Late in afternoon yesterday, as I went out to buy some RTE (ready-to-eat) viand for my dinner in the little Coop Eatery in my purok, I overheard this conversation among village folks –
Nobody wants to be dominated. The natural disposition of anyone is to be free—free to steer the direction of one’s own life, free to seek one’s own well-being and happiness. But the other side of this mold of thought is the desire to control—to control everything that figures in one’s drive for freedom. It is as much an irony as a mystery. But it is an undeniable fact of human existence and history.
Damgo sa matag Pilipino ang makalingkawas gikan sa kuko sa kawad-on, ug edukasyon ang labing halangdong agianan padulong sa maong damgo.
[It is every Filipino’s dream to extricate ones’ self from the clutches of poverty and education is the most honorable way towards that dream.]
Again my former student and friend from the Davao School for the Blind, Willie G, gave me a surprise visit the other day. This time he brought along a short but interesting anecdote about animals— a fable, we call it— purportedly to prick my mind into a critical discussion about its allegorical meaning. Immediately after he finished retelling the fable, he asked, “Sir Don, unsa may pagtulun-ang atong makuha aning istoryaha?” [Sir Don what lesson can we get from this story?]
The usual question asked to someone who is in the midst of an unspeakably trying situation but who has somehow admirably survived the tribulation or ordeal sounds like this: “Where do you draw strength during this fateful moment in your life?”.
It has come! There’s no question about it! What has been feared would happen is now happening. And happening fast! It’s like the US and Philippine authorities are making up for lost time. And so we witness a scenario akin to “a scampering for space” in military camps all over the country! Here and there, this and that AFP officer is offering a space within a military camp for use as military base for American soldiers. There’s no feeling of restraint or hesitation—or shame!— no different from an offer of a booth space in a carnival fair!
What happened in Malacanang the other night couldn’t have escaped the impressionable mind of my good friend Lito. He commented, “Bai, mura mag naa sa libro sa history tong nahitabo kagabii sa Malacanang?” [Bai, what occurred in Malacanang last night seemed to be in the history books?”]
My good friend Lito posed a very intriguing question: “Bai, nganong makuli man pasabton o makabana ang mga arangan og kahimtang sa kinabuhi?” [Why is it so hard for the well-to-do to understand or to be socially aware?”
On Earth Day, our hearts throb synchronous with the rhythm of the epic song of the Lumad balyan, the keeper of the cherished annals of the tribe. I imagine I engage in a one-on-one intersubjectivity with him as he reechoes his epic tales. . .
Here is my good friend Lito again. This time his questioning mind wanders into the shores of Samal Island. His left foot, he said, got caught in a heap of trash that bore the marks of a sad incident that occurred a couple of days past. The houses of long longtime residents of a fraction of foreshore land in the Garden city were “demolished without mercy” [Wala gyuy ku-kaluoy nga gipangguba,] he said.
