So Long For Now
by Julius Bantigue
It’s not easy to write this article because I feel like I’m leaving behind a very good group of people that I have something in common with: A love for the Philippines and her people. But I have to say so long for now to the Live In the Philippines community. It’s not a goodbye. Far from it. I hope to rejoin this blog again someday as one of its contributing authors. I just have to fulfill an obligation to my family’s financial need in the Philippines at this time, by going back out to sea as a merchant mariner for a few months. So instead of taking up space, without actively contributing to this blog, I’d rather opt out for awhile and make room for someone else. It’s only fair.
But don’t think for a moment that I won’t be in touch with the Live In The Philippines family. I’ll continue to make comments on future articles whenever I have the chance. I think it’s great that a growing number of people worldwide are beginning to see the Philippines in more than just a negative light. The positive views expressed on this blog dispels the notion that the Philippines is a land of hopelessness and despair–even if there are still lots of people out there who are clinging to the old notion that life’s happiness is found by the never-ending material pursuits.
For people like Bob Martin, and the rest of us derelicts of First World Countries, we see the Philippines as a place of possibilities and tranquilities that knows no limit; it’s a place where even if you’re foregoing the chance to make lots of money, you still feel much more abundant and unfrettered than your counterparts in more developed countries and their endless pursuit for financial security; and it’s a place where you can re-create your whole being, according to your own design, without the self-recrimating dilemma and insecurity of worrying about what’s in and what’s not. The single most important thoughts in the minds of those individuals who made the Philippines their home–in mind, body, and spirit–is that knowing peace that no developed countries can provide, in spite of the financial and physical securities they offer.
The more time I spend outside of the Philippines, the more I realize that it’s not the pursuant of money and other material things that’s important in life. Too many people are chasing the ever elusive wealth when, when what they’re seaching for is already within their grasps. It doesn’t really take that much to live. Yes, you have to earn a living in order to support yourself and your loved ones, but you also have to know when enough is enough and start enjoying your life. You can’t seek true happiness if you keep playing it safe. It’s just a facade. Once you’ve reached one financial goal, you’ll set another one; the struggle continues as long as you think in terms that financial security is what’ll make you happy .
Most people I run into in America everyday are caught up in this financial whirlwind that never seems to end–as if material wealth is an end-goal that must be reached in order to have the contentment that they’re looking for, when all they’re doing is complicating and shortening their lives. They delay their self-gratification for a greenier pasture that may never come. Where people go wrong often is when they get caught up in a lifestyle that they did not design for themselves, but what society has designed for them instead. And this lifestyle can be a trap that keeps them entangled in the wheel that’ll never stop turning. By the time they realize it’s time to get off, they’re either too afraid or too old to take that leap because the wheel is spinning faster and faster. Only when they have outlived their usefulness will they be forced off by society and replaced by another youthful cog to keep the wheel turning, and they just become relics of their own doing.
We tend to be suspicious and critical of those individuals who create a new and unique path for themselves, away from the mundane grind of life. We criticize them publicly on their wayward ways and we based our negative opinions of their attitudes and lifetyles on the standards of our own self-imposed limitations. But deep down inside, we secretly admire and envy them. We wish we were like them in many ways, because they do not seem to stop searching and experiencing the two most important things that are missing in most people’s lives, and can be found in the Philippines: Romance and Adventure–and not material wealth. In reality, these intrepid vagabonds are just as afraid–if not more so–as all of us. However, what set them apart from the rest of the crowd is the fear that if they don’t take their chances in life now, it’ll pass them by. So to the rest of us romantic and adventurous characters of the Live In The Philippines blog, I wish all of you the best on your quest for that true happiness in life. Till next time….
I don’t contribute very much to this blog, because I have only been to the Philippines a couple times, but I read this blog everyday. I read these posts to learn about the people and the culture. I especially like your thougthts and comments along with a few others on this blog. I wish you good luck and we look forward to your return.
Fair winds and calm seas.
May the wind always be merciful and the seas calm, you will be missed.
Julius
Your writings are very inspired, thoughtfull and honest, you will be back i am sure and your return will be very welcome, i can’t speak for all…..oh yes i can, you return will be eagerly awaited
your point about some of the negative aspects about the Phils having counterbalance in places like this blog is very rewarding to hear
good luck with your venture Julius
Good Luck! Have a blessed and safe passage in the ocean.
Julius - I have been blessed to be your friend, and co-blogger here on the LIve in the Philippines Blog! I wish you well on your ventures, and I’ll be looking forward to next time our paths cross, as I am sure they will.
I have not been around that long so I am not familiar with your writings but I do like what you just wrote. As to happiness, I agree that true happiness is not in material things as (I believe) happiness is really a state of mind.
However its pursuit takes on many paths and everyone’s journey to its attainment differs. Some may be blindsided temporarily by looking for it in nice houses, fast cars, a beautiful/handsome spouse, drugs, travels, fat bank accounts, etc.
In the end, we all find out it’s not any of these and that it is really not “out there”… And only then do we go back to where we should have found it to begin with; and that is, “inside of us, in our hearts.”
Was it a failed journey then to have looked for it in many different places? Far from it… for the beauty lies in the exploration, however long it takes… And for as long as we never give up until we find the truth…
So to my fellow explorers on this blog, wherever you are on your journey,
here’s my ultimate wish for you:
“We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started…
and know the place for the first time.”
-T. S. Eliot
I really enjoyed your blogs in LiP, Julius. Sige, ayo-ayo na lang.
Bon voyage Julius,
We will look forward to your return.
Godspeed, Julius! We, like your family, will be awaiting your return…
Hi Julius - Just want to say that I’ve enjoyed reading your posts here in LiP. All the best and hope to see you back here soon.
Julius,
I’m back and I’m really awake now.
I realize that I meant to but forgot to say this last night. Have fun on the high seas!!! Hope to read your articles soon.
Hello Julius - very inspiring thoughts contrived in here!
Good luck!
To Angie - i like that piece from T.S Eliot - thank you.
Hi Julius- I wish you all the very best whilst you are away.
Haste ye back.
Good morning MaryGrace (morning here). Thank you, I’m glad you liked it. T.S. Eliot has many inspiring/profound quotes.
Hello angie - its 8pm here -
Hope to meet you also - on my next vacation - I miss Davao (to the max!)
Hi MaryGrace,
I don’t think we will meet on your next vacation in Davao! Unless we synchronize to meet there
I live in California.
Good for you, though, that you’re going to Davao soon. I read, elsewhere on this site, that you’re headed there soon. Enjoy the fruits and the hometown camaraderie.
Wow, that’s going to be a long trip. I hope you enjoy your break. Take care now.
Don’t worry, if there will ever be a grand meeting (reunion) of LiPers, that might be a convenient reason for me to meet up with some of you. Oh, oh, I’m dreaming, huh? But who knows… although I know I can’t do it soon enough. Many things on my calendar here for now.
hi julius sail safely god speed be strong your friends are with you . we will here from you soon god bless
Hi julius good luck for your travel I am also marine engineer
but I am pensioner (retire) now from year 2000.You know I am
jealows to you because you go to travel for ship I am homesick
this job.
regards
Oh Zois, I can emphatize with your longing for a vocation that you enjoyed… It’s good to have good memories, right? And how many of us can look back and really declare, “I did what I always loved to do.”
Good for you that you can say that. Now, relish your newly discovered love, being a blog engineer!!!
And you have many friends, here, too as you had on the high seas.
Enjoy your bliss in Athens. You are so lucky to be surrounded by so much ancient history.
Happy for you.
Hi Angie yes I enjoy my work in ship and I have good memories.
But if I work in ship and travel at sea I have time to communicate
with my self. Now I can’t to communicate for my self because this
it’s life if you work in city or province etc. Angie your comments it’s
very nice you talk(write) to mutch same greek people.The greek people talk to mutch. If I know good english I like to write more
in my comments.Many thanks god bless you.
regards
safe journeys
Hi Julius,
I am also out to sea two months on and two months off. It would be nice to live in the PI during my off-time but I have family obligations that keep me in the U.S.
Are you on U.S. ships or another country? My wife’s brother who is a Philippine citizen will be immigrating to the U.S someday soon and he has studied Nautical in the Philippines. Do you think it would be hard for him to get on a ship out of the U.S. while he is on a green card?
I hope someday he can be like you and help support his family in the Philippines.
Thank you for your insight and inspiring words. And for your advice if you choose to give it.
Mark
Juls I will miss you. Good Luck. Ron
Julius,
Safe travels. I enjoyed your writings here and I also enjoyed reading your blog. I look foward to seeing more writings from your ports of call.
My fiancees nephew is an engineer for a british freight line and is waiting for his next ship.
Watch out for the rouge waves.
Julius
Good luck with your work. I’ll miss your writing as I gain insights into the Philippines from reading your posts. Be safe and when you come back, drop us a post.
Kevin
Julius ….because I’m new to this blog I’ve never read any of your posts before, until your last one. You have a gift for writing so I hope we see you continue to write more when you get home.
May God bless you in your work.
Julius,
Your zest for the adventure, your joy in living and your magnificient gift for sharing are profoundly appreciated. Your return is greatly anticipated. Bon Voyage!
Julius, have a safe trip and see you soon hopefully, next time you’re in the Philippines (as I plan to be back home by then). Me and a couple of close friends share the same principles you have. And I think there are a couple of new books (i.e. Dalai Lama and Voluntary Simplicity Movement) out there that advocate against the never ending chase of wealth, and instead towards going after meaning and happiness.
Could some one tell me the truth about living in the philippines and living standards. Looking at living ing Angles City area.
v/r
Lyle
Hi Lyle - This whole site tells the truth about living here in the Philippines. That’s what the site is about. If you have any specific questions, please let me know, and I’ll answer them for you.
This great blog pretty much sums it up! I’m going to pass this along to my Dad here in the States and to my relatives who keep postponing their retirement (and return to PI). And why do they keep putting it off? Because they want their SS to be a few hundred dollars more by the time they’re 68 !?! They’ve bought into a false sense of security! Saint Augustine states “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
Very inspiring words!