Think about it

By November 3, 2014Archives, Opinion

Live your life on earth fully

Jun Velasco

By Jun Velasco

 

“What is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the adult afraid of the light?” –Maurice Freehill

 

ON our way home to Bonuan last Wednesday, our attention riveted to a commotion across the UPANG-Phinma campus along Arellano street in Dagupan.

There were uniformed cops frisking suspected drug pushers and plain users at notorious Sitio Aling. It was, we surmised, a “no sweat” operation because it was all over the radio outlets in no time at all.

The successful operation showed that at will, our law enforcers can easily succeed in stamping out criminality.

We next called up Sr. Supt. Chris Abrahano to congratulate him and his boys with an appeal to extend the good job to other notorious drug lairs in Metro Dagupan, such as in the coastal barangays of Bonuan (Gueset, Boquig and Binloc) whose worldwide fame in bangus raising is being dragged down by drugs.

It’s ironic that the city would be stained by the drug menace, with our energetic mayor Belen Fernandez receiving a national award from Secretary Bebot Villar, Dangerous Drug Board, for her the anti-drugs drive in the city. She has been elected chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council.

We hope the momentum in the fight against drugs will be sustained.

*          *          *          *

Fellow Martial Law detainee, now U.S.-based Adreil Meimban (thanks for the book on La Union, brod) has a brilliant cousin, lawyer Robert Meimban who is a Dagupan resident.

A pillar of SJS (Social Justice for Society), Robert is being groomed by his colleagues headed by Atty. Sammy Alcantara to head a 3-man SJS party-list for the 2016 elections.

Since SJS is eyeing party-list status, we suggest lawyers Sammy and Robert consult with Sendong So who is a master of the game. He is chair, main organizer and the man behind the successful Abono Party-list.

Robert began his law course at UPANG but finished it a UST. We teased him on his group’s over-emphasis on social outreach with the words “social” and “society” in the same head.

We did the same to Colonel Simplicio Duque, president of AFPREVA (Armed Forces of the Philippines Retired Veterans Association, Inc.) which combines “retired” and “veterans.”

A cousin of Gonzalo Duque, Colonel Simplicio is a pillar of ALAMAT, which counts on former officers and retired (that word again!) generals and well-connected lawyers and public servants nationwide. Alamat counts Engr. Manuel Dino and former Reform the Armed Forces Movement pillar General Reynaldo Cabauatan among its key members.

*          *          *          *

In observance of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, we realized the impermanence or temporariness of our life on this planet.

Life, they say, is like a thief in the night. While pondering this, we want to share to our valued readers this very sobering and beautiful poem:

A Life That Matters

Whether you are ready or not, someday your life will come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, no hours nor days.

All the things you collected, whether treasured or

forgotten, will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame, and temporal power

will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned or what you are owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and

jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so

Important will fade away.

It won’t matter where you came from, or on what

side of the tracks you lived at the end.

It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or

Brilliant, even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;

not what you got, but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success, but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that

enriched, empowered, or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew,

but how many will feel a lasting loss when you are gone.

What will matter is not your memories,

but the memories that live in those who love you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom, and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s not a matter of circumstances, but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

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