sarcasm aside...
"All endings are also beginnings," says Mitchie Albom in his book called Five People You Meet in Heaven. If it’s a beginning, why call it an ending? When are endings endings then?
Semisonic, an alternative band puts it more acceptably: Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. Hmmm…the beginning of what? a continuing saga?
Amidst the turmoil and seemingly depletion of existence as 2004 ends, what lies ahead?
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Speaking of waves…
Don’t just float through life, make waves…
Grace under pressure.
These are the famous slogans of the organization that I was once a part of. On my birthday, my good friend (who happens to be one of the organization’s past presidents) told me that, as he wished me luck. Yesterday, those aphorisms haunted me. You see, I was so into the reports on the tsunami. They also came to mind as I think about how I live now, and believe it or not, as I write this blog. Remember how we used to write on the org's logbooks (where are those now by the way), and you’d see your entry butchered by those who cared to read and dared to react? How things evolve indeed…(now we're blogging).
Admittedly, we took it to signify pro-activeness, determinism, assertiveness, strong will…you know, for a successful living. After all, we were at that time, pursuing public administration courses, presumably to become the future servants of our people. So 'screw the lazybones and freeloaders out there' is essentially what we were saying.
But have you ever wondered if ‘making waves’ is necessarily a better option than just floating and getting carried away? Waves are waves, so to speak!
Sometime in 1994 (I think), an intensity 7.5 earthquake shook us at dawn. A tidal wave followed in the northern part of our province. Massive flooding, erosion and destruction in lives and property ensued. Of course, there was Ormoc not too long ago before Mindoro, and as we know it, those tragedies were basically blamed on extensive illegal (but most likely consented) logging. Boy, talk about the simple cause-effect relationship taught to us as early as our grade school years. Our elementary science textbooks are really factual and superbly informative huh? Now, just recently we’ve once again bitterly tasted our share of nature’s fury as damages in the province of Quezon came to mind after Yoyong lambasted it.
I’d say these are not simply forces of nature haunting us. Precedents, antecedents…they are in abundance and have been compiled in various media. Even the Congressional archives are heavily loaded with transcripts of heated debates and past deliberations on how to solve these problems…
Calling my orgmates and colleagues…If this is our epoch and everybody’s out there trying to make, hopefully "cleansing waves" (if i may say or if there’s such), are we there yet? Are we headed towards a progressive administration like we aspired for? And if everyone’s out there too caught up rocking the boat, who would be left to enjoy the sunshine and the breeze? Some are born leaders, while others are better off as observers or possibly followers. Hah! I could almost hear a judgment—a lame excuse to be dependent and lethargic, but hey, I am just asking so don't get a heart attack over it.
I’m not done yet…I am to dissect our second mantra. Grace under pressure.
Sounds cool. But how do we maintain gracefulness under pressure? I remember…forget vanity that is somewhat hinged on being graceful. Keep your composure, appear calm, exude confidence, stay cool are more like it.
When the earthquake woke up even a sleeping dead like me in 1994, I simply waited for things to settle down. I exuded grace albeit the ear-shattering sound of screaming, panicky (hmmm..ungraceful?) neighbors; shattering glasses and falling cement-fences (&houses). You’d be proud, I was totally poised and I wasn’t a member of “the society” yet. But sarcasm aside, suppose the pressure comes from escaping or running away from the deadly waves (literally and figuratively speaking) coming towards you and obliterating (the very essence of) you? Suppose the pressure comes from human ‘over indulgence’ and intolerable obstinacy? How do we maintain grace?
I rest my case for now…but in the service of our nation (still a true-blue STPAer, I haven’t forgotten nor left that phrase out) I’m keeping the spirit…
