20100825

Dear darlingest Annelies Marie,

A Day of Mourning

PNoy declared today as a day of mourning, my love. By this, the President invites all us Filipinos to stand in solidarity with the grieving people of Hong Kong and across China.

Indeed, we mourn with them, my Anne, for the sheer senselessness of it all.

Too, I have listened and am still listening to the silence within myself, telling me that the waters of our common humanity has been disturbed. And people - everyday people - are speaking up in my own nation, my loveliest, because they can feel it too.

Even before PNoy issued his declaration, I have heard from ordinary citizens how shocked and saddened they were at the events that two days ago now had unfolded in front of the Quirino Grandstand near Luneta Park - the place where our generations (of this nation) inherited the hopes of many of our martyrs, above all, our Dr. Rizal.

And as the ripples of this event travel afar, affecting those other nations, above all Hong Kong and across China, in various ways the question is being asked by many of us - "why?"

There are those questions we can as nations answer, my love. And indeed, there is much work to be done here to make sure that the hopes of those who were taken from us are preserved from evil. But there are also those questions that may only find their natural solace in the Presence of the LORD, the one Sovereign of all nations. The latter is the reason why we are all invited by the grace of Divine Providence to spend some quiet time this day.

And the best way for those Catholics among our citizenry to respond to this call is to go to Holy Mass. We shall then pray together as one community of Christ for the requisite strength to do with God and with each other all the necessary things on behalf of those innocents and improve on the way we conduct ourselves as a Country, a work of His Hands.

---<--@

Tree of Remembrance

You know, that chestnut tree of yours, my loveliest Miyang, fell over a couple of days ago. In spite of efforts to preserve it, my darling, it was toppled by a storm.

The tree was simply too old, my love, but the timeless substance of what it now represents - if we are vigilant at heart and if we ponder about it here within - may only be multiplied by this act of God.

That old chestnut tree represents (yes, in present tense) your hope for better things, you know. And because this is a hope that is shared by all of humanity, it has a definite resonance that can not be toppled by any temporal storm. So why not plant a new one, my darling, nurture it through the years, and let the generations (of our one family of nations) rally themselves in time through it?

Let us plant a lineage of these trees to stretch to the shores of forever and let our allied generations be fostered by it.

After all, remembrance is forever. Remembrance is what holds vigil over the sheltering wings of our peace as nations. If the tree speaks of remembrance, it can never be toppled.

---<--@

Pretty Cats Rule!

Finally, thank you so much for throwing us a curve ball, Billy Baldwin. Congratulations to you, Ate Venus, for placing within the top 5 at the Miss Universe 2010 pageant in Las Vegas, mabuhay.

Pretty cats rule! That's why I love my Miyang.

You know, there may be people who are prone to misunderstanding how this friendship I share with you works, my darlingest Annelies Marie, but that's only because they're not putting first things first. I myself at one point in my life had had to ask God how must I love you, my Anne Frank.

Then again, there may be those who will never understand, and that's fine. That doesn't change things for me, for us: I love my Miyang. PERIOD.

---<--@

I love you so much.

Always to always,

=^.^=