I was lucky enough to get out of the Philippine Heart Center
alive after a 5-day confinement due to chest pain. Two stents were implanted in
a major artery near my heart. Aside from the maintenance medicine I have to
take, the doctor advised me to take a regular brisk walking as part of the
regimen.
It was on this early morning walk that made me realized the
significance of everyday things in our lives. I often looked at sceneries as a
whole, until I started noticing its elements like earth roads, concrete
pavement, manhole inlet, trees, an SUV engine, perspirations, a patch of small
delicate plants and the church. Somehow, they reminded me of my journey in
life.
From our house, I walked on an earth road leading to a
concrete pavement of Bonifacio Global City. The earth road, being weak and poorly constructed reminded me of the
financial difficulties we endured in my childhood days to meet our necessities
for survival. With a meager income of my father as a soldier, my mother did her
best to stretch the budget to send all six of us to school. Oftentimes, we walk
home from school with empty stomach. To augment the family income, it was
mandatory for us to work with them in a vegetable garden at a vacant lot quite
a distance during our free time.
Yet despite its
weakness, just like any other soil, it can be used to grow something-- it did help
us grow.
The concrete pavement
represented a better life because of all the sufferings strewn on my path I was
able to finish a degree and worked myself to have a decent life. Then I met a
woman in my work place in Cagayan and married her.
My feet were relieved from walking on an earth road but I was
not spared of another discomfort, the cold temperature. And in life, it was not
happiness all the way; other problems would pop up. And it happened when we
needed a bigger income for our growing children. My salary could no longer meet
the demands of bringing them up. I had to give in to my wife’s long overdue request
to help the family financially…by working overseas. The vacuum she created in
our home was too painful for me and the children. And I had to fill in the
voids. Later on I had to give up my job to personally look after them. I could
continue working, but I chose not to. Every child needs a parent with them,
more than anything else. I should be there to keep them away from bad influence
of anything and anyone around them. I had to assist them in their school works
and most importantly they needed me around because in my presence they felt
secured.
There were also reliefs in cold morning walks. I felt warm whenever
I pass by the manholes. The heat generated underground was released through the
inlets and it temporarily provided warmth and comfort. Even SUV’s I passed by,
with their newly turned off engines were of help, too. They were like the
temporary and short term relief from our loneliness and other sorts of challenges.
They include the school achievements or even the simple smiles, jokes and
conversations within the family. They somehow helped alleviate our blues.
Halfway of my walk, sweat came out of my skin. It finally neutralized the effect of the cold temperature. This sweat was
like the experiences that I gained in life. They were the results of the hardships
and all sorts of failures that strengthened my character to meet life head on.
The trees I passed by were there to shield me from a possible
downpour. And in life there were these relatives and friends ready to help me in
times of distress.
When I crossed the center island, I had to take a careful
step to avoid stepping on the small, helpless and delicate plants. But not all
was spared. The small plants were the people whom I mingled with in my daily
lives. They may be my neighbors, my officemates or ordinary people I met. At
times I hurt their feelings without intending to.
Then my destination for this morning walk, the church, was
finally within sight. Soon I could say a little pray for the Almighty. After a
long and winding trek of my life, I could already see the end of my journey and
the beginning of a happy life. My wife will soon come and be home with me. Our
efforts did not turn into waste as two of my children have now finished their
degrees and have a family of their own. And the youngest, although still in Sr.
high, is now enjoying a life as any teenager would be.
We may not know it, but in little things around us we may see
our past, the present, the future and ourselves.
