There is a man who desires a fresh mango and he climbs the tree and gets one and then sits in the shade and enjoys the fruit of his labor. But there is another man who will wait below and ask the man who worked to share his mango. Then the third type who will sleep under the mango tree and wait for the fruit to fall, never realizing that it could fall and injure his head or fall beside him and someone else will walk by and pick it up before he wakes up.
Then there is the teenager who throws the rock in quest of the mango, with no regard for people or property or where the rock will land. I understand where they learn it by watching on New Year’s Eve where AR-15’s will be fired over a neighborhood inhabited by women and children with glee into the air assuming that the clouds will hold the projectiles suspended in mid air and they’ll never return to Earth.
As I was sitting on my wall I saw this (Teenager) kid toss the rock at the tree which was directly over my neighbor’s house where he missed the mango, and the rock hit the house and slid off the roof and dented the roof of his L-300 in the yard. Then having missed the mango he threw one more rock before I approached him and my neighbor caught up to us. (I did not lay hands on the boy) but since I knew him and his family he saw no sense in running.
He looked at the both of us like we processed extra heads on our bodies wondering what he could have done wrong. I left thinking I was wise to have a roof over my car port and never asked about the damage to the L-300.
I have watch folks underachieve over and over during the last twenty years; plus there was a time long long ago when I would voice my opinion to correct what I perceived to be an incorrect method of doing something, until I quickly learned that my advice was not needed or welcomed. Waiting under the mango tree was the preferred choice of doing things. Or as we used to say in the Caribbean; “Backwards is the direction of choice in the tropics!”
My son-in-law is one of the few that will come and ask me about a better way of doing something, and we will analyze the pro and cons before we decide on the best plan and his ideas are worth listening to also. But for the most part I shut up and await the outcome and surprisingly I’ve found that their way, a lot of the time was just as good.
The lesson I’ve learned over the past 20 years, is that if the Mango Theory works for you, embrace it, don’t try to fight or resist it, just move with the flow, so when my workers or family members are working on something, and all of a sudden they hand me a cold SMB. I heed their message and sit and watch.
A shipboard adage works just as well on land; “Never urinate into the wind, find the leeward side.” Relax and enjoy your stay in the Philippines, because no matter what, it will somehow turn out all right.
I too no longer give assistance or advise to my in-laws.
Mel;
I stopped years ago, right after they learned that a cold SMB in my hand would distract me.
Paul,
I follow the Mango Theory, but Anne is not afraid to voice her opinion about anything. Sometimes I get embarrassed when she does that lol.
PapaDuck;
Knowing that she is the expert on all things Filipino, there is no need for you to become embarrassed. Pop the cap on a SMB and sit back and watch! (lol)
Amen to that. One time while shopping at SM my dear wife. Mita, got particularly distressed at some very poor service and dumb answers she was getting from a clerk. She demanded that a manager be summoned.
I sat in a chair well out of the line of fire. The manger came rushing out from the mysterious “back room”, breezed right past Mita and came over to me and asked, “What seems to be the problem, sir”?
I replied, “Oh I have no problem at all, but I think that lady you just ignored as you brushed past her might have one.”
Shock, disbelief and silence as the manager left to take care of the problem.
How I wish I could keep your sage advice to just “butt out” always uppermost in my mind. It isn’t easy to do but it is by far the key to living happy in the Philippines.
David;
The ability to stand on the sidelines is a trait that referee’s do well. But they will foolishly intervene whereas we would open a cold adult beverage and observe. When these situations arise I just thank my stars that I’m fluent in English only. I can’t be dragged in to the fray.
Nothing better than a Philippine Mango
Craig Himes;
That was exactly the point I was trying to make. A refreshing Mango Shake on a hot humid afternoon is sheer joy.
That is so right on Craig Himes the mangos from the Philippines are the absolute best.
Della;
I also like the bananas that are grown here too. But I have no banana theory yet. But I’ll work on that.
How’s this for a banana theory……………….
1 1/2 ounces light rum
1 Tablespoon triple sec
1 banana
1 1/2 ounce lime juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup crushed ice
Maraschino cherry for garnish
Commonly known as a Banana Daiquiri
Tagay
AJ UK
AJ UK
When I visit you’d better have a spare blender!
That was exactly the point I was trying to make with this article. A refreshing Mango Shake on a hot humid afternoon is sheer joy.
I pretty much live and let live. My dear asawa, in the other hand, is having a bit harder of a time adjusting. It’ll come eventually, I’m sure!
Doug;
So you’ve never observed a situation here in the Philippines and thought to yourself; “My that’s odd!” You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.
Oh, I’ve certainly thought it…but all of my research prior to moving here prepared me to just let it go. In short, I learned from your (and many others) decades of experience. I cannot change it, so I will not waste energy worrying about it!
Doug;
We preach it but there are times when one loses all common sense and jumps in with a comment abandoning all that we’ve learned over the years. I’ll admit I did that, but I really strain not to. Ah now we know where the beer fits in…
Paul,
Thank you that is very good advise. And I remember one of my Chief P.O.s
telling me the same thing when I was upset over something and with age and time I came to understand what he was trying to teach me. Good reminder as I had forgot over the years.
Luke
Luke;
Maybe it was because I was once a Senior Chief Petty Officer that it seems like good advice. (lol) To get angry is to admit defeat, and we will never do that. But I now stand back and watch, and let someone else get the hypertension. Pour yourself a beer……
Ummmmmmm
Luke Tynan;
I couldn’t have summed it up or said it better.
Philippine mangos best in the the whole world. Love it
Sven Olof Larsen;
I see you also grasped what I was writing about.
I am slowly also learning to just shut-up, but still stupidly, sometimes make a statement even though I know I should have just kept my mouth shut, it just comes out anyway, but I am still kinda stubborn at times I guess and think my words of “wisdom” might somehow have a ever so slight impact on whatever the problem is,,,,of course I am always wrong and never correct . Is hard to teach an ol dog to not occasionally bark I guess.
Bill S.
You have a greater understanding of the situation than most, because just being aware that we are automatically wrong is 90% of the battle. I hate to labor the point but there is beer!
Paul –
Meanwhile, Juan Tamad – you know, the lazy guy who had been sleeping under the mango tree since Spanish times waiting for a ripe mango to fall, oblivious to the changing world around him, suddenly wakes up in the 21st century and finds the mango tree no longer there. In its place now stands a shopping mall called “SM”.
Today, the modern day Juan Tamad lives on, but nothing has changed. He is still lazy. He still lives in a nipa hut easily blown by the wind. Instead of doing something to improve his lot, he places his fate in the hands of God, murmuring to himself, “Bahala na”, in the face of an impending disaster forecasted by PAGASA.
It is no surprise that when he speaks of meeting at SM to pass the time, he doesn’t mean at George Sy, Sr.’s creation. He speaks of another SM that he remembers well from a subconscious past memory –
(S)ilong ng (M)anga. Under the mango tree. LOL
John Reyes;
Juan Tamad must be a popular name because he lives in 90% of the houses in my Purok, and I think the other Purok’s too. Oh hell he might even be the Barangay mailman who comes around every month or two. (Last month I received a check from Tri-Care of $19.00 for an over payment. it was mailed in November 2014 and I received it April 2015, the check was void after 120 days. But it was nice that they were thinking about me.)
I’ll meet you on the first floor of the SM by the Pizza Hut…(LOL)
Paul –
My brother mailed me a cashier’s check from California to my address here in Delaware. I received it 30 days later. By then, the cashier’s check was voided by the issuing bank because it was reported missing. The post office’s explanation for the delay was, the mail may have been stuck in the sorting machine and discovered 30 days later.
But, in your case it was a 5-month delay? My suspicious mind runs wild. It was probably held by a dishonest employee for that long trying to figure out if he could cash the $19 check. When he figured out he couldn’t cash it, he got the envelope “unstuck” from the conveyor belt five months later.
John Reyes;
You might have found the answer!!! But why TriCare refuses to use my FPO AP address which is delivered through the US Embassy to Olongapo twice a week, I’ll never know. It could be one branch of the US government not trusting the other, no wait that’s congress….
I have a mango theory……………..
3 measures Tequila
3 measures Cointreau
3 measures Grand Marnier
5 Mangoes
ice
put in a blender and put the world to rights!
Tagay
AJ UK
AJ UK
Now there is a theory I could get a lot of use out of…..(lol)
I approve of this message.
Phil is the 10th largest exporter of Mango’s last i read
I also wonder if they’ll export my Mango Theory?
They should Paul , against the wind can be a bit harder life and its not spilled beer on your leg in the end.
They should Paul , against the wind can be a bit harder life and its not spilled beer on your leg in the end.
Always point it to the leeward, 40 years on ships taught me more than just theory’s. . (LOL)