a breath away
christmas of 2005. after over a decade since i finished high school i went back to my home town in isabela to spend christmas with my relatives and childhood friends. words fail to describe how i felt when i set foot once again to the place where i spent my entire childhood days. it was like a scene from a movie, a chapter from a novel. here is where i had all my firsts, good and not so good experiences that made me the person that i am right now. it was a joy to see people again after a long while, they all seem to look so different. it was really good to talk about the good old days, back when our lives were so much simpler. the family has grown so fast that i could hardly remember the names of my cousins and nieces and nephews that were introduced to me for the first time. guess i will get used to being called tito, man i’m old. and my friends have their own families too! damn! i think i’m the only guy from my high school batch who didn’t get to tie the knot. yes, the only handsome guy from the batch who is still a bachelor… unbelievable. i mean its unbelievable that everyone has their own families already, not that im unbelievably handsome, silly.
my vacation was even made more memorable because i got the chance to spend some time with my apong; my dad’s mother. she was born 1911 and she could hardly remember a thing. but when i asked her if she could still remember me, she said of course! you are romy’s son… fred. she is the sweetest grandmother anybody wish they have. and i consider myself lucky i had some time spent with her. i remember having afternoon miriendas with her talking about japanese war, how some japanese soldiers helped them at times. from her i learned that not all japanese soldiers were bad after all. she also taught me to value education - and value education i did. just like ten years ago, i left isabela that december with a heavy heart.
february 4, 2006, saturday. i reported for work as usual but that day promised to be an unusual one. earlier that morning, news broke about a stampede killing about a hundred people wanting to try their luck at a local tv game show. people were hurt, people were dying. it tugs the very core of my soul to realize how desperate some people are to earn some money. i could not really blame them. our country is just so poor and life sometimes is just not fair. some people get better opportunities and some just can’t make both ends meet even if they work 24/7. there are people who are willing to sacrifice even their own lives in exchange for a few bucks so they could feed their families. people are hungry, people are desperate. these are things that the tv network’s think tank failed to consider when they made their plans for their show, if ever they had any plans at all. nobody wanted it to happen, sweet, but it could have been avoided if you used some brain, @#$%&*!
i was still dumbfounded, staring blankly at my computer monitor when i received a text message from isabela. my apong died. oh well. life surely offers some bitter pills to swallow…
