Ang Kabaw ug Ang Langaw (Carabao and The Fly)

I was reading a thread going on at the Arnel Pineda website that talks about life and things and growing up poor in the Philippines. And one Ladydragon, mentioned the carabao (water buffalo). Her story made me laugh so hard; you know, the kind where you cry at the same time because actually the story is not funny but more bittersweet.

My parents were farmers who worked for a very rich and also very cruel family in Cebu. I worked for them too until God gave me a job with Penrod Drilling, a Dallas- based company. My job was supervising the movements of materials and the expatriate crew coming in and out of the Philippines. They hated it when I quit them, more so because I was now making more money and living in Makati.

One day, I was at the Intercon Hotel lobby and the matriarch Mrs. M.O. was there too. I did not acknowledge her not because I was being snotty but because I was afraid of her because she made everyone feel like the scum of the earth. She thought I ignored her. When she got back to Cebu, she sent for my father and screamed at him, waving her finger at my old father's face : "You tell your daughter, that just because she is on top of the carabao doesn't mean she's a carabao, she's still a fly and she will always be a fly."

That was over 20 years ago but I still think that she made a very good analogy, don't you think? And boy, am I glad she's not good at prophesy.