Is PRIVACY difficult to understand?
For context, my wife and I were going on holiday with my two other siblings and their families, while our parents were going separately with another sibling. I requested my siblings not to post any pictures of us, which they agreed to, and I also told my mum to never, ever, ever broadcast or tell anyone that we were going home for vacation. I even explained why we didn’t want anyone to know we were coming home — PRIVACY, breaking the culture of “pasalubong,” and avoiding the pressure of scheduling meet-ups and such. All I wanted was to rest my brain, body, and soul from exhaustion.
However, my mum couldn’t help herself and told one of our relatives, who coincidentally was also in the same place we were currently in. We argued, and she even attacked me with comments like, “Ang dadamot niyo naman,” “Where did you get that attitude?” and so on. Her defense was that she got excited knowing our relative was in the same place as us.
Lo and behold, exactly what I was trying to avoid happened. I explained to my relative that we would only be in Manila briefly to catch our connecting flight to our next destination — in short, we wouldn’t be staying in Manila for long. She sounded disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to catch up given the circumstances. Out of respect, we still offered to meet up since it was only a few minutes’ drive from our hotel to theirs, but she seemed busy, or perhaps my mum had already briefed her about our argument.
I’m pissed at my mum because this is exactly what happens when boundaries aren’t respected. Not everything needs to be broadcast to everyone. Just a private trip that no one needs to know, no social obligations during the trip that is supposed to help me rest and recover!