Ben Madilynn
It’s hard to ignore politics, especially with the filing of the certificates of candidacy for the mid-term elections in May just a couple of weeks away, or the many ills that plague our society considering that we live in a developing country with a high incidence of poverty.
But these topics can get old. There are so many other issues out there that need to be addressed.
I know it’s hard to believe but I am past 50. Really.
And as much as I hate to admit it, there have been changes in my body that, like politics and social ills, are just too hard to dismiss.
Take for example, hearing loss.
I’m not saying I’ve gone deaf since I turned 50, but it’s not as good as it used to be. I have to be careful not to react immediately to some things that are said to me in case I misheard the person talking. And it has happened before. Misheard someone, that is.
It also becomes a handicap when you are a bona fide Tolits (‘tol, ano ang latest?), the male version of Marites. I am not saying I am, but it doesn’t help when you are trying to eavesdrop on conversations and end up getting all the facts mixed up or completely wrong, which makes for poor news-gathering.
And don’t get me started on eyesight?
I used to be able to spot someone a hundred meters away, but not anymore. Oh no. Which begs the question, how am I supposed to identify which person is the subject of the roasting when the face is all blurry? Next to impossible, let me tell you.
I had my vision checked during our recent annual physical exam at the office. And boy was I surprised. I was told to first cover my left eye and read the bottom line of the Snellen chart. I gave the nurse – I guess he was a nurse since he also took my vitals – a smile dripping with sarcasm if you can actually convey sarcasm without having to roll your eyes which can be overly dramatic and difficult with one eye covered. It turned out I could only read the third line upwards. It got worse when I covered my right eye since I could only read the big “E” at the top.
It was that bad.
But that was only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
I’m not a vain person. I know the song is not about me. But I used to have a full head of hair that was admired for its thickness and natural curl. I took pride in its lushness and the way it bounced whenever I jumped up and down in front of the bathroom mirror while I pretended to race up to the stage to accept my Oscar for Best Actor.
I kid you not, but my regular hairdresser back in college in Pittsburgh was mesmerized – and yes, that was the word he used – by my hair’s texture. He could not understand for the life of him why it was so different from his other customers from Hong Kong or Taiwan or Japan or South Korea.
Then four years ago, I started to lose hair on my head only to have them grow in the most unexpected places like the side of my ears. And what’s with the white hair that sticks out of the eyebrow? Seriously.
But that’s not even the worse of getting older.
There are times when I wake up in the morning I can barely walk straight because of the stabbing pain at the sole of my feet. Or that I easily get cold. I can’t even sleep without socks. I end up having a major sinus attack if I go to bed with the AC on. I now have a fricking blanket by my side just in case.
Things have indeed changed.
But what I’m going to talk about next is what many men of my age struggle to speak about openly. It’s so sensitive a topic that it has become the Voldemort of our generation.
I’m referring to… What did you say? Former Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña has alleged that former presidential assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino has close ties with several Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators personalities?
My, my.
