Earning a little Something on the Side

Been racking up on some rackets in hopes of boosting up my bank account for the eventual expenditure necessary when Rocky and I leave the Sietch to find ourselves a new home.  While we both have our own respective savings, one really finds himself opening his eyes to just how much money is needed to invest on getting an actual place to own.    I've done the math and so far, with one of the rackets I've snagged, if it works out as ideally as I hope, I can anticipate getting at least one-fifth of the usual down payment ready by the year's end.

"How will they even fit!"

Money makes the world go round, as that song from Cabaret goes.  While I do agree with the adage that it can't buy real happiness, I do admit it is necessary to get many of the other things in life that one would want to have or share with a loved one.  While I've long been a wiz in moving around my savings, I have to admit once we looked at the math necessary to own a house, I suddenly realized how much further I have to push myself to get what I want.  But that's fine.  It simply shows I've learned to face the world with reality in my mind.  No misconceptions of a white knight with a bag of gold coming to save me.

"Money money money money money money money money..."

No, I have to be responsible to get the things I want.

And that, in many ways, reflects why I have such a huge disdain for shows like Willing Willie and the like.    Rather than inspire others and teach people the value of money and the empowering truth of how one can hone and push oneself to earn a living to slowly reach one's dreams, such shows act like bubblegum on a hole of a sinking ship, granting false hopes of the "lucky" streak and making people focus on the chances of joining and winning a game show's huge prize rather than finding a better job.  It is sad how after all the opportunities and abuse our country has had, people in general have embraced the idea that we're hopeless victims who can never rise higher than we already are at unless someone throws us a financial bone.

"At least siya, magbibigay... ako ni-isang libo ma bigay ko sa charity."
"Baket, pera ba niya yung binibigay niya?  Ang ang isang libo from you, barya lang niya yon."

Then you have other people who embrace terms like socialite or eventologist, and live lives where money is thrown away on drugs, expensive yet practically useless things, and claim they exist to stand as inspirations for others to dream of becoming.    More frighteningly they have the power of money to generate the necessary hype that markets their side more, making the idea of living a drug-addled I-do-what-I-want-cause-I-can-buy-you-off lifestyle as one worth envying.  

Seriously.  And some claim their lifestyle is AN ART.
Ugh.

And finally, you have popular media creating show after show that always shows certain key cliche characters:  the poor-maltreated heroine who is either a house helper or someone from the province hoping to make an honest living, the rich abusive amo who eventually will lose her wealth and influence to the heroine by some convoluted story arc, and the unnecessarily loud effeminate cross-dressing gay comedy relief who exists to either be the target of verbal abuse or slap-stick humor.

In fairness, some shows break from the mold.
Kinda like how there are some sharks that are friendly.

No wonder people keep wanting to simply take the easy way out.
Why work for it when you might marry some rich guy, use his money as your own, and rise from your "inaapi" life?  Why learn to save money when you can throw away your money in a gamble for that one lucky moment?   Why be responsible with your life when you can always have someone else to blame:  your parents, your friends, society...

Some people think easy money is worth all the loss of self-respect.

Good vibes tends to be the clamor used to shut up any attempts I make to show the lack of reason in other's actions.  People would call me self-righteous, and accuse me of having a holier-than-thou attitude for believing  teaching a person to fish is far better than just throwing him a hand-out he'll quickly consume and beg for more of.    It saddens me to realize how many people out there have embraced the idea that "making others happy" is justification enough not to do the greater better thing.  Are we really becoming a nation that believes temporary happiness is enough?  Have we all become solvent sniffers who think handing out cash gifts once a year on camera is far better than helping a few more scholars go to school?

Why teach them to earn it themselves when you can always make them come back for more, diba?

We all need money.  That is a fact of the world.
But I still believe we all can strive to earn money with dignity.  And reach for our dreams with self-respect.
Each day is a day we can use to earn a little something on the side.  Maybe its a bit more cash from a racket. Maybe it is a bit more self-respect for choosing to do the right thing rather than the easy thing.

Buti pa ang robot, marunong mag fish.

But we have that choice.  We have every day to make it.
So please, stop wasting time waiting for that "lucky" moment.

Why see your life as something worth only the "generosity" of a richer man's handout, when all he's really doing is paying you to make him look great.

Keep your free money.  I'll never sell you my self-respect.

(And mind you, its not even with his own hard-earned money.  Its from the show.)