By Jan Vicente ‘JV’ B. Pekas
Every dog has its day. As students, the days are brighter when we don’t have to wait long for jeepneys. When we arrive to class early and on time, feeling better than yesterday, then we can say we have had a good day.
When bad days come even the smallest of things don’t go our way. The jeepneys are full, you arrive late and the weather washes out the tiny bit left of motivation for the day.
How we prepared yesterday can have a say in what tomorrow comes. Though, when life decides that today is a day of distress, then there is not much we can do.
Life brings us many things. From great sadness to times of immense joy. I remember having more of the latter as a small child. Bits of sadness here and there, but looking back now, the early days of innocence trump that of these cold and rainy days.
The game of regret is ongoing. Try we can all to plug the gaps, the past is one too big to make up for in the present. What we wished for way back yesterday as children still with tender hearts can be a cruel one. The young and eager were always pumped to be freed from the early bondage of school. Now, a bit more seasoned, a battered man can see the wish could be a bit better.
To move forward is not only to expect changes to ourselves but to our surroundings. The eyes of the youth who only ever saw the way forward could have easily missed that. Just as life gives, it takes.
From the cold hands of life, it takes the innocence away and we are given a world for what it is. In days of agony what is left to do with feet that refuse to move, hands that tremble and a heart deprived of happiness.
We can only allow ourselves to be sad, to grieve for now. To acknowledge the colorful past doesn’t always have to be in complete happiness. A part of us gone is reason enough to grieve.
A family is always a connected one. A heart is never alone. Together we celebrate one’s happiness, and together we go through days of grey skies.
Not every day can be a planned one. Sometimes it is time to let the heart shed its own tears. Leave the planning for a greater power.
Great happiness and immense sadness, both times a tribe must come for each other. Together in the ups and downs.
To shout along with fervor.
To console a weary soul in need of comfort. **
NOTE: This was written on the day the author’s grandma passed away.
