By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
Earlier this morning, Nov. 28, I got so inspired by the comments here of Rhoda and Godski (UP Los Banos sis and brod) on my being lazy and a bit weak, trying to urge me to be strong before me and my wife started in the office to go to the Pyramid cemetery at Kias to undertake my cemetery duties. So I became a bit energetic. When we got there, it was 12:00 o’lock high and it was so hot or impossibly hot. Good thing we brought an umbrella and drinking water.
Going down that steep cemetery with its rough road and uneven terrain, I had to go ever so slowly, in half steps, so I would not fall and roll down the hill.
Anyway, good thing that when we got there, there were the usual old men and women offering to clean up grave sites and/or to repaint tombstones for a fee. So we had my old mother’s tombstone repainted. And had some candles lighted there as there were no flowers being sold by the stores up the road. They used to have some. When we inquired why there were no flowers now, we were informed they will start selling tomorrow so the flowers will not wilt until All Saints’ Day. It is their way to avoid or minimize financial losses.
Standing by the gravesite I recalled the industry, kindness, generosity and the never ending patience of my old mother, as any mother was. We did our prayers also for her to RIP. Then we sat down to rest under the shades of the already big and beautiful trees on the side of the cemetery.
With the big trees all around, the landscape was beautiful despite the heat. I told my wife, it would have been nice if we took a good picture of the scene and compose a solicitation letter for advertisements in the ZigZag Weekly. The target market would be cemeteries and other businesses that rely on beautiful landscapes as their come-on for better sales.
But my wife jolted me back to reality. Nobody will advertise in newspapers as they do that now for free through the various social media platforms. Yes, actually that is the death knell of newspapers and magazines. We just might have a year of existence, after which we must have to reinvent ourself in combination with the internet or other electronic and digital media in order to survive.
As of now, however, am not yet thinking about that. We will do it in good time. We have after all the whole of next year. We will somehow catch up from wherever we will be by then. Will things be too late? However things will be, we will have to summon every brinkmanship ability in the recesses of our existence to get even. See you there.
Meanwhile, every inspiring word from you will be greatly appreciated. Don’t be selfish about the good positive effects of your ability to perk up others, particularly those who, for one reason or another, might be feeling a bit low.**
