I’ve never really known what it feels like to have someone dear to me pass away until today. It’s a very numbing, debilitating feeling, that really doesn’t quite sink in even when it happens right in front of you.

My grandfather passed away today at 1:47PM at the age of 99, peacefully, with a heart as strong as anyone out there regardless of age. He joined the Creator 4 days after my grandmother died 27 years ago.

He was critical since the past week began and lost the ability to speak early as they had to do a trach to help him breathe. All week, they put a bunch of tubes in to help pump medicine into his system to fight off his pneumonia, as well as feed him. For the past 10 days he had been bombarded with a variety of drugs and he had a blood tranfusion on both his arms, but his heart was still pumping so hard. I had asked him early this week if he wanted to let go and leave us, and he would vehemently shake his head even though he couldn’t speak and open his eyes anymore.

I stood there watching the machine that told us all what his blood pressure was and what rate his heart was beating at. The doctors said it should only be a matter of time as his kidney had failed because of all the meds pumped into his system and his pneumonia came back. But everytime one of us would go speak into his ear and try to wake him, all his vitals would shoot up and his heart would keep beating and beating. The elders decided to whisper to him that it’s time to let go and that we would all be okay. One by one they did it, and that was the only time his vitals slowly dropped, until he passed away peacefully this afternoon.

Angkong is going to be so missed by our entire clan as he was the reason we would all get together on Sundays and on festive occasions. Without him, we all probably wouldn’t be as close as we all are right now. We are very thankful that he was able to have lived such a fruitful and happy 99 years here with us.

I was watching the Oscars when they were showing the nominees for documentary films when I came across Food Inc. for the first time. So I went out to find a DVD of the movie as I was rather curious because of the tag line it had, “you’ll never look at dinner the same way again.” And they were right.

The film in a nutshell talks about how the food industry has transformed over the years and how in the present, only a handful of corporations actually control the entire market. So when you go to the supermarket and you can hardly pick out a product because of all the variety you see, well, think again. As much as there are so many brand names that give the illusion of variety, these are all made by the same corporations.

The eye-opener in the film was actually how the quality of food has changed. Sure, the quantity is a lot more than it has ever been, but to what consequence? I guess that’s what the movie is trying to get us all to see. And believe me, the consequences are pretty disturbing especially when you realize how and where your food is coming from.

I’d be lying if I said that I knew where, much less cared about how my food came from before, and that would probably be the reason why we are all at this point right now. I think if everyone was made aware of where our food actually comes from, we would be thinking twice about eating what we do every single day. But because we don’t know and because we couldn’t care less, we are all “healthy” contributors to the sad state we are all in right now. Such a shame.

The documentary also points out some of the travesties that have been so glaring in the agricultural industry in the US yet the government turns the other way. Why? Well, because of the money this type of business generates. And while the rich get richer, the farmers who actually have lands that grow these crops and house these animals, are the ones buried to their necks with debt and lawsuits so they are forced to comply or lose everything. Not much of a choice now is there?

I can’t speak for everyone but since I watched “Super Size Me,” which was another documentary that spoke about the fast food industry a few years ago, I’ve been more aware of what I should and shouldn’t be eating. It didn’t stop me from eating fast food though. But this film was a real eye-opener that finally made me do something about what I eat instead of just not giving a damn even after digesting such disturbing information. If you guys have not seen this film, take an hour of your time to do so, and I promise it will do you good.

As a last thought on the matter, I tried to start eating healthy because of this film by taking in more veggies and swearing off on fast food like burgers and the like, but it’s pretty darn hard. You would be surprised why though and it isn’t why you think. I went to the websites supporting the cause (I put them on as links below for reference) and these sites give you the best advice they can on how you should eat. One of them was to eat organic food and buy from farmer’s markets as the products there are not contaminated by all these chemicals and are truly grown fresh. So I went to Healthy Options (a store that sells organic products) to see what they had and now I know WHY people would be hard-pressed to change their eating habits and why it would be practically IMPOSSIBLE to remedy the situation we are all in now.

I’d say I’m in the upper-middle class, to say that I can afford to buy relatively more expensive things if I wanted to. And if you think about it, what could be more important than buying things that can and should make you healthier. But when I went in that store, I really looked at all the products one by one, just to see what all the zero fat, no trans-fat, no chemical, organic stuff, was all about. So great, let’s buy a few, but…

Sure, there was a bit of variety, not a lot though, and you could handpick what you could eat, much less what you wanted to eat, but the problem was the PRICE. And this is where it’s going to hit everyone who watches this film. You may be inspired and your eyes may be wide-open, but can your pockets handle the cost of living a healthier life? If you can buy ketchup in Unimart for P70, why would you go to Healthy Options to buy it for P355? You can count on the cost of everything else in that store to be around that same ratio from your normal supermarkets compared to the organic kind. So I’m at a dilemma right now and I’m sure those who can’t afford it wouldn’t even think twice.

Reference Sites:
Food Inc : Official Site
Eat Well Guide
Food Matters
Organic Food Info