1x1 ID Pictures

The other night, I was able to look at the list of laborers who were involved in the renovation of the house. It was a request to get temporary IDs so they can get inside the village without having to notify us or their employers. There was the standard information sheet and the ID cards to be filled with their signatures.

Both sheets have a space for 1x1 ID pictures. I scanned the information sheets and was troubled to see that most of the ID-sized pictures that they pasted there were cut out from pictures.
It saddened me that those people didn't even have enough money to afford having their pictures taken. I imagine their photo albums, laden with pictures of family events and what not. I imagine them in the photographs, but instead of their happy faces, blank boxes stood where their faces should have been.

I imagined college... at the start of each semester, teachers would ask for our 1x1 ID pictures for their index cards. At that time, I would just go to any photo studio to have my picture taken, wait for about 30 minutes and get them. I just dig in my jeans pocket for some change from my lunch that day to pay for it and be off my way. Sometimes, I just dismiss this expense and continue on with my life. The next semester, I have my picture taken again, without knowing that I still have extra 1x1s from the last semester.

Instead of a solid colored background, I saw a window from their [I'm guessing] house, trees, the blue sky... but what struck me the most was that there was this particular laborer who used his wedding picture!

I could not believe it. It drove me to tears.

The veil of his wife-to-be was beside him. It looked like it was taken during the ceremony and this laborer wasn't looking at the camera. There were hands on his shoulder-- I was guessing it was the cord ceremony thing. I think that something as important and as a wedding picture should not be tampered! Diba? But this poor man did not have enough money to have his picture taken for 1x1s...

My mom told me that the association just throws the information sheets after the renovation is complete. Grabe, naawa talaga ako. I then asked mom to get back the pictures so that the laborers would use them again for another project.
I felt so bad and I felt so affected about the whole thing. I regret the fact that I'm only understanding the *true* value of money now that I am working for it. Of course, my mom would tell us about the importance of saving for the rainy day but the fact that I am working created a deeper impact on me.

Between working and studying, I'd rather study. Because when I need 1x1 ID pictures, I just have to ask my parents for money and not worry how the hell I'm going to get money to pay for even my basic necessities.