I’m quite sure that at one point of every person’s life there was a time when he’s so desperate and frustrated that he could’ve called it quits. I for one had several of those dire situations when life seems to have had crumbled and that the feeling of not being able to get out of it is so overwhelming. Believe me these ranges from the trivial such as just a quarrel with a sibling to the gravest such as getting into a car accident. And believe me, during these times I just wish I was never born at all. Whether one is a firm believer of God ( or Allah or any other divine being) or not, during these times calling them for help may be the only rational thing to do.
One thing that I always put in mind is that every after trial I had or would have, there is always the hope that I would get over it soon. Change and transition as they call it. Consider being in a break up. That situation is change. Getting over with it is transition. It does not matter if recovery happens right after or several months later but the day would likely come when you’d be able to smile all about it.
Now that I’m just waiting to be among the most “in” person this year of recession, I’m getting more excited than scared or worried. I can’t wait to see what is waiting for me (and my family) until the end of 2009. But what I know that someday, I’ll be out there with my kid (or kids) and wife facing the golden sunset with beer in hand while enjoying the splashing waves and the smell of the salty air.
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Resilient pinoys
If there’s one word that I hated the most when it comes to describing the pinoys, it’s the word resilient. I believe that this is the most abused or overused by journalists or even inspirational speakers especially when used during times of crisis. I hate reading or hearing, what might be already cliché: The Filipinos will get over it. The Filipinos are resilient people like bamboos that sway wherever the wind blows.
That doubt is about to be changed.
What I find remarkable with how most of the Intel Philippines folks (or Intelllites) accepted each bad news that have come in rapid succession in less than a year, is that the transition period seems to be as quick as a snap of a finger. There may have been hundreds of tears shed every after forums where grim updates about the site were heard but believe me that these are the same people who can be seen smiling the very next day.
And the recent download on Wednesday, Jan 21, wasn’t an exception. A couple of hours later and two more days after the closure of the manufacturing operation of Intel Philippines was announced, most of the people at the canteen are already occupied with videoke . Others watched the DVD movies played on two separate TV’s for everyone in the cafeteria to see. Others lined up to play foosball. The rest just seem to get back to their own routine as if nothing happened. It may be temporary, it may even be even be pretentious, but whatever that is just shows that Filipinos can indeed be resilient enough to deal with any situations no matter how dire.
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Domino effect
It’s no wonder that the closure of the Intel site in Gen. Trias, Cavite became one of the headlines of the week and that several thousands of people got worried about it. That is because when Intel stops its operation here in the Philippines the export industry will feel its loss. Frankly, I don’t know the exact figures but Intel contributes to billions of pesos in export which makes it one of the top exporters in the electronics sector. This of course translates to jobs other than the permanent employees.
Many other people work for Intel Philippines. There are the vendors and suppliers who handle everything that Intel needs. They are the people from the cafeteria, the janitorial personnel, facilities maintenance, field service engineers, health services providers, and insurance agencies just to name a few. And like Intel employees, they too will be out of work soon.
There’s not much to do right now to dampen the effect of the recession but to just keep all hopes up and remember that this will all come to past. So to all Filipinos, especially to my fellow Intellites, let’s pray and hope that we’ll get over with all of this soon and be able to laugh or smile all about it.
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Mood: 4/10 Honks!
Marcus Can Blog 