I got my first credit card three years ago. I felt like it was finally the right time to have one since I was employed. Yes, I am one of those people who survived without plastic power for the longest time. I am also one those people who refused to have a cell phone until it was mandated by mother that I carry one so that she can track me down.
Usually for the first year the card is for free. After that they charge you for an annual fee. That's what happened to me and my SCB card. Now I don't really want to pay this fee. I mean, I've been a good card holder. I pay my bill on time. Well except for that one time wherein I wasn't able to get my bill because it was the holidays and my bill lands in my office and not my home address. But still, don't I get perks for being one of the good clients?
The bill that I held in my hands last year say I don't but my one of my sister's friends, Mylene, believe otherwise. Mylene has the same dilemma that I do year after year. And year after year she threatens to quit using whatever card is charging her for an annual fee until they waive the annual fee from her bill. I did the same thing and it worked. Yehey for me.
So come this month I received my bill and the annual fee is there once more. I tried the tactic that I did last year and it didn't work. The person in their call center said that they are no longer allowed to waive the annual fee like they were able to do before. Drats! But I didn't give up hope just yet. Last year the first person who received my call also didn't waive the fee but the second person who received my call did. However my second attempt did not yield in a waive. I tried to use my Jedi mind trick on him but it was still a no go. It must be because I'm not a Jedi.
This blows! I only have two credit cards and this isn't even my favorite one. And I'm not just saying that because they are charging me an annual fee. Their promos suck. Their late payment fee is high and once one of their call center employees used the information I gave to them, my cell phone number, to hit on me.
Now you might say I should just make good on my threat and just surrender my card. I would but I'm currently on a payment plan with them. If I were to surrender my card I would have to pay the remaining balance along with an early payment fee for quitting the payment plan early. Curses!!!!!!!
Note to self: Don't enroll on a payment plan with this card near the expiry date. Also look into other credit cards as replacement options.
Of all the words in the English language one would think that the word penis is the last word to be associated with the church. Yet here we are in the year 2002 with the Catholic Church dealing with two problems which, more or less, involve this part of the male genitalia. Their first problem is that some members of their congregation who want to become priests cannot be ordained because they don't have one. The second problem came from priests, members with this particular body part, who cannot seem to keep it where it belongs which is in their pants. Yes folks, I am talking about the excommunication of women priests and the very controversial child molestation cover up case in the United States.
At first glance the two cases are very different. The similarity is in the approach of the church in solving both cases. Their solution is tinged with injustice and hypocrisy. I mean come on! Those women who were excommunicated just wanted to become priests. They wanted to serve the church, nay, the Lord on a higher level. They wanted to stand in front of a church during mass and preach the word of God. What's wrong with that aspiration? If they were to excommunicate anybody it should be the pedophile priests. But instead of kicking them out like they so rightly deserve they were just transferred to a different parish and continued to have access to children.
Having spent all 15 years of my educational career in Catholic schools I have learned a thing or two about the church. I was taught that the Holy Mass is the reenactment of the last supper of Jesus Christ where he is represented by the priest and the disciples by the churchgoers. Now we all know that in the Catholic faith Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and God are one and the same, forming the Holy Trinity. We also know that God created the human race in his image and likeness which leads us to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is in both men and women and can be represented by either gender.
Many ask why women would want to become priests when they could serve the church and God by entering the convent and becoming nuns. The answer to that is the same one presented to the question on why women want to become doctors when they can be nurses or the question on why women want to become policewomen when they can be the clerks who type up the police reports. They want to go to another level in the field they chose. It's not discounting the importance of the other levels in this case the nuns; but one has to admit that there are facets in the work of priests and nuns that are different. And if women can prove that they can cope with the challenges entailed by the job then I see no logical reason on why we should stand in the way of them obtaining the job they can clearly competently perform.
Author's Note:
I wrote this just after I graduated from college and was taking a much needed break. It was actually the one and only summer break I had since I started college because I volunteered as a lab assistant during the summer after my freshman and sophomore years. Then I advanced 2 courses over the summer before my Senior year. The pedophile priest controversy was sizzling at that time and the church just excommunicated several women priests. I was unused to not being productive during my break and was bored to tears. Writing this piece helped me pass the time.