Being ‘tambay’

Being a tambay (or stand-by, meaning having nothing to do) is not entirely a disadvantage; we have our fair share of gaining wisdom through experience. It’s not wisdom taught by the elders, or by experience itself, but wisdom distilled from introspection (basically a privilege, having all the time in our lives for it) and an application of insights based on past events (fortunes and misfortunes equally): proven and lasting wise thoughts to remember forever.

One morning I woke up to the usual chores, and as I was driving my mom to the flea market, I nursed a thought that made me laugh at myself (which ripened as soon as I parked for the chore of waiting for her to return).

Here it is: Fate is a twisted, tortuous, unpredictable process we all have to deal with. I graduated cum laude from a prestigious university (I was an academic scholar), took the board exam without need for review classes, and got an almost perfect (8.5, 9 being the highest) score in the International English Language Testing System. But now I’m washing the dishes, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, driving for my mother, and doing basically anything and everything that a girl Friday is paid to do.

It’s funny because I went through hell and back acing my academics with a professional image of myself as the end in view, but I find myself in a pool of tasks that even a high school graduate can easily manage.

And how did I cap this insight? I’m doing these things as a fortunate child, having the luxury of time and ability to serve my mother. Yes, other youth of my age and brains are pursuing professions dressed in suits, while I go through my days in shirts, shorts and flip-flops (and more often, with a safety motorcycle helmet for delivering my brother’s lunch). While many of my batch mates in college are making their corporate bosses happy, I’m pleasing my mom with the tasks I do for her. While others in the concrete jungle are juggling piles of paper, I keep things in our house in neat proportions. And most of all, while yuppies live a fast life in the fast lane, I see, slowly, my parents growing more mature in time, and my sibling’s early life blooming. But no, I’m not an onlooker; I help in many ways.

One day when I’m older, I’d have more memories to cherish of my youth, with the persons who matter most.

April R. Casquejo, 22, graduated from Ateneo de Naga University (AB-BSE major in English, professional teacher).