March 29, 2024

Dear Manang,
I met a girl with the sweetest smile on my trip to Manila. I know that I have seen her in a mall and I seem to have seen her in my favorite eatery there. I didn’t muster the courage to ask her name or offer her a snack at the Sison bus stop. When we got to Manila, I didn’t see where she went when I got my luggage. It is not my luck to get to know her, I guess. Should I try to find her?
Pol of New Lucban, Baguio City

Dear Pol,
I am sure that you belong to the type of persons called torpe or dense. Given the right opportunities, you still hesitated and for what? To wait for another opportunity would mean you just waited for what? The golden opportunity was at hand but you let it slip. But I give it to you, the fatalism might just mean that she is the girl for you. Go find her and don’t let her slip away again.
God bless you,
Manang

Dear Manang,
It is as if life is just a joke or should I say nothing to be serious about. I am now asked to embrace someone who just made my life miserable back to the fold in the spirit of camaraderie and peace. It seems like a dispensable affair that everything can just happen and be forgiven because others think it is to be forgiven and forgotten. What about my feelings? Should I just give in to that?
Biala of San Pascual, Tuba, Benguet

Dear Biala,
Indeed the values of today have disregarded a lot of common sense because of virtual options. This Internet that defies geography also defies reality. The person inside the image is overlooked and taken for granted. How sad to realize that we are drifting apart because of this seeming filter between virtual and real. We cannot find the difference and totally forget the emotions that play a great role to people. The only thing I can say is you are the one to make the balance. It is your call but you must deal with it too.
Compromise,
Manang