I’ve Got Melasma!

I’ve got Melasma! ("but hey you’re forty…")

Whilst browsing through the nearest accommodation in Florida for John McArthur’s conference, it took a thu

nderbolt streak of madness found myself searching for the Laser clinic within the vicinity.

Fastract:

It’s almost a sin to be dark-skinned in this weary -colonial mentally metastatic nation. The deplorable notion of having fair or white skin as a measure of beauty and social status has sickened me ever since I realized that I am

— and would always be — darker than most of my friends.

In this country where the promotion of skin whitening products is so prevalent, it rouses in me a mixture of fascination and anger.

Even the sari-sari store at the corner of your street sells sachets of these stuff that will make you look like Snow White, as promised on the packaging.

Filipinos are so unapologetically Westernized. We worship Western notions of beauty. Lately, some of us have shifted gaze, trying to achieve the skin quality of the lead stars in our favorite Korean TV dramas.

It makes me wonder if we as a people have really learned our history. Maybe we only remember the Spanish conquistadors or the mestizos, the Star-spangled Banner, or the soldiers from the land of the rising sun. What were the precolonial Filipinos like? Or maybe we’ve had it all wrong.

Centuries have passed, and we still treat our Filipino fellows who are dark-skinned differently. We have forgotten to embrace ourselves, because we have been so busy embracing what we are not.

Let’s put this stigma to rest. Having dark skin doesn’t make someone ugly; neither is having white skin an assurance of beauty. Let’s just enjoy life with the sun shining above us. Let us swim freely in our beautiful beaches, or trek up our highest mountains without the fear of getting dark.

Filipinos are the most beautiful people in the world. It’s about time we put #PinoyPride into practice and embrace and appreciate whatever the color is of our skin.

Oh well…we’re talking about over $1,000.00 per session. This too reminded me of myself as Bruce Willis surrounded by his age-die-hard defers, Meryl and Goldi in Death Becomes Her.

Oh Father God I’m lifting up this lascivious vanity, carnality and idolatry. Father God cleansed my body and spirit by the sinless and precious blood of Jesus Christ to be acceptable and holy unto Thee. Amen.