For Pinoys, Laughter is the Best Medicine

When we talk about ingenuity, creativity, and survival, you would probably agree with me that nobody could outdo the Filipinos. The majority of Filipinos back home are below poverty line. One wonders how they survive the day-to-day struggle in life. In all my visits to the Philippines, I would notice that restaurants, nightclubs, discos, and movie houses are usually filled with customers. Where do they get the money to spend? My guess is that they save and splurge the savings in one day. This is true during Christmas time and town fiestas. Many Filipinos spend their year’s savings during the important events in their lives.

Have you noticed that we rarely hear suicide cases in the Philippines? In comparison, there is a high rate of suicide cases in the United States especially on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. I believe we seldom hear of suicide cases in the Philippines because Filipinos know how to laugh at their problems. They live the principle of “enjoy now and forget tomorrow.” Life is too short, I guess.

When the late Fernando Poe, Jr. announced his candidacy for President of the Philippines, I immediately read in my email, “Ang Panday at ang Pandak,” referring to Fernando Poe as Panday and Gloria Macapagal as Pandak. Filipinos are creative. Indeed very imaginative. They could make you laugh and ease your problems.

For Pinoys, laughter is the best medicine, di ba kabayan?