Ortigas Center
7:37 PM
Freak out, give in
Doesn’t matter what you believe in
Stay cool, and be somebody’s fool this year.- Smashing Pumpkins, “Cherub Rock”
I sometimes think of Ortigas and Makati as inspiring places. Ten months ago, when I first stepped into this world, I was awed at the sight of tall buildings and office condominiums. To be dwarfed by these towering glass-paned structures was enough motivation for you to be lucky you’re here.
Yet the longer I stayed here, the more and more I’m reminded of an abyss. It’s one thing to be awed at the sight of these things when you’re down below, but it’s way different when you’re up above. Those glass panes reflect the sky from down below, but reflect asphalt when from up above. It’s a rat race, a bunch of souls who have given up and just trudge through the labyrinth day by day, fighting a Minotaur for eight hours a day, five days a week.
It’s hard to hear of people who get retrenched, downsized, reengineered, optimized, streamlined, laid off… people who are your friends, statistics in some report, and even people from half a world away who lose their jobs because of the global economic crisis. It’s never a good feeling, knowing how tenuous all this could be. It’s never a good feeling, knowing that as much as you want to, you can’t do anything about it.
My friends, and lately, my father, have kept on convincing me about one thing, though: “Marck, you’re not Batman.”
