A Beggar And Two Pandesals

 

     There’s no doubt that the price of commodities are going up. Just yesterday, the dog food I could buy for 150 pesos had risen to 170, and the lechon manok I used to buy at 320 had jacked up to 340. And just this noon, I stumbled upon a beggar who beseeched me for loose change while I was walking in front of a church, so I scrambled for money in my pocket and came up with a shiny five-peso coin. I dropped it into her can and to my surprise, I saw her almost frowning, although she didn’t say anything. And I realized that five pesos is too small even for alms these days. Really, what could five pesos buy these days?  Let’s see, you can buy two pieces of pandesal with it, but that’s it, there won’t be butter on it, or peanut butter. And who eats pandesal without butter or peanut butter in it?

     So I walked away from her embarrassed.

     Then I remembered the beggar I saw on Facebook who earns six hundred pesos a day.

     And I thought I should have just kept that five pesos and bought me two microscopic pandesals.