Comments | boyspacefriend: Traffic Meditations

boyspacefriend

Traffic Meditations

Jul 27, 2006 01:59

Here is a metaphor for our times:

Tonight a normal fifteen-minute trip on EDSA from Ortigas to Makati turned into a three-hour slog through the rain and traffic. The reason?

A grand religious gathering was held at the Sanctuario de San Antonio, church of the perfumed and bejeweled. It is a 'healing mass' presided over by some foreign preacher, and ( Read more... )

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Comments 24

swikey July 27 2006, 10:39:24 UTC

Healing mass? That's so funny I'm not laughing anymore.
Hay, to be rich and powerful nga naman in the Philippines -- the entire country literally stops for you.

Carl, next time, take an alternate route. ;)

boyspacefriend July 27 2006, 12:34:39 UTC

Unfortunately, the fastest way to get anywhere is a straight line - ergo, EDSA. Shempre those bastards don't even BOTHER putting out a bulletin that they're going to be blocking traffic on McKinley so people can adjust their routes accordingly.

anonymous July 27 2006, 11:30:49 UTC

That’s strange. In our perpetual debates, you’re a self-proclaimed elitist. What does this make you now, petty bourgeoisie? Whehe. - N.

boyspacefriend July 27 2006, 12:36:11 UTC

I'm bourgeois! Always have been. I'm not part of the charmed circle of mall-building, hacienda-owning, election-rigging elites of this country. I'm just nearer the upper end rather than the lower end of the specturm.

followyoudown July 27 2006, 11:44:35 UTC

LOL.

My mom made me go to one of this priest's private healing sessions.

At that healing session, people who were "lame" were "able to walk" and people who were "deaf" were "able to hear".

Take the quotation marks as you will. :P (ie, it could be a psychological effect of being healed by a 'faith healer', it could be plain fake, et al)

Other stories include the inability to bear children being solved after being prayed over by Fr. Suarez.

He's not a foreign preacher actually. He's Filipino, he just took up priesthood in Canada. My parents were invited to accompany his 'entourage' on a visit to Malacanang, but they just didn't want to go. :))

boyspacefriend July 27 2006, 12:38:28 UTC

Which begs the obvious question - what, exactly, did your parents think you needed 'healing' for? ;)

followyoudown July 28 2006, 02:54:58 UTC

:))

Figured you were going to ask that.

Parents are devoutly religious, so my mom said that even if I felt I didn't need healing for anything major to just ask for a blessing. lol

i love this entry anonymous July 29 2006, 10:10:22 UTC

oh the Malays do it too!

Except not many of us are "perfumed and bejeweled" so our version of religious hypocrisy is being antagonistically puritan about "un-halal" cakes when we don't know shit about spirituality.

nice nice entry, carl.

come to singapore!

-amira

Re: i love this entry boyspacefriend July 29 2006, 13:00:40 UTC

That's really high praise coming from you Amira. Thanks!

At least the hypocrisy in your case was somewhat well-meaning...in ours, I fail to see how people who steal taxes meant for the poor and who get caught cheating in elections have the gall to go to healing masses and inconvenience hundreds of thousands of other people. But then, that's life in a Catholic banana republic.

I may go to Singapore in August! Crossing my fingers.

Re: i love this entry anonymous July 30 2006, 12:53:08 UTC

Why not make a short stop by in Kl as well?

PS

Re: i love this entry anonymous July 30 2006, 18:07:51 UTC

hmmmm yeah why don't u come down and we can see if we can plan a weekend getaway to the neighbouring country and do everything i can't do here in clean lil sg!

like ...erm, chew gum!

btw, well-meaning yes, but also extremely misguided. and though we're too poor to wreak any havoc, we do perpetuate vicious cycles that reinforce the majority's impression of us very well...

aaaaaah well.

-amira