Crabmentality Is a Curable Disease.

Every weekends specially on Sundays, i always make sure that i give my family back in the Philippines a call . We are lucky nowadays that there are many options and ways of communication to ease out the homesickness we are experiencing as OFWs.  Ofcourse we would like to hear how they are doing back home and also to ensure  that they are always safe and sound.

I considered my family in the Philippines to belong in the middle class until we lost our restaurant a year ago.  The restaurant that puts me to school and helped me finish my Bachelor's degree.  The restaurant that gave my mom and my dad several properties.  The restaurant where most of my siblings depend on to provide for their own family's needs.  Now that it's closed and gone after 3 decades of  challenging operation to survive, it affects my mom's and some of my sibling's living conditions.  I love my family and i want to help them in the most possible way i know.

Recently i provided my brother a capital to start his and his wife's  fish and meat rolling store.  It's a humble and simple sidecar (pedicab or whatever you wanna call it) that contains fresh fishes and meats that he and his wife, who currently has 3 small mouths to feed, are selling in the nearby subdivisions.  My sister- in- law used to work for their neighbor's rolling store.  Earning P100/ day driving the sidecar and selling different varieties of fish.  I then ask my Mom how much will it cost to start their own rolling store business. It really didn't cost alot actually so i provided them the capital.  They recently started selling and operating their own rolling store and earning enough to sustain their daily needs when i talked to my sister and found out that their female neighbor, to whom my sister-in-law used to work for, threatened to get somebody to beat up my brother if they will continue selling to her regular patrons.  My brother and his wife are not stupid not to know that it's is not right to steal her regular buyers, if that's what she was trying to say.

Yayiemai's take :

Crabmentality is a metaphor referring to a pot of crabs in which one of them tries to escape and instead is pulled down by the rest of them.  Sadly, Filipinos are known to have this characteristic.  It's posessed by a person who is envious, jealoused, self centered, unhappy of ones success.  Basically it entails to a person who doesn't want to see anybody else to succeed other than himself.

"Why on earth can't we all be happy for another person?  Are you the only people who deserve to live? Serious or not  about beating up my brother, a threat is a threat and I'm gonna find ways to sue you for grave threat and you will be sorry for uttering those words.  I maybe far but I'm working to defend my family and their safety.  May God still bless you and your family, eventhough your family stole my Father's Auto shop years ago.  Inspite of  all the help we offered you and your family in the past years, you repaid us with insult and ghetto style attacks that my family is not acustomed of.  Thank you for that." - this is me talking to my brother's neighbor.