Just yesterday, I was with my friend colleague. He took me out for a bottle of beer and some food. We talked about the
present condition of construction projects in our city. His projects and all ongoing projects. It didn't take long for him to talk about going out of the country once again. He said that he just came home from Manila for a job interview. He says he'd be going to work somewhere in Bahrain. "If only projects would come in from here."
The talk of having to work elsewhere always came up on our conversations. It seems as if that it was the most
logical solution to earn more compared with working on your own homeland. And he'd try to convince me as well to work somewhere out of the country to work as a draftsman or an architect's associate. Then I'd be left saying "Yes, that might be a good idea!". But I never did try harder or pushed myself to do so. Didn't really wanted to is all. At the moment, I am comfortable of where I am now. I am not a licensed architect, so maybe I don't feel the pressure. I am not married. I am not obligated to pay bills or anything at home. I just try to work and help in anyway I can. I don't know, right now I am trying to live the most simplest life possible.
I never knew another place than our own. We lived here since the time I can remember. So why live anywhere else? We have our own backyard and front carport with a porch. My brother and I am starting to process richer soil for our garden projects. We seem to find it fulfilling to do so than any other work. At least I seem to think so. But unless we get to have a reasonable harvest in time, this could be a waste of time. But my plants are now growing. I have successfully sprouted my own garlic, onion stalks. I also have vegetables starting to grow like the pechay, the lettuce and the bellpeppers. My brother's tomato plant is also growing well. He even managed to have it grown with a makeshift trellis made out of bamboo and tie wire.
But these projects will have to take time to harvest. Just like any other kind of work, gardening as an analogy proves
the point. "You Reap What You Sow", as the saying goes. You may be in an office , trained and worked hard in the city or in any place in the world. But there really is no place like home. You may have toured the world, seen different spots, even worked for some undeserving king or alien country, but if you're still longing for your good old hometown after working there,
then it maybe is the time to take look within yourself. There is the conviction that once you leave your homeland to
work elsewhere, you might as well give up your citizenship, migrate and stay there. That way you never have to look back or feel guilty, feel like a hero but sad enough to check on Facebook everyday.
When will the time come for people like my friend feel satisfied and content enough to not work elsewhere? Why should one be hanging on to that foreign dream of the abundant first-world. Have a little sense of pride. This is your place. Try to live and work here. Feel the need and want to be doing so until the day you die regardless of all the unnecessary distractions that come your way. If you can make it here, you don't need to go and make it anywhere.
