The Simple Life

Comment from a reader on "The Philippines Needs Leadership":

Growing up on a dirt farm in Mississippi, not having shoes to wear, very little meat on the table, forget about doctors and hospitals, etc. I still remember what my mother told me 50 years ago. She said, "son- yes we are poor. But we don't have to be dirty. Go clean up the yard and then wash yourself".

We learned how to dig a hole to bury our fecal matter. We knew that if we raised chickens, we never ate the laying hens or the rooster, no matter how hungry we got. And we never ate our seeds that we needed to plant the garden.

I look back and I didn't consider myself poor at all. We went to school wearing hand me downs, but everyone else wore the same as us. And most of all, even thought we were poor, we were not dirty. The yards and roadways and homes were spotless.

[The Subic Bulletin] Thanks immensely for your comment. Your stories of growing up in Mississippi remind my of the lifestyle out in the Provincial Philippines. It you have ever been out in the distant provinces far away from the city the people are proud, hard working, honest and yes, very clean even without any sewerage or toilet (yes where I was they had to bury their own fecal matter also). What has made Filipinos loose sight of these roots and this dignity when they are in the cities?