Accents
Again, I’m leaving on a jet plane
Oakland, California, Sept. 6—A month and a half was too short a break in Bayan Ko. Brief it was, but so rich in heart-warming, consoling moments in the closeness of family, relatives, and friends. We finished with the nine-day novena for the dear departed, my brother Ronnie, interspersed by sweet reminiscence of the days when the beloved dead was full of life.
I did leave on a jet plane as August rolled away, singing with John Denver and changing his words to rhyme with mine: “The time has come for me to leave… I dream of the days to come, playing with the cutest granddaughter in the world, any grandmother would love to say…Yes, I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again… But every word I write, I’ll write for you…” Yes, dear readers, the beloved e-mail will carry my words across cyber space, and when you hold this paper, I am there only a page away or a mouse click if you’re online.
During the long flight, some fourteen hours from Manila to San Francisco, I tinkered with my netbook (half the size of the ordinary laptop), skimming through the hills of verbiage (oh, don’t say mountain of garbage) that I have thus far accumulated for 2009. Thirty odd columns—what difference have they made? I wonder… I reminisce and pick choice bits—gems if you will—sent off to create ripples in the mighty ocean of your mind.
Joy in our world on the onset of the New Year
Radiant joy is what we wish and pray for all of the world—the radiance springing from a deep sense of Faith, Hope, and Love — St. Paul’s credo that encompasses all religions, or no religion, too, as the Beatles would have it.
On wings of songs, “Yes, we can!” on the inauguration of the president-elect
The mantra was excellent: “Yes, we can!” Barack Obama couldn’t have chosen a more dynamic catchphrase to carry and sustain him from the rigors of the long campaign trail to the fantastic walk on Pennsylvania Avenue up to the White House. Obama had spoken of change they can believe in, and these people who came to witness the inauguration of the first black President repose their faith in him. Here is a man out to overhaul what needs to be critically changed in the governance of his predecessor, George W. Bush. (Ask ourselves at this point: Can we repose the same faith in the predecessor of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo come 2010?)
The son also rises on Martin Luther King Day
Somehow, somewhere, someone goes out of orbit and becomes a sun unto himself. For what offspring (Dexter Scott King) can opt out from the shadow of a father that has spanned the world? Fact is the son lives by the principles his father had espoused—in thought, word, and deed—so that the dream won’t remain just a dream and the mountaintop would be reached. The famous “Dream” speech was to find reality with the assumption of Barack Obama, an African-American, to the US presidency.
Longing for Boracay at Myrtle Beach on a brief sojourn to sea, sand, and sky
Myrtle Beach with all its attractions, shopping, entertaining, dining come-ons and high-rises is no match to Boracay, the pride of our country… We came in the midst of winter, and wading in the water was a no-no else you get a frostbite or blue toes… On the other hand, Boracay—being in the tropics—is for all seasons… A big pay-off at Myrtle Beach was the magnificent sunrise as viewed from the Camelot (a 19-storey high-rise) verandah. The sun rose in majestic glory while we sipped morning coffee — its magical splendor ever undiminished whether you’re watching it from Myrtle Beach, Boracay, or from Oton, my hometown by the sea.
Appointment with Love on Valentine season
I and you may argue that love in general is for all seasons. But of course, there are gradations, nuances, fine distinctions for different kinds of love in a potpourri of times, climes, and personalities involved. Poets, novelists, playwrights, writers of all hues have dissected the subject in both fiction and non-fiction.
Love birds soaked up in romantic love say even true love is not lovey-dovey all the time. There are rocky in-betweens. A mix of laughter and tears. At worst, Love knotted tightest sometimes leads to the clash of the Immovable Object and the Irresistible Force, ending in a deafening break-up. (Got it from both reel and real life, you bet not mine.)
Star quality plus conviction on Sean Penn copping the Best Actor Oscar Award
Said Robert De Niro who introduced Penn: “Tonight it’s great to be an actor; in life it’s great to be a good human being and that is Sean Penn.” Peacenik, anti-war, anti-imperialist, Sean Penn belongs to Hollywood’s left-wing and is known as “a tireless supporter of progressive ideas.” I could only wish that in our own Philippine roster of movie stars, one will come up with Sean Penn’s forthright concern for humanity. One that shines superbly with star quality and possessed with the courage of his convictions.
Recognition, Reverence, Respect on International Women’s Day
In the silence of the heart, I can only shout: Long live womankind! or Vive le femme! as the French would have it—when the women of Paris shouted Liberte! Egalite! Fraternite! as they marched in Versailles demanding women’s suffrage.
Gender equality as a fundamental human right is explicit in the Charter of the United Nations. The UN affirms: “No enduring solution to society’s most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world’s women.” And no less than the UN recognizes the fact that gender inequality still prevails in some countries despite the global dimension to advance women’s rights.
Absurd from the Manifesto of Contend (Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy)
“[S]ince GMA’s presidency, there have been more than a million human rights violations (from threat to physical assault, to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings)—a shame to her administration. And yet the response has been to espouse safety and security as the opposite of allowing 933 activists – 107 of them women – to become victims of violence in the hands of those who should be protecting them. The Filipina has two options that are equally sad: she can either become an OFW and accept all its contingent oppressions and sadness, or she can cope by becoming a willing victim to loan sharks and daily noontime game shows that make her cry and sing and dance in order to get some cash. To take on informal employment is a given.”
At Wit’s End from Erma Bombeck’s IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER written after she learned she was dying of cancer
“Stop sweating the small stuff. Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what. Instead, let’s cherish the relationships we have with those who DO love us. Life is too short to let it pass you by. We only have one shot at this and then it’s gone.”
I drank in her pain, grief, anguish, and being a cancer survivor myself, I passionately empathize with Erma Bombeck’s lament for the things she missed in life: the what-might-have-been’s, the many “If only I did what I should have done” at the spur of the moment — to relish every second, every minute, every hour in the spontaneous flow of feelings and desires. Gosh, the things we left undone, the many things that should have been lovingly, richly, fully accomplished. So much to pine for, and then there was no more time… (To be continued)
(Email: lagoc@hargray.com)