⌛ Just a few thoughts for you

Diversity

That's an interesting word/subject.*

Here at Dumagueteinfo, we are as about as diverse as there is.*

Some of us come from rich backgrounds, and some from poor.*

Some have a lot of money now, and some don't.

Some of us are highly educated and some of us are not.*

Some of us like motorcycles, and some of us do not.*

Some of us have very young wives, and some of us do not. *

Some come from countries that have a death penalty, and some from countries that do not.*

Some come from countries that don't allow guns, and some from countries that embrace gun ownership as a "right".*

Some come from countries that have various views of what is right or wrong, as they see it.*

Some come from countries that put high standards on personal protection.*

Some come from countries that believe in privacy, others from countries that see and know everything people do or say.*

Some of us fought in the various wars, and some of us did not.*

Some of us are proud of our service to our countries, and some of us would rather not discuss it.

But, now we find ourselves together in this forum.......

As for me personally...... I rode Harleys almost every day of my life for 46 years and called guys on rocket bikes "assholes". Now I ride a rocket bike. I changed.*

For about 14 years, I carried a concealed handgun every day, and now I have learned to live without it. I changed. *

For all of those years, I never once pulled my gun in anger, but there were many times that I could have. And there were many times that I was glad that I had it on me. I changed.

I had a hard time adjusting to living here and getting use to "not having" the many normal things in my life that I was use to, from Starbucks to Home Depots. I changed.

I remember one particular time in VN being chased through the jungle with a bunch of VC firing AK's at me and thinking "what the F--k am I doing here?". On the same token, I asked myself that same question several times the first few months I lived here. In VN that day I ran head on into a squad of Marines coming in the opposite direction. They put down enough cover to save my sorry bottom. But here, in the last 21 months, I've had nobody to save my sorry bottom, so I've learned to do it myself.*

But, the point here is that we are all entitled to our own opinions and beliefs and we may, or may not, change as we go along. The one thing that will never change anything that I think, is anyone trying to "force" their opinion or beliefs on me.*

You are, each and every one of you, entitled to your own opinion, just as I am to mine.

Trying to force any opinion on me, or most others, will never work.

Rather than say "I'm right and you're wrong", just say "we are each entitled to our own opinion".

Just my person opinion and observation folks.*

Have a great day*

* * **

 

Ron, spot on. There are a few critics on the forum who like to tell you what you said or do is wrong and state their way as being the course of action one should take. For me, my preference would be for them to ignore my posts if they don't like what I wrote because I am not asking for their f'n approval and could care less if they don't like what I have to say and surely don't want to hear their preaching.

 

right on!

the beauty of diversity! im so glad there is dumaguete info for us to be ourselves

 

I could not have said it better!!

 

And so now I have started another thread called "Come on people" and there again, nobody wants to say anything.

The only reply so far was from SurfinUSA who said that he doesn't post because all he gets are negative replies.

Maybe all of us need to sit down by ourselves and think about that a while.

Maybe some of us are too easily insulted, or too negative, or too judgemental of others, instead of allowing each person to have their own opinion.

For me, and there are several of you that know this, I stopped coming to this site (or any site) exactly for those same reasons. There was just too much bickering going on.

At that time, I was trying to adjust to a new country, a new culture, a new wife, all new inlaws and extended family and I actually did say many times "what the f--k am I doing here".

I gave up a 6 figure job running a corporation to come to total uncertainty. Then I joined this site only to find additional stress. So I just stopped coming here until I could adjust the rest of my life in the Philippines.

PatO always kept in touch, as did several of you, and it was a nice PM from expatron that finially made me decide to come back and join the fun here.

So, in my humble opinion, what we all need is more fun here.

I'm sure you all remember thexthread about the ages of each of us and our wives. That was fun.

I'm sure you all remember the thread about learning the differences in culture here that included the famous "lip pointing" comments (among others).

We need to revisit some of those subjects again and start laughing again and having fun.

I'll start by saying that I just made my very first margarita today and it was perfect in taste. I'll share the recipe with whoever wants it.

Come on my friends, let's have some fun.

Ron V

 

I'll even give you some ideas.......

You can ask me for the details of my break-in. You can ask me about how I'm getting along with the local LTO checkpoints now. You can ask me about how I like living on Mindanao, being the place that is constantly singled out as having Muslim terrorist living here. Or you could ask me how I married one of the sweetest and most beautiful and most conservative ladies in the Philippines and now she has 3 tattoos and a belly-button piercing (I corrupted her).

Or, for anyone that doesn't want to have fun, you can just not reply.....or just reply and tell me to go to hell.

 

Really good post, and i can relate since im from Sweden which is TOTALLY diffirent from Philippines but its really fun to get to learn another culture/country/people with all its ups and downs.

 

Thank you Nick. In my previous job, I was able to travel the world. But going anywhere got a short trip is not the same as moving to another country to live. I never imagined the adjustment that I had to make. Some may say it was no problem for them. For me it was rough. I've only lived here less than 2 years now and I'm STILL adjusting.