The Family stories of Christmas

 No, I am not watching the Harry and Meghan soap opera on TV.

Poor them. 

I am reminded of my oldest son who started reading a book about a rich Hong Kong family written by the middle girl, the youngest of the first wife, who felt she was neglected by the family and who related a lot of small things that hurt her feelings, such as the family wouldn't pay for expensive meals at her fancy school so she was stuck with ordinary food.

My oldest son was adopted from Colombia as a young teenager, and his comment: why is she complaining so much? She had enough to eat...

One feels the same way about these two poster children of narcissitic parents. They abandoned their job, fled to a nice area of Canada, and when they decided to move back to Hollywood, complained they were essentially homeless and no one would pay for body guards so Tyler Perry had to come to their rescue. Hmmm... I thought Harry had a net worth of 60 million, so don't ask me to feel sorry for him.

Don't they realize that a lot of people are hurting, all over the world, and the covid epidemic made things worse?

Here in the Philippines, we worry because the price of diesel and ferilizer is making cost of growing rice go up, and of course later this means that people who eat rice will have to pay more. (meaning that poor people might not be able to afford rice next year).

The government does help the poor with subsidized rice, But if an emergency such as an accident or illness hits, it can cause severe financial problems.

True,  the city has a free hospital for major illnesses, and a free medical clinic for kids. That helps. But they still have to buy the medicine.

we have a couple people a day coming here for help with medical expenses. I mean, 7 dollars for a rabies shot for a kid bitten by a street dog, or five dollars for antibiotic for your kid with bronchitis, etc. This is not a lot of money, but it is in a country where the minimum wage is under ten dollars a day. And the farmers are usually short of funds because they are between grows (after selling the last harvest, which was poor due to a typhoon, money is tight because they need that money to replant, so cash is short for luxuries like medicines and school supplies).

Sigh.

The way people support themselves here is extended family and friends. 

So when many lost their jobs in Saudi or other middle eastern countries due to covid, a lot of families hurt. 

Things are improving now: yes, I know. Lots of anti Qatar articles about the mistreatment of their foreign workes, but you have to realize that the alternative is starving and no way to improve your life in beautiful eco friendly traditional lifestyle beloved by elite wealthy green types, but seen by the rest of us as a life of poverty and back breaking work.

How do people survive?

The families here in the Philippines care for their own. 

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This is not just in the Philippines you know: I worked in poorer rural areas in the US for 30 years, and we saw people caring for their families nearly every day.

from the CDC:

22.3% of adults reported providing care or assistance to a friend or family member in the past 30 days. 24.4% of adults aged 45 to 64 years are caregivers ...

If you are tired of superhero/heroine movies, or (worse) the cookie cutter plots of Hallmark films where good looking rich people find romance over age 30, try watching Sam and Kate about two over 30s caring for their aging parents.

No cliches here. And probably too realistic to be a hit.

And unlike Hallmark movies where romantic happy ending with Mr/Ms Right is the aim of the plot, the people here have ordinary problems, and the family members take responsibility for their elders.

And unlike the religionless Hallmark films, they actually quietly attend church as just part of their routine life...(which is where the two families meet, when Hoffman and son offer Spacek and daughter a ride home).

The children are played by the actual Children of the leads (Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek).

So not a happy film per se, but does show the reality of American life, and unlike too many modern films, shows the goodness of ordinary people who are caregivers  

Been there, done that.

And now, after that bout with Dengue fever, I find that I was the one who neded to be cared for by family here in the Philippines.