Byaheng
Sikmura is a documentary that showed me a glimpse of the life of street
dwellers that rely on dole outs for their food and some basic necessities.
Tagpi and the Baklang Yagits are one of those street dwellers who religiously
avail the free food from different institutions may it be religious or
non-government. Tagpi and his fellow beggars already have a list of schedule
for the feeding stations and all they have to do is line-up, pray, jump up,
dance and wait a couple of hours in exchange of free meals and services like
grooming and medical help in terms of
the group of Koreans. I find their way of life very striking, funny it may seem
but a deeper and more serious issue lies behind that funny way of life.
One
that really caught my attention is Edgar, a former DOST scholar who went to
Manila for his studies but his track of life changed, he is still a newbie when
it comes to this way of life and by the way I see it he seems to like it. I
feel sorry and regretful for him. He still young and a lot of opportunities might
come on his way but he settled to rely on dole outs for food. As I watch the
documentary I have seen a lot of beggars whom I think is still in good shape
but preferred to choose this way of life. I am not against with the act of
helping the beggars. In fact, it is very aligned to one of our school’s core
values, Advocacy to persons who are poor,
but what bothers me is how they do it. The street dwellers already depended on dole outs for their food.
They spend most of their waiting for other people to “spoon-feed” them instead
of working hard to suffice their needs. They’ve become lazy. I can relate this
situation in the one of the controversial issue in our government, the Pantawid
Pamilya Pilipino Program or popularly known as 4Ps. This program helps our
fellow countrymen through providing monetary assistance to poor Filipinos. The
way I see it, it has the same objective, to help poor people in supplying their
needs and maybe to eradicate poverty. Every once in a while I will see a very
long line in the local bank and it signals their “pay check” for being a poor
is already out for distribution. As I have observed, beneficiaries’ way of life
doesn’t seem to improve. In my perception, not because the money is not enough
but because they don’t spend it well thinking they will have one again next
month and worse, some even didn’t bother to find a job since they already have
money for their needs.
Reflecting
on this, I have realized that helping is indeed good but the way one does it
sometimes makes it bad. Helping to the point that the people I help have gone
lazy and just depending on my help. As what the famous saying goes, “Don’t give
man a fish instead teach him how to fish and he will never be hungry for the
rest of his life”. Another is, even if the objective of helping is good the
manner it is done also must be also good to produce good reults.
To
wrap this up, this documentary challenged me as a youth to apply whatever its
impact to me in my simple but meaningful way. In response, I will continue to help
but I would make sure that my help will inspire the people to help themselves
also. For example, in a classroom basis I will my help classmate in studies not
by letting him copy my answer instead teach him the process on how to analyse
problem and situations and how to solve problems on his own. Helping him that
way may cost time and effort but it is sure worth it thinking I am helping him
the right way.
Pardon me for errors these are still subject for proofreading and revision.
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