When You Want Something

Saturday Stories

January 26, 2019

I

The young shepherd Santiago stood before the pyramids of Egypt, humbled by their majesty. It seemed a lifetime ago that he left his home, and he had faced more adventures that most people can even imagine. He could not believe that his odyssey had finally come to end, but even more unbelievable was how much he had changed. He was still the same person, but he can never look at the world in the same way again. Now he has where his treasure was waiting for him. He began to dig. A long time passed – but it wasn't there. Yet he kept digging and digging, even as his tears fell in the sand.

II

Suddenly, a group of men emerged from the darkness. They were refugees from one of the many tribal wars in the desert, and they have become bandits so they can survive. They found Santiago in the now-deep hole. The men found a piece of gold in Santiago's bag, given to him by a man who had changed his life, and they made him dig even more. Daylight came, and when no gold was found, they beat him. Santiago lay bleeding, his blood staining the sand that was already melting from the merciless sun. He had come so far, and his treasure was so near, he thought painfully, but the only thing he found was death.

III

And like many people who were about to die, he saw his life flash before him. All of this began with a dream, like all timeless quests. Many times he had awakened from a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. Then he met a strange man who called himself The King of Salem, who told him: "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” All his life, Santiago has been a shepherd in a rural countryside in Spain, but in his heart, he had always yearned to travel, to see what lies beyond the world he knows. So he set out to cross the sea and to cross the desert.

IV

Another mysterious man appeared in his life. He thought he would be killed when the man drew his sword, then he realized that they had been looking for each other – he had found the Alchemist. And so, on that fateful day in the pyramids, Santiago faced death once more. But the leader spared his life. He, too, had a dream, he told Santiago, but he said he was not a fool to cross the desert and to cross the sea just to follow it. They left Santiago alone, but he got the last piece he was looking for, something he couldn't have if he hadn't suffered. And that moment, he finally knew where he would find his treasure.

Photo courtesy of HarperCollins.com

Leo Tolstoy and The Three Questions

Saturday Stories

January 19, 2019

I

Leo Tolstoy once said: "The surest sign of the truth is simplicity and clarity. Lie is always complicated, pretentious and wordy." I'm in awe of the spiritual depth of Leo Tolstoy, the great 19th century Russian author whose masterpieces, "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina," are two of the greatest novels ever written. My favorite among of his short stories, first published in 1885, is "The Three Questions."

II

Once upon a time in Russia, the emperor wanted to know the answers to three questions. The first is – "What is the most important time to do each thing?" The second is – "Who are the most important people to work with?" And the third question is – "What is the most important thing to do at all times?" The emperor declared a reward for anyone who can give the answers. Almost every man in the kingdom went to the palace to give their opinions. But none satisfied the emperor. So he went out to visit an old man who lived alone in the mountain, a hermit known as a holy man, to seek his counsel. He found the old man digging in his garden, and asked him the three questions.

III

The hermit listened, but merely patted him on the shoulder and went back to work. Then the emperor saw how the old man was getting tired, so he helped him. He dug until night fell, but the hermit never gave the answers. But as he turned to go, he saw someone running toward them – a stranger with a bloody wound on his chest. The emperor dressed the wound, but since it was already too dark to get home, he stayed in the old man's hut, taking care of the mysterious man. Then morning came, and he was shocked when the stranger revealed that he had meant to kill him. The man had been waiting in ambush, but it night came, and he got lost and ran into the emperor's soldiers at the path to the mountain. The emperor was even more surprised when he asked the old man for the last time, and was told that he already knew the answers.

IV

If he hadn't helped dig the garden, he would have been killed on his way back, said the hermit. So, at the moment, the most important time was spent digging, that most important person was the hermit, and the most important thing was to help him. And if he hadn't cared for the stranger, they wouldn't have been reconciled. So, at that moment, the most important time was spent dressing his wound, the most important person was the man, and the most important thing was to take care of him. "Remember, that there is only one important time and that is now," said the wise man. "The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person you are with, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future? The most important pursuit is making the person standing at your side happy, for that alone is the pursuit of life."

Photo courtesy of HarperCollins.com

Beautiful Mind

Saturday Stories

January 12, 2019

I

The poet E.E. Cummings once wrote: "The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else." There is a great sense of freedom in being authentic, in accepting who you are. I think life is too short and too precious for pretensions. So I accept that I enjoy (and prefer) being alone most of the time. Some people may use words such as "loner" or "antisocial," but those are their labels, not mine. I like my fellowmen (in a general sort way), but I need solitude more than most people, and I'm fine with that. I'd rather be alone than to be with those whose idea of friendship is gossip, or whose idea of fun is making fun of others.

II

I'm even more inspired to be myself because of Daniel Tammet, a soft-spoken young man from England, when I read his memoir Born On A Blue Day. Daniel has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism which makes it difficult for him to socially interact with people. Some of the other signs are the desire for routine, attention to detail and a heightened ability to focus. He also suffered severe epileptic seizures as a child, yet he was not afraid nor embarrassed to admit them, and I respect him for that. He has another rare condition called synaesthesia which made him perceive numbers and letters in a more intuitive and multi-sensory way, with colors and tones and texture.

III

This extremely rare combination of synaesthesia and Asperger's seems to have caused another rare condition called Savant Syndrome. In simple terms, Daniel can be a bit socially awkward and obsessive compulsive, but he is also a genius – in a profoundly gifted way. Once he was asked to divide 13 by 97, and in less than a minute, he gave the answer by up to 100 decimal places. A computer was needed to check his answer because even a calculator cannot, and Daniel was correct. He speaks ten languages, and he has appeared in a live talk show in Iceland speaking fluent Icelandic, one of the most complex languages in the world, which he has learned in just a week.

IV

Daniel is unique even among geniuses. He is very articulate, and can say what is going on in his mind when he calculates complex mathematical equations. I first saw him on YouTube last year in an episode of David Lettermen's show. He was promoting Brainman, a 2005 documentary about how science is trying to unlock the secrets of superior mental abilities. In 2004, he raised money for an epilepsy charity by reciting the value of pi, the infinite decimal that express the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, by up to 22,514 digits – 3.14159265358979 ... ad infinitum. His work with scientists and his non-fiction books are revolutionizing the fields of neuroscience and brain research. Daniel is sharing his gifts to make this world a better place, and, for me, that is true genius.

Photo courtesy of Blog.Okian.ro

Olongapo On My Mind

Saturday Stories

January 5, 2019

I

One of my favorite songs from The Beatles is "In My Life" – "There are places I'll remember ... all my life, though some have changed ... some forever, not for better ... some have gone, and some remain..." And one of the places that is special to me is Olongapo, where I once stayed near a beach called Driftwood. I'd take one of the blue-colored jeeps from the town, and on the highway going to Zambales, the sea would be on my left, and on my right I would pass the cemetery built on the side of a mountain.

II

The last time I was in Olongapo was in 2011, when I had the honor of meeting the three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Fr. Shay Cullen, the internationally revered child rights advocate and founder of the non-profit organization PREDA Foundation. He gave me a signed copy of his book "Passion and Power: An Irish Missionary's Fight Against Child Sex Slavery," and we talked about the Juvenile Justice Act authored by Senator Francis Pangilinan. Our interview was published on November 2012 in Philippine Panorama where I wrote: "This writer spent a beautiful Sunday with Fr. Cullen at the PREDA center, perched on a hill with a breath-taking view of Subic bay, a perfect place for emotional healing."

III

In Olongapo I had a rather cheesy experience way back in 1997 but it will stay with me forever. I was on a Victory Liner on the highway coming from Bataan, passing through Old Cabalan as the sun began to rise. I still remember how happy and peaceful I felt as I saw mountains all around me. Then the bus radio played a song which gave that moment a sense of pure perfection – "Isn't it a wonder as a newborn baby cries ... isn't it a wonder with the sweetness in my eyes ... isn't it a wonder on the crossroads of my life ... isn't it a wonder ... isn't it a wonder to me..." 🎶

IV

I have good memories of Olongapo, and this is one of the reasons why I love "Gapo," the now-classic novel by Lualhati Bautista. It was my wish at at our recent Christmas party exchange gift at work. And in my mental movie version, it shows "Directed By Huggybear," inspired by Lino Brocka:

Modesto – Christopher De Leon

Michael – Gerald Anderson

Magda – Mylene Dizon 

Alipio – Ricky Davao

Steve – Jeremy Renner 

Igna – Vhong Navarro

Jun – Martin Del Rosario

William – Leonardo DiCaprio

Richard – Matt Damon

Johnson – Josh Brolin

Sam – Will Ferrell

Irene – Desiree Del Valle

Modesto's wife – Jacklyn Jose

Javier – Joel Torre

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia