On Religion and the Catholic Pinoy
I have no qualms with living in this country, but what sucks is that religion messes up everything! Add the stupendous thinking of other pinoys, the crab mentality, the worthless government and you have one hell of a dish. Hell I say! XD
You know the highschool kids selling ballpens, calendars and all that? Well I had a great experience with them! *overflowing sarcasm here* XD
I was quietly enjoying a nicotine break when this kid, wearing a white shirt, baston jeans, and an ID walks up to me and offers me a pen. He says that he’s in highschool and that they’re selling stuff for a project. I politely decline his offer and fish out a pen to show him that I didn’t need one. He frowns, puts the pen in his bag (girly bag BTW, lol) and then shows me a calendar. He says that he’s a working student, and that if I bought a calendar (for 40 freaking pesos), it would greatly help him finance studies. I was freaking pissed! First, he says that it was for a project, then he says that if I bought one I could help send him to school. On top of that, when I flip over the calendar, I see a picture of the Jesus Christ! This kid was getting to my nerves, but again, I politely decline his offer. He frowns for a fraction of a second then insists that I buy one. Irritably, I tell him to leave because 40 pesos is a bit too much for a freaking calendar. He begs for me to buy one and I blow my fuse. In a strained whisper, I tell him that first he was disturbing my me time, second, I’d be nuts to spend 40 pesos for a calendar, third, his insistence and appearance is getting on my nerves, and lastly, I didn’t believe in his God. He was shocked. Then he smiles, hands me the calendar and begs me again to buy it even if I wasn’t Catholic. Unbelievably pissed and irritated beyond belief, I flick my cig and go back into the building.
I don’t have any idea why there are people who just can’t take no for an answer. People should take a hint when you decline an offer because most of them time, no means HELL NO. I mean come on, if I was interested in something, I’d research on it online, look for a shop where they sell the stuff, and buy it right away. Why the heck would I waste time looking at something that I wasn’t even buying?
Pinoys should learn that even though the world calls the Philippines a Catholic Country, not everyone is Catholic. I’m Agnostic. I know a lot of people who are Agnostic. I know a lot of Atheists. These people that I know know how to respect your choice of religion. Everyone should learn this. Don’t ask a Moslem to recite a catholic prayer for you! Don’t sell Catholic merchandise to people who don’t share the same faith, or doesn’t have any faith at all! Don’t ask people to pray if they do not believe in a God. It’s unethical, rude, and downright senseless. If you are one of them people who do not respect someone’s religion or preference, then you should FOAD. Neh? Neh?
- Tags:
Popularity: 15%
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
View blog reactions
30 Responses to “On Religion and the Catholic Pinoy”
By Ann on Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
I have a hard time saying no. In psychiatry class I figured I had a lot of guilt. lol. I'm a favorite ng mga nangungutang and nagbebenta ng dried mangoes for their tuition (haven't met the calendar people yet).
I don't believe in shoving one's beliefs down other people's throats either. And that kid was rude.
By keysi on Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
Ann: Thanks for visiting, and yeah, helluva rude. Badtrip din yang mga dried mango kids na yan. :lol:
By Reston on Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
OK, OK, we gotcha. Don't go postal on us...hehehe...WELL, I thought "No" means "YES" among certain circles and some well-defined genders. AHEM! I can almost agree with you 100% but I need to make a few comments. This problem is not exclusively a Pinoy thang. It is much worse in the US. Ever talk to a telemarketer? UGH! When it comes to religion, certain ones in the US would like to impose their collective will on the rest of us who do not belong to the so-called "Moral Majority" or the Christian Fundamentalists. They like the govt to adopt some of their beliefs and incorporate them in govt policies.
As for the "worthless govt" comment, I don't believe we have such a govt. It is worthless in some respect but not totally. It is improving day after day. If you are not working within the govt, you wouldn't know this. But problems are being addressed as they are exposed. Corruption is part of our culture. I think we inherited it from the Spaniards and perhaps the Chinese of yore. I can make a longer case but I got to get a move on. I have a business to run.
I enjoyed the blog, btw. Passionista ka pala. :)
By Shari on Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
I've encountered such people as well, pero yung mga "college" na, so it's easy for me to say NO. ;) The kid was rude, but that's money for yah. :p
By keysi on Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
Reston: point taken and thanks for your comment! :) I think the culture part we did inherit and evolved to ghastly proportions. :P Shari: hehe. yeah. the problem with "college kids" is that when they fight back, they fight back. :lol:
By feed on Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
:lol: they're everywhere :lol:
By xDONDONx on Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
Ako naman, twice ko naranasan 'to and iisang tao lang yung nagbenta sa akin! 1st, after my shift, he was selling a ballpen and he told me that he is a college student and saying that "this is for charity". I bought 1 pen for PHP10 since I lost my pen that day. 2nd time was at PBCom when I was waiting for my better half, he approached me and he was selling again the same ballpen but this time with a dried mango. Ngayon naman, sabi nya, for his studies daw. Sabi ko na lang sa kanya "may ballpen na ako at binili ko pa sau and ayaw ko ng dried mangoes". And take note, iba na yung school ID nya na pinapakita nya. Ayos!!!
By keysi on Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
Feed: yeah, ibang klase! Parang mga tae - NAGKALAT! :lol: Don: talamak yang mga yan sa Makati eh. These people prey on their victim's compassion para sa kanilang mga sindikato.
By Will on Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
What can we say? Begging is a VERY profitable business.
By keysi on Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
Will: it is, and it's sad that there are black-hearted people who take advantage. gyah.
By melai on Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
there's a lot of them here too :) and everywhere not only pinoys do that...even those pipol who lives in first world countries like Singapore. nasa sistema na yata ng mga taong gustong kumita sa kahit anong paraan yan e.
By maya on Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
high blood ka na naman, dude. well, una, nakaka-irita talaga yan.. "no" or "hinde", tagalog or english sagutin mo, hindi makakaintindi ng 3 times mo lang sabihin yung sagot mo. you really have to repeat your answer again and again until you eventually get pissed off and blow up.
well, i hope you wont offend other catholics or christians out there (i am one but i understand you naman). they shouldn't assume that everyone lurking the streets believe in Christ.
I agree with Reston. the gov't is not worthless. i'll be echoing what he said but little by little, umaangat ang pinas. economy's improving, gasoline prices have declined, peso strengthening.... if we go with the flow, mukhang ok naman. it's just the corruption (which happens to every nation, depends on the degree of corruption lang) in our country is a bit rampant. election na, lalo pa lumalabas mga corrupt na people, opposition side man or admin. everyone's washing their hands now.
anyway, about the kid, hay, feeling ko naman raket din lang yan, we're just not aware of it. pag lumaki na sila, fake na rolex na ibebenta nila sa iyo.
By feed on Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
kahit mga bar sinalakay na nila
and oh, not to mention fast food chains
By keysi on Apr 13, 2007 | Reply
Melai: sadly parang totoo nga. kahit anong paraan. kahit mangloko ng kapwa basta lang kumita. @_@ Maya: okay okay. I stand corrected. There is change, but isn't it a bit slow? Nao-overtake ng kagulangan ang pagbabago eh. true true, they should not, and should NEVER assume that everyone is catholic, and yes, raket na naman yan. tingnan mo yung comment ni xDONDONx. :D Feed: tambay ka sa coffee shop or kahit anong establishment na may tambayan na pwede manigarilyo. may lalapit at lalapit sayo. @.@
By feed on Apr 16, 2007 | Reply
Kanina sa labas ng ofc...
me nag alok saken ng lighter sabay abot ng parang tarheta na may christian shamting
:lol:
By JJ on Apr 17, 2007 | Reply
A little bit off topic here... I had one interesting experience when I was a freshman in UPLB. I went to a local robinson's mall up there which incidentally has a church smacked right in front of it. As i was about to enter an old huy (right about his 40's) went up to me and then just suddenly hanged on my neck, without any reason, a scapular (is that what it's called?). Blabbering all about this may God bless me in my studies etc. I'm a catholic but during those times I was in this "Agnostic" phase but to be courteous I just said thank you. But the old man informed me that yes it was free but I had to GIVE some donation. When i gave him a ten peso bill he shrugged it off and said it should be a MINIMUM of 20 pesos.
It really sounded silly so I reasoned out that I didn't have any money with me to buy something that outrageously expensive scapular (my lola used to give it to me for free) because during those times 20 pesos can save you from hunger. The man rudely snatched back the scapular on my neck. God bless that man's soul :)
On topic: That guy could be just dead serious in earning some money. He shouldn't have lied though. I suggest he quit studying (for now) and apply to the nearest call center and ask to be a telemarketer! He'd still be his annoying self but now he can annoy other nationalities as well :)
By Tiffany on Apr 17, 2007 | Reply
Breath ;D hahaha. I enjoyed your rant. I myself am leaning towards being an agnostic. And I have a friend who rants in his blog about religion, too. Lol.
I wonder if I asked the kid to recite the ten commandments--would he do it?
By keysi on Apr 18, 2007 | Reply
JJ: OT: lol. the scapular was free but you have to give a minimum donation of 20 pesos? aaaaaaaaaaaaahahhahahaa! you'd be really shtupid to fall for something like that lololol.
OnT: he could apply but man, i seriously doubt that he'd survive. he doesn't look like he has the speaking skills. lol but that's just the judgmental me. =P bad noh? haha
Tiffany: :) i thought about atheism but i couldn't take the fact the i won't believe in a supreme being. parang ang hirap, but I bet the kid didn't know the 10 commandments himself. =P
By fingertalks on Apr 18, 2007 | Reply
i find it not hard to buy from those children/people selling to on the streets or any fast food...but yeah, if the items are so over-priced, wait a minute...my kind heart wouldn't melt.
but my heart is really soft...
in one incident, .i remember these two kids in diliman church selling pony tails who approached me and begged me to buy from them. I told them i'm not needing any pony tail for my hair. they were too persistent..i didn't buy from them. I just give them money, 5 pesos each...so that they would have something for their "baon"...
so i went out of the church...i was buying fishball at SC in UPD when these two kids approached me again..telling me, "Ate, akin na yang kinakain mo.." I was shocked. I told them I already gave u 5 pesos each.. So I thought they wouldn't ask for more..
what an experience!
i guess we really need to be tough..sometimes people just took advantage our kindness..is it because of poverty? is it because of damaged values? goodness...
By keysi on Apr 19, 2007 | Reply
lol. there was one incident when my tita gave 5 pesos to a street kid. we were quietly sitting in traffic. as soon as the kid received the 5 peso coin, he immediately ran off (without thanking my tita) to his friends and pointed at our van. guess what happened next? we were swarmed with about 8 kids all asking for coins. lollers
By sunflower on Apr 24, 2007 | Reply
depressing.
By keysi on Apr 24, 2007 | Reply
you mean the post malaf?
By bryan on Apr 26, 2007 | Reply
can't blame a kid from trying to make a sale. oh well, you got me fascinated at first glance, your stories cannot be classified as short stories, they are called anecdotes.
By sunflower on Apr 26, 2007 | Reply
not the post. those people. they kill me. it's really sad that they have to be what they are because of poverty. they have a choice, yes. but most or some, i don't know, choose to be like that because they're either afraid to do a new and decent job for fear it won't work for them. Or they think it's easy money, begging. They have become experts at it. Would you believe that them women beggars you see in the train stations have a schedule of some sort? they take turns! and may rotation (sa MRT station! ahaha rhyme amft.) And they get at least 500 pesos from those tin cans per day! At least that's what i heard. now what i'm trying to say here is that you shouldn't curse them beggars. if they had, or their parents had, a BA Broadcast Communication degree from UP, they won't be where they are. i get pissed sometimes because they can be really pushy, but hey, you're the one who should know better because you, we, are not like them. and next time wear a big ID that says 'AKO AY AGNOSTIC.' translate mo na din ang agnostic sa tagalog para alam nila. heeeheeeeee
By keysi on Apr 26, 2007 | Reply
sunflower: lol. bat bah? i just get irritated at their pushiness. if you don't want to buy their shit, then don't insist. in the first place, if i wanted to buy one, i would've fished for my wallet right away *grunts*
bryan: check out this link.
By sunflower on Apr 27, 2007 | Reply
patol ka kasi. boink. latlanalan o. hehehe ~_^ huh!
By keysi on Apr 27, 2007 | Reply
humph. balakanguh~