comfort zones

speaking of comfort zones (a topic tong, mia and i have discussed THOROUGHLY], mia pal told me to read this article by conrado de quiros [in the philippine daily inquirer]. it's entitled "coming home" (published last may 13 2004). in it, he was talking about a Filipino (ibarra gutierrez) who took his masters in the states, but is coming back to teach in UP [woohoo!] let me share with you these 2 paragraphs that i really love:


I don't know that those who do decide to come home, or stay put, think "too badly" of those who don't. Gutierrez himself was very clear on the point. He has no problems with the overseas Filipino workers who are forced to work overseas as a matter of survival. He has problems with those who, like him, are forced only to choose between "renting a two-bedroom apartment in Quezon City or owning a sprawling house in a New Jersey suburb; of commuting on a UP-Pantranco jeepney or driving the latest model SUV; of making do with a Third World salary or insisting on being paid in the Almighty Dollar."

It is not love of family that drives one to choose the second, it is love of comfort. It is not sacrificing everything to feed family, it is sacrificing everything to feed ego.

great lines. good times, good taste. tanduay the number one rhum.

question: is rhum really spelled with an "H" or did they just add that because we live in the Philippines? you know, where all our names have "h's" in them. i'll try it with mine: lhei. breathy.

i'll expound on that topic more (comfort zones) when i can get my thoughts sorted out.