Encounters with the Pen

 

29 September 2009

 

“To see the world in a drop of water and experience eternity before it subsides.”

Herein narrator went on to live since to recount a fairly insignificant, almost common and entirely negligible story of being swept by the current, having wept due to guilt and being upset out of complacency for the inability to do something that would risk both life and limb.

 

My brother-in-law was confined in the hospital for days suspecting and eventually ruling out Influenza A-H1N1 as the culprit. As a result, I have to stay in their home for two (2) nights until that fateful morning. Overnight rains resulted to sudden increase in the water level of the nearby river. The typhoon is about to begin.

 

Even before finishing corn for breakfast around nine in the morning last Saturday (26 September 2009), water was increasing in an exponential rate. And since time is of the essence, I started transferring smaller objects to the second floor of their home anticipating greater volumes of water before help arrives. Excessive lifting though, without stretching, resulted to back and muscle pains later. Our neighbour asked for a favor to have his television set, much heavier that a seven-cubic feet refrigerator, be transferred to higher grounds as well forcing the five of us a rush of adrenaline simply getting it to the second floor. Unfortunately, I can no longer bend at will or move deliberately after the lift because of a recursive nerve, ligament or joint problem.

 

With it, another fellow tied my motorcycle to their wooden stairs fearing that it could be drowned or, even worse, carried away should water rise faster than expected. As soon as we finished salvaging what could be saved, I decided to leave my sister’s abode, her aide and the family of her aide behind, swimming and struggling in what I assume to be a concoction of mud, violent waters, unpredictable current, human or animal excrement and countless unidentified cadavers underneath. The place of my sister and her family went from impassable to under water to beyond rescue and recognition to completely uninhabitable in matter of hours.

There is no way for the volume and water level to decrease at once thus reducing almost every life-form in the animal kingdom including celebrities, common people, domesticated animals, snakes, cockroaches and rats into basic, primitive and singular element – instinct. A drive designed to ensure survival of those who are physically able and motivated.

Evening falls and help is not getting any nearer. Trapped individuals started seeking refuge on top of their homes in the midst of cold, thirst and hunger. No one would ever want to quantify whose anguish and agony is greater than whom or in any way concerned about their material and financial losses. This is helplessness in its simplest term.

At around nine o’clock in the evening, while waiting for matters to somehow improve, I remembered the kid next to our apartment saying, “Ma, mababa na ang tubig, kita na yung plate number ng kotse.” (Ma, the water is finally subsiding. I can already see the plate number of the car)

 

The sun went on to fulfill its destiny the morning after as if nothing ever happened prior to its arrival. Having filled my shirt with the ravage of the flood, and in sympathy to those who endured the cold of the night, I wore none the day after as I checked on my motorcycle. The stairs were no longer there. I pushed my motorcycle to our present residence to undo the damage endured. No mechanic would ever want to fix any of the queuing motorcycle with similar condition.

 

Situations such as this enable us to maximize whatever intuition we have about fixing. It took me about six shirtless hours to finally diminish the amount of mud in every conceivable portion of my uncomplaining means of transport and restore it to nearly optimal condition. Consequently, my back is still painful not because of muscular strain but mainly due to prolonged exposure to the sun and neglected damage on my skin.

 

Society nowadays demands and edifies a threshold of material indispensability – laptops, camera, music and video players, LCD TV, vehicles and such other worldly lures. But in the end, what really is important?

 

It will never matter if in one instance we lost everything or every single detail of our lifelong struggle. What matters most is the belief that forever coincides with our lifetime and beyond – present, future and past. It is simply about your accountability to yourself and to others in the face of extreme forces of nature devoid of any human notion of attachment. Not even a pair of slippers is necessary against the rising tide and the unforgiving current.

What could be more appropriately descriptive of a storm this magnitude than Weightlifting 101, Swimming for Dummies, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Submerged Motorcycle Repair, Shirtless Tanning and Mudpack The-Easy-Way.

 

And the list continues...