“Mahirap mag-assume”.
Such is the dilemma in the two stories “Document” by Katigbak and “The Tale of the Spinster and Peter Pan” by Hidalgo. In the “Document”, the male protagonist tries to read between the lines of the articles, essays, reaction papers of the girl he’s not sure he has feelings for. The words exchanged between them and the typewritten words are his only basis for evaluating the relationship that they have. He seems to be type who finds more comfort on tangible things (“actual printouts are a more reliable way of storing written material” – things that can be seen, touched, etc) and reflecting that they have “no official ties, not even memories of physical contact” makes it more difficult for him to assess this certain bond that they have. On the other hand, in the “Tale of the Spinster and Peter Pan”, the woman protagonist imagines the lead vocalist of the band to be Peter Pan and goes on fantasizing about the special friendship that they have. In the end, she’s frustrated with how far the malicious man was compared to the innocent, mischievous young lad she has imagined him to be.
What could be the possible cause of this blurring – the difficulty of coming up with the right conclusion, the right interpretation about other people’s actions, etc?
Fairy tales?
Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty – women in need of rescuing, the damsels in distress. We are all introduced to these fairy tales during our younger years to make reading more interesting, pleasurable, entertaining. And such became the pattern for romance novels where a woman actually waits one way or another for something magical to come to her life – a man who would rescue her from anything, keep her from harm, blah blah blah. And so is the woman in Hidalgo’s story who lived a monotonous life. Her life, her routine changed when this young lead singer started performing in a bar restaurant she goes to every Thursday. Something in her life changed. However she was not the cause of that change.
Technology?
While cellular phones, computers and email broke geographical boundaries and time zones, communication seems to be more difficult, most especially if one’s basis in interpreting a person’s message is via emoticons, smileys, and abbreviated SMS with its own language. Without body language/non-verbals, it is indeed difficult to evaluate a person’s sincerity and honesty. At times, even if you know the person so well, we still find it difficult to read between the lines of his/her message. The protagonist in the “Document” tries to look for clues from his friend’s files about how she feels about him or if she feels anything at all for him. The computer was the channel but without the girl’s facial expression or body language, it is difficult to draw conclusions.
Combine our orientation about fairy tales and technology and we are caught in a pit of countless unrealistic assumptions in our relations with others…

Watcha think?