Thanks to technology, I just spent a most enjoyable afternoon chatting with my cousins in Mindanao. Just a text from cousin T and a few minutes later, my stomach was aching because we were all laughing a lot. It was so nice to hear their voice and see their faces (I don’t have a webcam so they didn’t see me). I really miss laughing with them. We have so much fun whenever we’re together because we can always find things to laugh about.
If only internets, emails and cellphones were already popular 25 years ago, it would have been easier for us to communicate with my father in Malaysia. I can still remember how eagerly we wait for my Papa’s letter everytime we see the postman. We wrote to each other often but we had to wait a week before we get a letter back. When we relocated to Manila, we had a hard time getting a phone so we would ask permission from a good neighbor to allow us to use their phone so we can talk to him. We would then set a “date” with Papa and wait for his call. It was embarrasing for me, having a conversation with Papa in a strang house; not being able to say what I really wanted to say because there were other people around. But it was better than not having to talk with him at all. I envy the families of OFWs nowadays, thanks to the internet and cellphones, they can easily connect with each other. On the news the other day, a father in the Middle East was able to see his son graduate from college, thanks to a remote broadcast over the internet.
If only we can use the technology we so cleverly discover into good use, the world would be a much better place to live in.
