No trespassing

Netnet Camomot

SA kabukiran, there are lots and lots of unidentified crawling objects. A friend and his family leave their shoes at the garage where they have a cabinet especially made for shoe storage, and whenever they put on those shoes, their toes could sometimes feel a crawler in there. Yikes!

Leaving shoes outside the house is practiced by many families because the world outside can be dirty, with dirty streets, dirty sidewalks, dirty public markets, complete with dirty minds? Ah, hehe.

You believe the people living with you are not dirty, they’re your family after all, you see them take showers daily, well, not exactly see them with shampoo and soap dripping down their naked bodies, but they go to the bathroom and stay there for hours, what would they be doing there then, pray the rosary? And they come out smelling fresh and nice, clean enough to inspire you to bite one of their body parts–ooh la la–so, of course, you’re convinced the hygienic ritual is daily.

Outside of that house, though, hmmm, you have to wonder. Thus, the determination not to bring the outside into the inside, with a “No Trespassing” sign for the dirt that’s left at the garage where you wish you can also dump the negative vibes, the stress, and all the sh*t that the outside world serves on a dirty platter.

I’m the kind that tends to bring the outside into the inside since I hate crawlers in my shoes. If ever I have to leave the shoes somewhere, it should be in the living room, by the door, but the size of the cabinet which I planned to put there is too big and besides, I need it for, you know–and that’s Manny Pacquiao’s “you know”–all the stuff that I should have gotten rid off had I adopted my friend’s practice of leaving the shoes outside.

But early yesterday morning, we were at Divisoria and one of the homeless living there was taking a shower, right there at the park in the middle! Before you start thinking that’s where the yellow mayor has transferred the fountainheads from Gaston Park, the “shower” was made possible by water from a five-gallon water bottle with its top cut off. And all along you thought the homeless are not as fresh and clean as the people inside your house? How dare you.

There’s this chika about the homeless purposely making themselves look dirty to attract more alms and charity. It’s an unfair suspicion, could be the result of this long-term experience with beggars tapping your shoulder as they ask for leftovers even before you can have a big chunk of that steak.

In Paris, Manhattan, and Milan, the outside is a good place. Ayay–abroad jud, dili local, hehe. But you eat there al fresco, have coffee, talk about life while basking in the haze-free aura under the moon and the stars, without beggars staring at your plate? Hmmm.

The homeless are everywhere though. But who wants to be homeless? You can make muni-muni under the moon and the stars if you’re assured of a house to go home to at the end of the day. No one consciously aspires to have no roof above their heads.

That’s why you rent or buy a house, condominium unit, room, any place that you can look forward going home to. Otherwise you’ll sleep on the sidewalk, park or any public place where you take “showers” the morning after with the whole world watching.

Home is where the heart is, as the saying goes. But it’s difficult to convince the heart to call the outside as its home if the body is exposed to the elements 24/7.

Last week at the park at Divisoria again, we saw a homeless little boy browsing through a magazine. It was both a sad and hopeful sight. Sad because he’s not going to school anymore but hopeful since at least it seemed like he was still interested in getting an education. But if that was a Yes! mag… Oh, well.

Meanwhile, some parents were talking about the intrigues resulting from the preparations for their kids’ class presentation. Buti pa sila may school intrigues, ang homeless wala?