About life, smiles and regrets

It feels really bad when you do not or you cannot get the things you want. It feels bad when you are deprived of your so called “rights” and you are discontented. You get angry and shout at the universe. It may seem that the whole world has fallen over you. You are livid. And then someone asks you. “What are you really angry at?” Can you look back and read between the lines?
You see? You do not even have time to really know what is wrong. Is it you? Is it your surroundings? Now you know. You are only thwarted because things don’t, at all times go the way you want them to. As far as I know, life is not always happiness. You need pain, disappointments and I hate to say it, and you need resentment. Life wouldn’t be so wonderful without these things. For me, a wonderful life is a balance of ups and downs. Do not be too grumpy about life. When you complain and say life is just too hard for you, when you say fate is cruel, when you think everything is a mess and you just can’t take it anymore, all you have to do is smile. I sometimes wonder why people always frown. Is it really that physically demanding to smile? Of course not! Smile and you will feel a lot better. Smile and you will appreciate more the small things in life. You will appreciate the flowers and the sunshine and the colony of ants. A smile works wonders. A smile can start a friendship as high as the heavens above. Let me share with you a story about a boy and a man and their friendship. There was once a very grumpy boy. He lives with his father and his ailing mother. He does not go out of their house. He does not play outside so, he does not have friends. Playing does not interest him. Instead, he reads books. A lot of books. In fact, despite of their status in life, he has books of his own that he gets from his savings. There came a time when a talk spread that there was an exile in their small barrio. Nobody knew who that exile was. No one but the boy. He saw him, a medium-sized man with a mustache, kind eyes and a warm smile. He saw the man smiling at him and so he smiled back. They got close. The boy borrowed books from the man who was also a book lover. It happened everyday. And then the boy stopped borrowing books. The man wondered and decided to visit the boy across the street. What he saw explained everything. The boy’s mother was sick. The boy said the mother was struck by a disease and if the eyes would not be operated, the mother would totally be blind. The man talked with the boy’s father and then left the house. After a few minutes, he returned with a black bag. The boy was asked to go out for a while. After a couple of hours, the man and the father went out …..with the boy’s mother. How happy the boy was. He forgot to thank the man who was really a doctor. The next day, he remembered the man, so he went across the street to the man’s house. To his shock, no one was there! The women told him the soldiers’ sent for him for his trial in Manila. He cried. From that day on the boy learned to smile. He always thanked all those who love him. He never wasted a moment.

my friends

First day of classes. What should I do? Should I go and volunteer to introduce myself? Or should I stay and sit down in a corner where no one can notice me? I can still remember a shy girl in the corner of the 1st yr. Bartlett room. Oh how I really pity that girl. That was 7 months ago. Now look at this girl. Her friends. Their conversations. Their laughter. You can never see a trace of that incident 7 months ago when Bartlett was very quiet, peaceful. In all corners. A month after that, these words mean nothing at all. Do you wonder how that shy girl fitted in the group? Simple. That bashful girl refrained from doing nothing at all. She talked and talked and talked. And she slowly developed the confidence. She got the trust of her classmates. She found a group of friends she was most at ease talking with. Those she was most easy hanging out with. The VIP Delegates, as what they are called, or what they call themselves. Ate Irene, Jurrine, Janelle, Jeny-vi, John Rhey, Gerardo, Rheena and Mia. They are my friends. I talk to them. I tell them how I feel. I showed them how I care. I eat with them. Everyday. I make sure they feel my presence. I always let them know I am a shoulder they can lean on. On my side, I feel that there is no dull moment with them. Others say that I just hang out and do nothing with them. They are wrong. They are really, really wrong. It may seem nothing to the others but I enjoy doing nothing with the VIPs. Far more enjoying than going to the mall with people I am not easy with. It is just like iced tea without ice. Having to study here in U.P.( a school famous because of it’s campaign against mediocrity or patchiness) without these friends would possibly kill me. My friends are my second family. An old man, or should I say an old teacher told us that as students, we need friends. Why? We need friends to help us in our projects. We need friends to help us in our assignments. We need these friends to help us when our teachers award us with heaps, masses and oodles of research work. At first, I thought it was funny. I believed this old man. I believed that we only needed friends for that simple cause. For the projects, assignments, research works and other school works. I was wrong. I was verified wrong by no less than myself. We need friends plainly because we need them. There were times when I needed them not because of projects, assignments, etc.; I needed them as a shoulder for me to cry on. I needed them to comfort and encourage me when I was really down. Indeed the saying “no man is an island” is true. Hey people, we need friends. I can really, really attest to that.