Tungod, Inabanga, Bohol – In the past, as primordial as when I might have first asked about the birds and the bees or much less, when I could barely set the difference between a boy and a girl, Tootsie Roll arrested my sweet tooth. My actual memories of it are hazy; I could not remember exactly how old I was the first time I realized that was my favorite chow. I haven’t had a piece for years and all that I could summon up from my pea-sized of a brain is that it was yummy, and chocolaty for me and that it was famous here in the Philippines back then. For most of that yesterday, I had supposed Filipinos made it until I got wind of the fact that the Americans were actually the very ones who created it. Just for the love of Tootsie Roll, and in spite of my being a Philippine flag-waver came a craving for an even bigger candy—-came the birth of my American Dream.

            It is above my head to put in the picture where my weakness with Tootsie Roll and my yearning for the Star – Spangled Banner meets. I just know that a large chunk of my life was splurged on building castles in the air, fashioned them the American way. So I figure, maybe Tootsie Roll is just symbolic of that dream. In whichever way I try to come this out with, in the horse sense of it all, I just love America.

            I don’t intend to drown you with my history or take you to dullsville but once (upon a time), I could not bring myself to ask anyone or let alone allow myself to wonder if the so-called American Dream exists solely for Americans. While gazillions of non-American folks chase the American dream, I still didn’t dare try to raise the question because I was afraid of being disappointed. But see, the reason precisely why now, I let myself invest a deal of hope for this dream is that I learned eventually America has made it possible for the world and not just its people to pin their hopes on a life that’s abundant and stylish. I guess maybe I fancy myself saying crap rather than bollocks, or perhaps gobble hamburgers rather than fish and chips, or just maybe love Twilight more than Harry Potter (which is not exactly true.) Yeah. Counting in my imagining of the existence of the rivalry between Europe and US is uncalled for and worse is I’m rubbing it in like there’s only London when Europe really is a continent of various cultures. So unfair. I may have sounded like a one-sided Filipino here who thinks you could only get to the greener pastures through the Brooklyn Bridge and the not falling down London Bridge when in fact a lot of my people have gained success somewhere else. But it’s me; these are my own cares you’re trying to dig and digest. You’re measuring up someone who for rare idle hours, get caught in the middle of a pointless battle between two sides of herself, the bigger one wanting dollars, and the other yenning for pounds. But like I told you, I’ll say it yet again, still, without a single cloud in the sky, I set a large chamber of my heart on the Statue of Liberty.