by M.A. Del Rosario
Artwork by: M.A. Del Rosario
Simeon S. P. Balagtas didn’t understand the world anymore. Life wore him down, as everything was very different in his youth, and that was a very long time ago. Every day he sat in his small store along Carriedo Street near a busy Quiapo church, with a walking stick in one hand and a fan in the other, waiting for someone to buy. He sold different things, from clothing to underwear, and assortment of bootleg shoes and fancy trinkets. He also sold bootleg toys, and those sold more than everything else he had.
Simeon never understood the fascination for such things, for he didn’t have toys in his youth. He never found a fondness for it, even as he grew older. He didn’t understand why children were fascinated with these things and the foreign games that were a big hit to the modern youth when they could be playing Tumbang-Preso or Luksong Baka. Has the world influenced his country so much that traditional games matter little now, unlike before? Is his yesterday gone with the swath of modern influences?
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