Where Are You From?

When I was a freshman at a university in Manila, it is usual for classmates to ask one another about where you came from and something about yourself. My answer was, from bicol in Catanduanes and often they would ask, where is that? So, I gave them the exact location and things associated with our province - typhoons. And they would nod and ask another question out of curiosity.

Usually those question either form or break a potential bondship and more often than not a lost opportunity for job seekers if not answered in its true sense. Some friends of mine who graduated in the province felt bad and awkward being ask by those questions particularly in a panel interview.

One time, I asked my friend about it, he told me that it is a stupid question. But I think, its more on inferiority complex. It is said to be rooted in the young child's original experience of weakness, helplessness and dependency. It can then be intensified by comparisons to older siblings and adults.

And like our province, surviving countless typhoons, being a sub-province of Albay and now the insurgency problem. Our province is undergoing a difficult period but eventually we will be someday be proud of Catanduanes in its true self and not as a copycat.