Slipper people

I may not have the dog tag. But I am an advocate.

An advocacy is something you believe in. It is not a trend. And that’s why I hate people who make the ‘life and love’ of some to a mere joke.

When I went home to Sigma, I lost count of how many fake dog tags of my advocay group, "AKO Mismo" I encountered on the road. Even vendors wear them. So jittery that I asked one girl I just crossed-way with in a shopping mart at Roxas if she is also a fellow advocate. She just smiled as if hiding something.

No ‘Yes’, no ‘No’.

When I asked about how she is going to help, and what NGO sponsor did she want to work for if given a chance, she just bowed her head and left with the lame excuse of an appointment at a funeral parlor.

That’s what some of the Filipinos think. That everything is a trend. If you wear boots, because you think it’s too sunny for your legs, some will think it is a trend. If you change your hairstyle with ‘bangs’ because you are hiding your harry-potter-like scar in your forehead, they will think it’s a trend. If you want to be unique, your neighbor will think it is a trend.

Uniqueness is somewhat misshapen and misunderstood by some people in our country and in our province.

I really do not know what the thing about Havaianas is. No pun intended on the brand but why all the fuss? It’s just a slipper brand. You say it’s from Brazil, so what? You can’t pay your project debts, you can’t even pay for photocopies of hand-outs and you have money to buy a pair of slippers worth a thousand pesos. That’s the bad trait of SOME Ilonggos. Some think it’s all about coolness, some think it’s all about being ‘IN’. Some thinks crap.

That’s why I have pledge myself that I will never buy that brand of slipper. It pointless. See I am already picturing the prospect of buying one, “How much?” “Where, SM?” God that is so stupid. Why the fuss. Why?

Why not spend those thousand pesos in a good book? In a portfolio investment? In a worthy donation for the less fortunate? In a school project? On alleviating your own hunger? (I know one girl who does not eat just to save up for Havaianas).

Hey, why did the topic went from dog tags to Havaianas?

I don’t know, maybe because they are really closely associated. When you have an advocacy and when some people see it, they think its “cool” and they follow the suit, not minding the true meaning of advocacy.

An advocacy is living for what you think is right. Not for what you think is cool so stop it./KP

*Note, if you really like to, be an advocate not a wrong doing faker.