If you had one wish

Unlike most employed and seemingly successful people of my age, 16, I woke up at 7pm, just in time for a festive dinner. No, there wasn't the usual roster of relatives, although what my Mom had prepared was fit for such an occasion. We had roasted chicken marinated in brown sugar and soy sauce, and some pasta, the tubular kind, along with this rich sweet tomato sauce with mushrooms and a small bottle of Bravo pesto sauce my sister brought home from work. However, instead of feeling good about everything delicious I ate, I felt sick. I think I may have become a bit hypertensive again, compounded by my slight hyperropia and acute astigmatism; my head started to pound and my neck became stiff. Indeed, my lifestyle is that of an emperor, an under-achieving one, trapped in a kingdom of a house. To make matters worse, the phone rang and I answered it (something I don't normally do because nobody calls me before 9pm) and to my luck(!), it was my aunt from the US. She asked me all these questions and sorta lectured me on what I should/could be doing since I'm supposed to have "the time of my life" being at my age, 16, and that I should have an incentive to go to the gym or to be busy being happy turning down a lucarative career in *ss-wiping. She asked me who my friends are and what they do and why I heed their advice and allow myself to be influenced, etc. etc. etc. I just kept saying "yes" and nodding my head even if she wouldn't have been able to see me in my striped gray shorts and tattered white Hawaii shirt. She may sound pretty controlling but you wouldn't notice it because she comes on with a tone of redolence, full of suggestions and that feeling of guilt all in one package. I'm not mad or anything and most of what she had said is/are/was/were/has/have/had been true, it's just that it's the trouble of finding that "incentive" that's the hardest thing for me right now. There's nothing to live for and I'm going stale with my so-called talent.

I thought I wanted to take up Masters and try my luck going abroad with another course I'm not too keen on, but now, I'm having doubts I'll get through it. My friend with the computer shop (let's name him Malik) was right all along. For every thing I do that's the exact opposite of what I'd really want to do, he would make a corresponding bet that I'd quit the first few weeks alone. It may sound evil but he didn't word it that way. I'm not mad at him or anything because it is/are/was/were/has/have/had been all true. It goes against human nature to tread the path of greatest resistance. I can't fool anyone, I really don't like children. Some are cute, and that's it. I can't imagine myself teaching mentally-challenged children at the intermediate level, when they're all grown up and able to start talking sh*t....

Moving on, I decided to go to Malik's shop to vent out and maybe have a few minutes walk/exercise along the way. The shop was packed so we spent most of the time outside. Among the many things we had talked about, there was one thing he said that struck me the most. He said, "If I had the chance to have my wish granted, I wouldn't wish to be rich. I'd wish for my parents to be rich." He explained to me how if your parents are rich, you will be spared of a lot of responsibility and if ever things don't work out, you'll always have people to go back to. I was a bit appalled because Malik had never been close with his father even before his mother passed away years ago, and now he would wish for his father to be rich so that he could take care of him? Anyway, other than that, what he said was pretty logical if you think about it. If you were living on your own you would have more needs and wants, and along with these come bills and taxes. When you're making ends meet or getting through with flying colors, your family would become your responsibility -- sharing bills at home, offering to pay for your other siblings' tuition and expenses, taking charge of insurance and investment plans, paying for your car and gas, debts and installments, and everything else that comes with being a grown up in a nuclear family. It's not all that bad if you're the "family type" who would love to give back what graces the Lord had showered upon you. Everyone has to go through this grown up sh*t eventually. But if you're not the type and plan to be single without dependents, it's a whole lot of responsibility you're not prepared to deal with, especially since you'd have so much hang-ups to solve first before being able to take on the new challenges. Independence is a difficult thing to pursue (no wonder I don't know anyone my age, 16, who's successfully moved out.) It seems practically impossible in these sad economic times. That's why if there's one advice I can give to anyone out there who's wanting to move out, as soon as you've saved up and can live for 6 months without a job, go be independent. If you don't force yourself (like young Americans do), it would be too difficult to separate yourselves from the convenience of living with your family and being able to depend on helpers. If you don't sacrifice these conveniences now, you might never be able to give those up (unless of course you get married and move out .... where? To your spouse's family?)

Whatever. I was only a bit appalled but I don't really have any opinion about wishing for your parents to be rich and feasting on the gains. Everything's off tangent.