Direchahan Na

Earning honestly means earning money in an honorable and legitimate way, typically through one's hard work.

There is such a thing as the dignity of labor ... a philosophical holding that all types of jobs are respected equally ... no occupation is considered superior or inferior ... and no people should be discriminated against as successful or non-successful ... or lowly or highly regarded ... on the basis of the color of his skin or its texture.

I have been working in America in the confines of air-conditioned operating rooms (away from the blistering UV effects of the sun) and when I go home for vacation in the Philippines, I spent hours of sun exposure ... giving me the chocolate sun-kissed color.  

Some friends call me crazy for doing that reciting to me some litany of memes and one of those is "nasa carpet ka na ... gusto mo pang bumalik sa banig ..." But I ignored them.

Believe me ... I really appreciate our farmers, construction workers, and all works requiring a lot of sun exposure.  Some people call their jobs dirty, lowly, and menial. But haven't we paused for a while and asked ourselves, who is going to give us rice or vegetable or sugar for our coffee if all of us are doctors, nurses, lawyers, or office workers?

Makati and Taguig will not look that dreamy without construction workers, carpenters, and masonry brick workers.  Who is going to keep our street clean without MMDA street sweepers? And traffic will jam EDSA without traffic enforcers around.

Indeed their jobs require them to brush with filth and squalor ... and their work is regarded as low-grade, blue-collared, and servile. But one thing is sure ... though their work is hard they are very proud to say they earned their hard-earned money thru the honest route ... compared to politicians and drug lords who looked too noble and crisp in their barong ... but people talk behind their back ... the ways and means they earned their money to feed their children ... and clothe them with nothing but the best.