What we can learn from the rumors surrounding Sarah Geronimo
I apologize in advance if this letter is bound to sound like it was based on hear-say from the gossip kings and queens of this metro—it is. But talk is what makes a public persona and the public persona is what fans devour. It might not be true but this is the perception they’re getting anyway, the perception that they’re emulating. This letter, then, is not addressed to Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo but to “Sarah G.”
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There are two things I would like to talk to you about. One is regarding your childhood, and the other one, adulthood. We make the most of whatever childhood is given to us, because we have no control over it, being unable to fend and think for ourselves at a young age. In an ideal world, every child is provided for, and this is the chance we have to discover, to learn, and to make mistakes.
Yes, this is the part of our lives where we are likely to be at our most unknowing and vulnerable, thus the need for protection from people with more experience. But it is also the time to enjoy the small stuff. As a child, small things are magnified and instantly become sources of simple joys. Nothing can be as simple, sincere, and uncomplicated in the world of a child. Even fear is uncomplicated.
The industry you work in—and really, life—will always be complicated, messy, and controlling. We wish you could embrace your adulthood more and give yourself far more credit than you allow. Standing up for yourself, being your own woman, doesn’t make you a bad child.
For example, say you want to buy an expensive bag but your mother says “no” because it is a waste of money—kindly hold her hand and tell her that this is money that you yourself earned and worked hard for. That the bag is pretty, and you would really like to buy it.
If, say, you like a guy, and your mother is cock-blocking him via all platforms acceptable in 20th century courting (texting included), and sets them as rules for a test of “true love”—sit her down, look her in the eye, and tell her that “true love” cannot be defined by a set of rules. Rules only measure persistence and perhaps determination, but love cannot be seen, or felt, anywhere in the equation.
Know that you are 24, and that the legal adult age in most of the world is 21 (in the Philippines, 18). And though I believe most of the time, that age doesn’t matter, in this case, it’s the only objective point I have to lay out for you: you are old enough.
Know that you are a working girl, and that working girls that earn their own money have also inadvertently earned the right to choose how to spend their money. What more, hold their own money.
Yes, respect your mother and father. No one is questioning your obedience. But also remember to think of yourself and your own happiness. Because what they impart to you as protection, may actually prevent you from gaining lessons that you should have learned for yourself, and rewards you probably deserved a long time ago.
Most importantly, love yourself a little bit more, as much as the many fans who are lovingly and worriedly keeping an eye out for you
Love,
Other Twentysomething Girls
P.S. What is your parents’ address? We would like to send them an early Christmas present, a DVD of Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides.
