NOLI ME TANGERE
Nope, I will not talk about Rizal's amazing book. I will talk about an Agta colleague of mine and her hair.
One day, I greeted this lady with my version of Good Morning then I sat down across from her. For the first time in the few years that I've known her, she did not reply with a funny greeting of her own. I looked closer (I'm myopic and I wasn't wearing my lenses) and sure enough her eyebrows are almost touching just above the bridge of her nose.
"Anong nakain mo?" (What have you eaten? meaning, what's the matter with you?) I asked her.
"Nakakainis kase yung matandang puti ang buhok diyan sa kabila! Basta na lang ba naman sumulpot at nilamukos ang buhok ko!" (I am so upset with that old lady in the other room. Can you imagine her just appearing from nowhere and grab at my hair?)
I started chuckling then. It was not the first time that she got upset about an incident of a stranger taking hold of her frizzy hair. Four years earlier,I myself made the mistake of touching her head without first asking her permission.
My friend then begun telling the people sitting around the table how a lady in a jeepney was not able to keep her hands off her hair as if she is a little girl playing with her Barbi doll's hair. There are other incidents like that and so our friend is getting really exasperated about it all.
I tried to explain to my friend that people are just very curious so she should not take offense but she is not to be pacified. She said, "I'll let them touch it if they ask." She has a point. These are people just like us straight hairs who has a right to privacy to say the obvious.
I tried to put myself in her shoes and imagined what my reaction would be when complete strangers would come up behind me and run their fingers on my head. I'm sure I'm gonna yank my head back and give them a piece of my mind. How much more if it happens in a daily basis?
That is the reason why our friend's favorite phrase is, "Huwag mo akong salingin!" (Touch me not! Noli me tangere!)
So next time you see an Agta or an Ayta, don't just sneak up behind them and touch their hair. Ask nicely.
Nga naman di ba?! :)
One day, I greeted this lady with my version of Good Morning then I sat down across from her. For the first time in the few years that I've known her, she did not reply with a funny greeting of her own. I looked closer (I'm myopic and I wasn't wearing my lenses) and sure enough her eyebrows are almost touching just above the bridge of her nose.
"Anong nakain mo?" (What have you eaten? meaning, what's the matter with you?) I asked her.
"Nakakainis kase yung matandang puti ang buhok diyan sa kabila! Basta na lang ba naman sumulpot at nilamukos ang buhok ko!" (I am so upset with that old lady in the other room. Can you imagine her just appearing from nowhere and grab at my hair?)
I started chuckling then. It was not the first time that she got upset about an incident of a stranger taking hold of her frizzy hair. Four years earlier,I myself made the mistake of touching her head without first asking her permission.
My friend then begun telling the people sitting around the table how a lady in a jeepney was not able to keep her hands off her hair as if she is a little girl playing with her Barbi doll's hair. There are other incidents like that and so our friend is getting really exasperated about it all.
I tried to explain to my friend that people are just very curious so she should not take offense but she is not to be pacified. She said, "I'll let them touch it if they ask." She has a point. These are people just like us straight hairs who has a right to privacy to say the obvious.
I tried to put myself in her shoes and imagined what my reaction would be when complete strangers would come up behind me and run their fingers on my head. I'm sure I'm gonna yank my head back and give them a piece of my mind. How much more if it happens in a daily basis?
That is the reason why our friend's favorite phrase is, "Huwag mo akong salingin!" (Touch me not! Noli me tangere!)
So next time you see an Agta or an Ayta, don't just sneak up behind them and touch their hair. Ask nicely.
Nga naman di ba?! :)
Comments
The presence of stereotyping is apparent in this case coz of the fact that she is aeta. Their hair stands out to be the center of cruel jokes (like blacks) and of course color of their skin.
Remind the person who did this about the saying: Don't do unto others.....maybe she'll wake up..
Cheers and goodhealth Ganda....
LAYAD
uy layad, tama ka bruha, malambot nga! :)
Tapping on their hair softly and making positive remarks is more appropriate. I said "softly" coz they hide a few toothpicks inside their mound of hair. I'm being pragmatic here...hahaha. Cheers to both and goodhealth.....