Ah Kong bangs his head against the wall wondering until the cows come home to roost why lotsa kabayan in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Region 1 have a whim of preference over animate and inanimate objects, often to others consternation or glee.
Ah suspects this fondness of “paboritok daytoy/dayta” (liking this or that) in fact, plagues millions of Filipinos. A doctor has yet to be born to solve this fancy ailment of habitual liking for something or someone, or a drug invented to cure it.
Take a moment to mull over this: we wonder, what’s it that creates persons the way we are, with integrity of identity enduring over time while undergoing changes and continues to do so yet sticking to a lifetime favorite?
We start in the house. At home, we have our favorite chair. No? Yes! Come to think of it, what does our favorite chair thinks of us as we sit on it for hours.
If only we could hear our chair, it’s saying, “Good day, I’ve been expecting you and please sit down, you good-for-nothing lazybones.”
Ah, having surreptitiously observed this whimsical fancy for particular chairs, notes with delight how those sitting on their favorite chairs also commune with the objects, talking to their chairs, patting them, caressing them, whispering to them and divulging their innermost secrets to the chairs.
So much so that even the missus, seeing this mysterious relationship between her husband and his hair, gets jittery thinking whether or not there’s something wrong in the head of her husband, if not outright angry that the husband gives more attention to his chair and not the missus.
Now let’s go to church. We often make a beeline towards what spot we want to stay when inside the church, either to the left or right side, in front or at the back of the church.
And of all things, we also prefer to sit on our favorite pew. Ah presumes our favorite pew is like a good friend.
It doesn’t matter that in going to church, we separate momentarily from the company of the spouse or the children, they, who also happen to possess favorite places in God’s House while attending church ceremony.
Do you go to the parks? Op kors, we do. Folks who go to parks always remember to head straight to a familiar area of the parks of their liking.
Trouble is, upon arriving at our preferred area, we find others already there and can’t complain as the parks aren’t ours.
Not being the government that can arrogate or expropriate places for its fancy, the least we can do is sniff, grumble find a new place or whisk off our hat in resignation.
Now talking about hats. Everyone has a favorite hat. How a hat makes anyone feel is what a hat is all about. With the right hat to somebody, nothing else matters.
To many males, a hat makes a man. He can feel naked or vulnerable without it.
This reminds Ah of the esteemed and late Fr. Juan B. Sicwaten, former rector of then Church of the Resurrection, now Cathedral of the Resurrection.
Fr. Sicwaten was popular for his rabbit cap with the rabbit tail intact, which he donned whenever he went anywhere. His favorite was rabbits that he personally raised them.
I had a chance to ask why his favorite was rabbit when I went to his home at Asin barangay long time ago. Fr. Sicwaten smiled and said, “Rabbits are like calculators because both can multiply so fast.”
Yep, Favorite hats. When you go home, hang your favorite hat in a favorite place in your home and in doing so, you smile, knowing you have come home to your home sweet home – and to your favorite chair.
Ah can’t recall of anybody having a favorite hat and allowing it to be used or borrowed by anyone.
Take the case of many Cordilleran males or females particularly those preferring cowboy hats. Try pilfering a cowboy hat of a Cordilleran, say from the Mines View Park cowboys, Guisad Caballeros and Friends Country Line Dancers, country folk singers, farmers, John Allan, Jr., of Baguio City or any cowboy hat lover for that matter.
Ah will assure any cowboy hat stealer: hell will break loose. Cowboy hats are signatures of the owners.
Ah regularly comes across people from all walks of life with different favorites. I’ve been with those whose favorite is seldom changing their socks and when they do, they would raise their socks to their noses and smell the socks with delight.
I’ve seen people so happy taking a bath only once a week on their favorite day. For those who cannot take a bath, well, by all means, they wash only their armpits. There are those whose favorite is brushing their teeth only if they go out of their homes.
We truly believe that our particular smell gives our originality and is balm to our souls.
Yep, without a doubt, Ah says, further approving that whatever our favorite smell or odor is unique as our fingerprints. Like we say, indeed, to each our like and dislike.
