain so I didn’t have an umbrella.
Tricycle line
From http://www.dutchpickle.com/   The last tricycle driver on the line saw me walking in the rain.  He broke line to chase me.  Then he slowed when he caught up with me.
   “Mother, I’ll take you where you’re going.  You don’t have to pay,” the driver said to me.  (Mother is sometimes used to address an elderly woman of no relation.)
   “Thank you, you’re very kind but I’m almost home.  I’m fine,” I replied.
   The tricycle fare was loose change but my twisted penny-pinching made me choose to walk in the rain after working all day.  I told myself I can dry up when I get in my room.

   To this day, I remember that split second exchange and still appreciate the consideration that tricycle driver showed me.  He was working in the rain for nickel and dime, yet he offered me a free ride out of the goodness of his heart. 
See also:If You are Out of... If You’re Tired Of… Thrift Tips Part 2

Wisdom of Birds

   The Bible says “Observe intently the birds of heaven; they do not sow seed or reap or gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are?” (Matthew 6:26)  We have all heard this before.  However, a deeper analysis shows that heavenly Father Jehovah, provides the birds more than food.
   The Watchtower magazine, dated July 2016, says “Jesus did not mention providing shelter for the birds of heaven, Jehovah has provided them with the instincts, skills, and materials needed to make nests for themselves.”  Indeed, the birds have been given the wisdom to find safe location and materials to build their nests.  Here’s one example of the resourcefulness of birds:
From: http://birdcontrolblog.com/   At the Daly City BART station, there is a flock of birds that made the place their own.  Bird deterrent spikes were installed in specific spots to prevent them from perching and pooping on train commuters and information posters.  The birds, in the wisdom given them, built their nest  in the center of the spikes.  They made use of the deterrent spikes as protection for their nest.  This man made spikes’ function has been expanded to suit the God made birds’ purpose.  

If the birds can speak, they’re probably saying to man:
“Sweet justice!”“Outwitted by a little bird brain, hah!”“Hey, did you guys really went to college to invent these spikes?  It took me a minute to find use for it!”“Actually, I wanted a picket fence for my nest but these spikes will do.”
   Birds don’t read the Bible but I bet they’re thinking, “Jehovah provides!  We got the safest nest in Daly City!”

See also:The Girl at the Airport The God of the Poor Who Created Sunday