Let there be fire to . . .!
Author’s note: Let me share with you this beautiful piece from my paseo buddy, Carrie Tharan.Though I miss our paseo together due to the pandemic, this piece I’m sharing with you, keeps us bonded all the way through.
And here is Carrie’s piece.
The last time we all met was 53 years ago, when we shared the first experience of living away from home and staying together in the university campus dorm, Ilang-ilang. Eight close friends coming from various parts of the country and abroad, reunited for 4 days in the first week of February 2020. We stayed in the university hotel closest to the dorm where we met in the 1960’s. As time was precious, we hurriedly and excitedly, walked down the memory lanes and paths and walks in the sprawling campus. In vain, we even attempted to search for that cement slab where we etched our Group’s name.
It was a most joyful homecoming, tracing back the roots of our academic and social upbringing as we walked past the AS building, the main library, the sunken garden, the Oblation, the University Theater, the Carillon. One early morning, we attended mass at the UP Chapel (now Parish of the Holy Sacrifice) and gave our prayers of thanks for the Homecoming to our beloved alma mater.
We went on brief but most interesting country tours. We savored the food, and the nostalgic drives. We sighed and softly marvelled at the beauty of our country.
We set aside a special time to share our life stories. Each one tread her own path to become a nurse, a dentist, a doctor, a chemist, a professor, school administrator, artist and government officers and entrepreneur. We looked back with pride to how UP molded us to become the best of what we could be and in still in us the social responsibility and mission to be of service to others in our own ways. After a most joyful reunion, albeit short, we promised to meet again in 2021 and continue creating and sharing happy memories and stories of our lives. As we bade each other goodbye, little did we think and feel that the next 10 months and more, would bring about unimaginable changes in our lives and in the whole wide world.
The new year has begun. It is now 2021, a year since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. Each one of us has a story to tell.
Like many others, the first three months were perhaps the most difficult and challenging time for me. I felt suspended, hanging from air, not knowing what exactly was happening and why and how was I going to survive.
The lockdown. The separation from loved ones. Senior citizens like me categorized as highly vulnerable to the virus. Fear, isolation, uncertainties overwhelmed me. My nights were sleepless. Food was difficult to swallow. I was losing weight.
About three months after, I told myself, loud and clear, life must go on. There was no other way but to accept that yes, the virus is real and yes, you have to face it and try to survive.
A daily routine helped me cope with the realities around me:
Online masses with most reassuring and uplifting homilies. Video calls with family and loved ones. Group rosary prayers with friends near and very far. Online Qi Gong, thanks to my yoga teacher though she is now thousands of miles away. Gathering for sharing with my peace advocates friends. Learning to stop, to be grateful and to affirm one’s self and goodness. All these helped me tremendously to cope with,to manage the turmoil, the upheaval, the unpeace that now surround us.
Many of us have become plantitas. The trees, the flowers, the philodendrons, the succulents, etc., etc. All these evoke calm, simple, pleasure and purpose. Many of us have taken to cooking, baking, selling, buying, supporting people who have been displaced and lost their jobs, their income, their source of livelihood. Many of us spend hours reading, meditating, exercising, doing yoga, qi gong and anything else that helps us soothe our minds, our bodies and calm our fears, our anxieties.
It has been a year since the pandemic struck. We look back not so much or no longer with the lingering sadness and loneliness and fear. We live day to day with gratefulness in our hearts for being alive, for having a roof over our heads, and food on the table.
We continue to put our trust and faith in our Almighty Creator, our loving God that no matter, He will not forsake us.
We continue to pray for people who suffer most in this critical time, the women, men and children in war torn and conflict areas, the refugees, the human rights defenders, the activists… the list indeed is long.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, as the saying goes. Each one brings a candle and to spark a flicker of care and hope for one another. Let there be fire to extinguish indifference, hate and injustice. Let there be fire to brighten a miserable world.
Carrie Tharan
March 23, 2021
Baclayon, BOHOL