We are, if anything, creatures of habits. Drawn to the safety and comfort of the familiar. But what happens when the familiar becomes unsafe, when the fear that we have been desperately trying to avoid finds us where we live? *
I had Labor last Friday. No, not the kind that brings forth new life into the universe (fact: if a fetus had an intrauterine life of at least seven months, it need only to be born alive, to be considered a person under our laws - a fact that I conveniently forgot - during Succession finals), but the kind where reading at least 60 pages during the course of the semester is absolutely guaranteed. And that's just the course outline.
Anyway, it's all history now. Labor. Gone. The first half of AY 07-08. Gone. 68 of 133. Gone. As Red said, "That's all it takes really, pressure, and time."
I usually go out for lunch on Fridays, usually, in one of the places in and around the Makati CBD. More often than not, it's usually in one of the malls near the area where I work. I also usually get "sick" during the days when I have matter to attend to over at Diliman, and last Friday was no different. So I was on a cab on the way to Diliman, instead of having lunch at, say, Pizza Hut in Glorietta 2, when I received two messages about the Glorietta Blast. It was a senseless tragedy, and my sympathies go to all the victims and their next of kin. For a moment, I was thankful that I had Labor that day. Only for a moment.
We are all, at our cores, the sum of our fears. To embrace destiny we must inevitably face those fears and conquer them. Whether they come from the familiar or the unknown. *
---
* narration from Heroes (Homecoming).
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
bombarding the drawbridge
+
AMDG
AMDG
1 comment:
i had the same experience in Zamboanga City when I went there to interview peace advocates. that time, the abu sayaff was so active. they were unstoppable. there were bombings through out the city and the country.
anyway, i went to watch a movie at the Mindpro Mall, the biggest in in the city (one-third the size of The Block). they were showing an american film in one movie house (i think it was the first of the lord of the rings trilogy or the first harry potter movie or the first spiderman)and a movie starring jolina "jolens" magdangal in another. i decided to watch - and this is one secret that i have kept to myself all these years - jolens' movie! i don't know what movie it was. all i know is that it was forgettable like all her other movies. anyway, when i went out, there was a commotion because a bomb exploded in the other movie house where they were showing the american movie! i think more than ten people died. had they bomb the movie house where the jolina movie was showing, hundreds would have died. which tells you something about the relative(un)popularity of american movies in zamboanga but ten dead people is a lot. and i could have been one of them. besides, who wants to be caught dead watching jolina's movie? hehehehe. i can laugh about it now. but i was so shaken that time that i immediately called mein schatz (ask Balane what this means) and confessed my undying love. no, i didn't make a will but it was quite something considering my aversion to commitment.tragedies have a way of crystallizing one's feelings and empowering one to admit them.
Post a Comment