the man with a GI tattoo
He drove me to Trinoma. He shared that he had only been a taxi driver for a mere 6 months. But driving wasn't his only skill.
Manong was in his early forties but looked like someone in his mid thirties. A former bodyguard of a well-known Filipino showbiz personality, he knew and practiced several means of self defense. Karate was what he was best at and bragged that a single punch from him could probably knock a person down. He told me his former employee paid well but was a big pain in the ass. The boss used to curse at him all the time, especially when there was heavy traffic. He always became the sounding board and stress ball at the same time, and during his not so lucky days he'd be treated nastily. So after three years of forcing himself to bear with the devil, one day he stood up and walked away. Because even with a good sum of compensation, there's only so much a person can take.
I noticed two letters tatooed on his hand. G and I. Apparently he also used to be part of the Philippine Marines. I wonder what propelled him from being a marine to a bodyguard and then to a taxi driver. Most people would think of this as something like getting demoted, or going down several notches lower. But who are they to judge really. Because as I conversed with this man, I understood his strength, his ability to endure pain and then lifting himself from the pain and emerging as a better and stronger individual who's simply trying to make a life for himself and his family.
Manong was in his early forties but looked like someone in his mid thirties. A former bodyguard of a well-known Filipino showbiz personality, he knew and practiced several means of self defense. Karate was what he was best at and bragged that a single punch from him could probably knock a person down. He told me his former employee paid well but was a big pain in the ass. The boss used to curse at him all the time, especially when there was heavy traffic. He always became the sounding board and stress ball at the same time, and during his not so lucky days he'd be treated nastily. So after three years of forcing himself to bear with the devil, one day he stood up and walked away. Because even with a good sum of compensation, there's only so much a person can take.
I noticed two letters tatooed on his hand. G and I. Apparently he also used to be part of the Philippine Marines. I wonder what propelled him from being a marine to a bodyguard and then to a taxi driver. Most people would think of this as something like getting demoted, or going down several notches lower. But who are they to judge really. Because as I conversed with this man, I understood his strength, his ability to endure pain and then lifting himself from the pain and emerging as a better and stronger individual who's simply trying to make a life for himself and his family.
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