A LETTER FROM AND TO A HALF-BLOOD CROAT The Relativity of Happiness” (Posted on Facebook, Sunday, 18 September 2011) Shades of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?” Perhaps, if only for the “half-blood” thing. This guy, though definitely not a prince, half-blood or otherwise, is actually half-Croatian and half-Sulu-anon. And we haven’t actually met in person. Just in cyberspace. He wrote me, after a hiatus of sorts, and in my answer, I mentioned of a real, full-blood prince whom I have known for quite some time now. The Letter Hi Uncle Mike! I’ve been reading your blogs about your trip to America! How ironic, that though we were in the same piece of land, we never had a chance to communicate! Pitiful! I visited Croatia for the first time last month, with my father! It surely was an eye opener for me! The pictures I saw, before my trip there, did not justify, any of the places I saw with my very own eyes! It was a very humbling experience for me! In America we have everything, yet Americans are still not happy! The things we take for granted, like food, clothes, or trips, are rare treats for Croatians! And they appreciate them! I guess I am not buying any clothes this year, nor will I go to Pizza Hut or some such places any time soon! Ha, ha, ha! The most important topic today would be the diamond car! My Tita from Sulu-an* forwarded it to me, thinking I was going to get excited! She was right! She said your buddy, the prince, lets you use it sometimes. No charge? Who would have thought that kind of car existed? Not me, especially while in Croatia! I’m trying to psyche myself to “student mood” for school starts in two weeks, and I am dragging! My adrenalin is shut! My job keeps me busy though and helps to keep the checkbook balanced. Take care. Hope to hear from you soon. Britto My Reply Dear Otoy Brit, It was ironic, indeed, that I did not communicate with you. Sorry. Perhaps, I was just so preoccupied with the new experience and the sights. However, I sort of found San Antonio, Texas, a bit laid back and not as exciting as is surely your side of Los Angeles. As regards your Croatian sojourn, I bet that it more than underscored the fact that happiness is not equated with the possession of material things. And you’re right, a pizza for you may be just that, a pizza, and nothing more, but for a poor Croat, it is something! I can just imagine the happiness you can give a Croat with a slice, more so if accompanied with a mug of beer. And all he could give you back is a bear hug, all wrapped in utter joy! The same can be said with the full-blood fisherfolks in Sulu-an who would surely be thrilled (if you would someday) that a part-Sulu-anon from far away US of A had come to hobnob and share a glass of tuba’(fermented coco wine) with them. And this brings to mind the diamond car. There’s also one in pure gold, another in silver! There are a lot of these here, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that will simply boggle your mind no end. But the question is, are the owners happy, the way we glory and praise the high heavens after, at last having whatever it is we want to have with all our hearts, after working our butts off, not to mention scraping and scrimping for years for it? It is the seemingly endless wait, the hoping against hope, and the fervent wishing that add to the immeasurable joy of having it, at last! But the guy with the diamond car and the rest of his ilk are surely robbed of this feeling we ordinary mortals experience. For, for them, it’s simply a perfunctory phone call to their banks in Geneva, Liechtenstein, the Bahamas, or I don’t know where else, and in a jiffy what they want is brought to them at their chateaus or palatial mansions in the French Riviera, the Algarve, Costa Esmeralda, Dubrovnik, Tangiers, Al Ain, Sharm Al Shiekh, or some such exotic locations of which we can only dream of visiting. But, are they happy the way you felt when you got your car, or the way I still feel with a new pair of shoes (that I would smell for days before wearing), or a Croat with a thick slice of pizza, or the way those Sulu-anon fisherfolks feel while downing their glass of tuba’ at sundown to cap their daily toil? But, your Tita must have given your leg more than a bit of a pulling, for the guy with the diamond car is not a friend, though I wish he were. He doesn’t even know me, and even if he does, he would only let me touch his car were I to wear mink gloves. The question is: “Where can I get a pair of mink gloves? And why must I buy them just to touch the diamonds?” At least, in all honesty, I can touch the solitaire diamond in the ring which I wear every day anywhere I go, but definitely, the diamond-car guy can’t do the same to all the diamonds in his car, nor drive the garishly glittering wheeled glob anywhere his heart desires. There lies the ironic rub! But I have a friend and former student here, a real prince and scion of the ruling family who has a new red Corvette in his garage which he showed me once before our going to a seafood buffet at an up-market Thai restaurant. Jokingly, I said that we had better use it going there, but he answered seriously that someone with an evil eye might cast a spell or something on it, or some envious passersby might scratch it while parked. I also remembered when before this, while at a cinema with him, how he could not concentrate on the film we were watching for he was so worried that his brand new maroon Audi with real leather maroon seats (that smelled like some new pairs of shoes) parked at the open parking lot would also be scratched by someone with an envious and evil eye. And I got to thinking: “What’s the point in having them when they only bring lots of apprehensions, or if I can’t use them anywhere I want to go?” Lately, after our evening swim at an exclusive beach resort, this prince (He alternately calls me “Father” or “Boss,” and sometimes, jokingly, “Old Lion” from the film, “The Lion King.”) gave me an expensive bottle of perfume bought during his recent trip to Germany. The fact that the gift was unexpected surely made me very happy, and even much happier, I must add, than if he had given me a ride in his red Corvette. Well, I bet I have covered everything. Thanks for getting in touch, after quite some time. Do take care. And enjoy college life! Your Uncle Mike
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 15:24:09 +0000
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