Looking at the Memoir of a Man and His Family’s Slave

By Sleeping

To me, the memoir of Alex Tizon is merely that, a memoir. It tells the story of Lola, as

much as it tells his own story. However, none of the story matters to me, personally. Nothing in

this memoir is of value to me and I do not care about people that allowed themselves to break

and stayed broken. I find the parents of the author especially pathetic. Due to some trouble with

his work, the father chose to leave them behind to pursue his vices and, in response, the mother

broke down and was never the same. They are not to be admired, for they lack the true Filipino

spirit.

Indeed, I am looking at this piece through the eyes of a Filipino; through the eyes of a

warrior. Lola herself was the only person I liked in the piece. She broke many times, but never

failed to put herself back together. Despite having her life and freedom taken from her when she

was just 18, she still kept going. That tenacity is something to be emulated. It is something that

many Filipinos have lost, the will to keep going, uncaring of what happened, is happening, and

will happen.

There are other things that particularly irritate me, however, like the fact that the author, in

his lifetime, never sought to do what is objectively correct. He even hid the truth from his best

friend. Another fact that particularly irritated me was when Ivan showed respect to Lola. A

person from a different culture and ethnicity had given her more respect than her fellows. Truly

an appalling reminder of the shift in our culture. As I write this, however, I already know that I

can change nothing in this story. After all, it has already happened. Instead, I shall do as I always

do: take lessons from the past and work in the present to make a better future.