Junk Selling

I despise selling things to people, and much prefer calling companies to inquire regarding the progress of potential organization-business collaborations. I hate going up to people and shoving random food items under their noses, intoning the overused phrase "May I interest you in what I have to offer?" in various languages, moods and intonations. 90% of the time I am asked to sell something, I end up buying said things for myself. Never a good thing, as too much sushi and concert tickets can drive a struggling student to the teenage version of bankruptcy.

If I had PET bottles this pretty, I wouldn't sell them.

Misunderstanding Arrugas: Wrinkles vs Care

Roommie L and I caught Pelicula 2012 at Greenbelt 3 today, and we happened upon the 4.30 screening, Arrugas (Wrinkles). It's about 'a refined old man' named Emilio who is left in the care of an institute for geriatrics after his family finds his medical condition too difficult to handle. It's an animated film, and while at first I was worried that I wouldn't feel as though as I was watching a Spanish film - cinematic animation in my mind mainly being dominated by the Japanese  - by the end of the opening credits, I was properly intrigued. 

While the movie chooses to discuss something of - in my opinion - relatively little urgency, I think the state of  aging populations is just as relevant as, say, poverty. We in the Philippines honestly don't think of our old people the way I think Western and first-world civilizations think about theirs, so there shouldn't have been much reason for me to have been on the verge of tears, right? 

It isn't even about me thinking that Emilio's situation will be my life story in the future. That someday, after decades of working for my family, I will be 'abandoned' in a home for the aged, because 'the young have to keep living' free of 'burden'. It's more the feeling of, how many people live out the rest of their lives waiting for death? Aging isn't even a force that discriminates based on wealth, or looks, or how many people loved you in your lifetime. Aging is an inescapable equalizer, just like death.

Only sometimes, I think it's sadder.