Please meet him...His NAME is RONNIE...

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. His NAME is RONNIE... But everyone calls him "Lapiga".. Lapiga means you drop yourself down anywhere.. he doesn't sit himself properly you see...He comes and does lapiga.. It is what he did ever since he was little so he became "Lapiga" until now that he is 30 years old.. One of the things about the culture here where I was born is giving individuals and families "bansag".. Most of the time the bansag words are derogatory but it is somehow useful when describing who or which family you are referring to or looking for or talking about..It's like a form of identification.. .. It is weird and I never liked it..because it is mostly to put people down..I guess people here don't realise that by deliberately putting some people down, the entire community goes down too.. A few years ago when I first met Lapiga, I asked him what his real name was.. I told him then that "we'll call him Ronnie from now on". He is a different person when he's with just Greg and me.. But he changes when others are around..He becomes what others probably expect him to be the "Lapiga" that they have always known.. When I speak to him one on one, and with no one around, he always make sense.. and quite serious with our conversation.. I feel that he liked being taken seriously... Greg and I treat Ronnie like how we want to be treated.. Not to be mocked and laughed at.. With low education, and obviously traumatic childhood, being abandoned by his mother when he was very young, he is ignorant of a lot of things. But he is intelligent and hard working thinking only of what the next day brings. Supporting himself and his brother ( who prefers to be his sister ).. Ronnie comes around whenever he's out of work and asks if he can do something for you in exchange for some cash.. He has pride like that.. Well, at least that's how he presents himself to us as Ronnie.. I don't know how others really think of him as "Lapiga".. Amazing how many around here never bothered to ask what his real name was.. Anyway, we are glad we met someone like Ronnie.. I see more human dignity in him and in his "simplicity" than in many so called sophisticated people I met in my life.. We are grateful to Ronnie for making sure that we have a regular supply of water from the well that he fetches for us.... Thank you Ronnie! .................................. I shared this story on my Facebook and I was surprised to get a lot of reactions from the people who knew him in the province and shared by 38 people that I don't know.. Some laughed and mocked how "Lapiga is now famous" etc..Some of them just found out his real name.. Some were touched and were inspired by his story.. Some were grateful that I shared his story .. Anyway, I just want to share this here because, I know that there are many people like Ronnie in the world that needs to know that they count and valued and worth getting to know by their names.. Do you know anyone like him?.. Thanks for reading Bess.. .. .