Since I take Uber at least 3x a day and to long distance locations, I am trying to save money by choosing Uberpool when the price difference is big. For example, Uberpool $12. UberX $20. I will choose pool.
But if the difference is not big, Uberpool $7.22 UberX $10.80 I will take UberX. Sometimes when I am in a hurry even if Uberpool is half the cost, I take Uberx so I don’t waste time waiting for the driver to pick up or drop off another passenger. It’s fun also riding with a girl or boy or gay. They have interesting stories to tell about their lives.
Two nights ago I rode with Jon, a 22 year old Filipino who migrated from the Philippines with his mother when he was 13 years old leaving his father behind.
He is a second year student of nursing at the University of Las Vegas (UNLV).
He said his mom is a nurse, his aunt is a nurse, his uncle is a nurse, his cousin is a nurse, etc. He is particularly proud of his mom whom he said has the power to shut down a hospital. She’s a hospital administrator earning more than $50 per hour. Jon’s dream is to follow in his mom’s footsteps. For him, she’s the epitome of a successful nurse.
I asked him why did he say “biological father” and not just father, tatay or papa or daddy. Kasi daw he now has a step-dad. His mom remarried here in Las Vegas. She’s 50 years old and her husband is 38 years old. He showed me a photo of his mom. She is pretty, young-looking and could be mistaken for a college student.
Jon—-“Did you know that my mom almost kicked my step-dad out of the house because of a dog?” The dog ate a whole mamon so Jon’s step-dad got pissed. He brought the dog to the pound. It was only after a few days before his mom discovered why their dog was missing. They got the dog back. She got mad at her young husband and told him “next time you do that I will kick you out of my house. I choose the dog, not you”. Grabe, if I were the guy I would move out of her house. Where is his pride and dignity?
Jon’s biological father lives in the Phils. He still loves his mom dearly and wants her back. Ever since she left him, he never had a relationship with any other woman. Unfortunately Jon’s mom has obviously moved on. She doesn’t even want to hear her former husband’s name that’s why she refuses to call Jon by his real name Jonathan because he is a junior. She calls him Miguel.
Jon said he was a battered child. His mom was the beater. She hit Jon with a metal pipe. And she would always say “Miguel, how much more beating do you want me to give you?” She slapped and kicked him. Sometimes his uncle also beat him.
I asked Jon if his mom still physically abuse him. He said she stopped when he was 13 years old, when they moved to America.
The Uber guy is originally from Dominican Republic. He too is an abused child according to him. His parents particularly his mother beat him up black and blue, and just like Jon, he looks at his past experiences as his mother’s way of disciplining him. Wow, grabe naman disiplina, sometimes he couldn’t stand up for days! He had bruises all over his body.
I asked the Uber driver what he does aside from driving Uber. He said he is in training for MMA.
A—“What’s MMA?”
driver—-“Mixed Martial Arts”.
A—-‘Oh my, you’ll get hurt. You’ll get beaten up”.
Jon—-“We get beaten up at home, we’re used to that”.
What’s the difference between being beaten up by your parents and competing in mixed martial arts? Uber driver and his Filipino passenger Jon said there’s no difference. They both laugh at it now.
I admire these two guys for enduring the blows for at least half of their lives suffering as early as one or two years old or as far as they could remember and yet they bore no ill feelings towards their parents because they truly believed what their parents told them each time they questioned why they did that to them. That their parents loved them and that was the discipline that made them the kind of gentlemen they are today.
I was the first to be dropped off at the hotel. Before I got off the car, I told them, please don’t beat up your future children. Don’t do what your mothers did to you.
