REMAINING IN TRUE FRIENDSHIP

Lovers swear. Best friends may also swear. “Till death do us part” has always been the resort of two hearts destined to part. Loneliness has become the reason of one’s wretchedness in life. One has to make a promise to give hope to the other. Destiny always throws its power over people wanting to live meaningfully.

True friendship is usually rooted in your childhood experiences. The friendship that has started since childhood builds a strong foundation of your relationship with your best friend. However, as time goes by, your best friend has its own journey to take. Your friend has to choose his destiny for good and start to take his journey. He has to leave you and stay hopeful that time will someday give you a chance to meet again. For a long time of longing for your best friend, you have to wait and hope.

In order to maintain the strong foundation of your friendship, you have to follow some ways on how to keep strong and remain hopeful all the time.

First, don’t forget all the memories and foolishness you’ve shared during your childhood days. Even you have many friends, remember that they are always different from your best friend who has become your refuge in times of troubles. When you are with your other friends, always think that your best friend is with you. Share also with them your experiences and your past time with your best friend. This will help you treasure the essence of true friendship.

Next, always get in touch with people who are close to your best friend. These people will help you know about the situation of your best friend. Always communicate with your best friend and share with him your experiences. Listen also to him when he shares his experiences.

Lastly, do not break your promises. If you have found another person and become your friend, consider him as one of your close friends. Always remember that they just come into your life to help you remind that true friendship is not built in a short period of time. True friendship starts in your childhood years seasoned with foolishness and unforgettable experiences.

If time would allow you to meet your best friend again, you would be proud that you still his best friend. You are still his friend— a friend who is willing to do foolishness, willing to listen and to laugh, willing to do things for the sake of friendship. These thing would come true if you remain in true friendship.

What's in Doong, Bantayan?

Doong is an islet of Bantayan where people living in are considered left behind by the fast changing development of technology. This is a place where people somehow still living the life of ancient times. There are still people using lampara. Old people go to bed early at seven or eight o'clock.
The availability of electricity is only eight hours. It is from five o'clock in the afternoon until one o'clock in the morning. During the day the people are busy doing their individual means of livelihood.   

  

HE IS THE MAN

It has been four years since an L300 van capsized in South Road Properties. After three months in a hospital and living unconsciously, who would expect that he would survive after that catastrophic incident happened in his life?

Clark Acibron almost lost his faith when he met a car accident in SRP. Everything had changed after he was discharged from the hospital. His beautiful plans in his life suddenly turned into absurdity which challenged him to question God. Even how many times he told himself that it was just a quest, for him it is a never-ending punishment. What happened to him is not a work of God for God saves. He chose to be alone while watching the crimson light disappearing above the horizon during the dusk.

“I become useless with my situation,” Clark said. “I can’t tell that there’s something good that lies ahead for me.”

As I listened to him, I could not also help myself to doubt if God really loves his people with that Clark’s situation. He was hopeless in everything he did. He thought that he could no longer work normally as a person now that some of his left hand finger tips were cut off. I tried to encourage him to apply for a job but he hesitated to do so. He was afraid that he would not be accepted due to his situation which made him also afraid of trying.

I have known Clark since we were in the seminary. Even he is eight years older than me and he entered the seminary ahead of me, I know his principles in life. He is the man who wants things absolute when it comes to sharing philosophical ideas. He is the man who can also be considered one of the intellectual students in the seminary during his time though some priests were trying to find something negative in him.

However, during the student evaluation which was done every end of the semester, Clark had been described by our rector as a rebellious man which was one of his negative evaluations. This had made the rector to decide that Clark should undergo indefinite regency — he could not proceed to his study until further evaluation on his performance outside the seminary.

The indefinite decision of our rector is just simply saying that Clark can no longer go back to the seminary. He can never be accepted with his situation for the rector said that they form students who are capable of serving God’s people.

During his regency period, he stayed in a small rectory of the chapel managed by one of our former parish priests in Bantayan. He worked as a helper together with our paisano— a term used when two men come from the same place.

“I never have expected that a terrible incident would come upon me,” Clark said.

When they were heading to their way home, the L300 van loaded with rocks capsized on the SRP road. The only thing he remembered was his paisano was asking some help.

After spending months in the hospital, he went back to Bantayan choosing to be alone. His life there became pointless. He never talked to people aside from his family and close friends. He stopped going to church. He never shaved his beard which grew an inch long. I sometimes asked him jokingly of how was the life of being a hermit.

“I have been asking God why I have to experience the worst of the worst things in my life. Does He want me to realize that He is existing or that He never exists at all?” he lauded.

It was only then that he realized that something good is waiting for him. Through his friends and having a drinking peer with them sometimes, they have become his refuge. He started to gain back his faith in God and was able to attain the glory of life and the richness of God’s love for his people.

Clark once said that God does not dwell always on everything we do. Sometimes He leaves things to us to exercise also our freedom which is one of his gifts for us. The bad things happened in our lives are sometimes the consequences of our actions or they are given by God for us to be reminded that there should not be going beyond our limits and this leads us to abuse our freedom and makes us sinful.

What Clark have undergone is not easy to bear. If the same thing would happen to us, how strong are we to face the challenge. His experience may never be a failure but it may be fatal.

With Clark’s experience, I have always been inspired. He is the herald of goodness and perfection. Through him, I have realized that there’s something worth in life.

Balak

Higala

Bisan idlas ang kapalaran

Ayaw isipa nga wa ka nay padulngan.

Matag usa kanato adunay kapakyasan

Apan dili kana rason nga imo nang talikdan.

Dinhi sa kalibotan wala ka mag-inusara

Busa dili ra ikaw ang anaa’y problema.

Kon dili kini nimo masulbad nga ikaw ra

Duol sa imong higala.

Ang tinuod nga higala mosapnay kanimo

Ilabi na kon magul-anon ka kaayo.

Anaa sila nga mopakatawa kanimo

Aron ang kadasig maangkon mo.

Ang matag higala adunay kalahian

Aduna’y hilomon, aduna’y sabaan

Ug  ang nindot nga mga kasinatian

Duyogan  sa kalipay’ng gisaw-an

Busa pasalamati ang imong higala

Tungod kay sa kanunay anaa sila.

Ilang gipaambit ang tinuoray nga gugma

Nga gidayan-dayanan sa hilak ug katawa.

Poem

Pain With Success

Walk on with no looking back,
Life is as grassy as the fields.
No one can tell what’s on the soil
Only when you feel hurt on your feet
And realize that something has to be avoided.

Don’t step on where you get hurt,
Heal the wounds caused by something
And help yourself stand again but never turn back
Being enslaved of pain is not cowardice,
It is rather a companion of success.