By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

IN this world, it appears that most things are possible, at the same time, most things are not. For those who try and try, the possible entails a lot of preparation and hard work. For those who do not try, it is a miracle, achieved only by God’s grace, or by chance. The possible and the impossible happen, for a variety of other reasons, other than the result of an action or inaction, by you or your ancestors, and the confluence of events at a given time.

The impossible can turn into the possible with a combination of a team spirit, the support of the public, and an undying dream. This was exemplified by the Moroccans during the FIFA World Cup 2022 competition in Qatar, where the team made it, to the Big Four. Coach Walid Regraguihe emphasized, “If you are a small team, you need to dream and to believe.” A dream, and a belief in the dream, can result in the achievement of the possible, or closer to it.

Some things, or more than some things, happen at random. They happen without a plan, or the process of conscious decision. A seed from Spain may have stuck on the muddied boots of a soldier who landed in the Philippines when Ferdinand Magellan came to the islands in 1521, grew on fertile soil, faster than the list of official seeds intentionally carried for transplant to a new land, as part of the strategy for the conquest.  The seed’s survival has nothing to do with the saying, “Hindi namamatay ang masamag damo” (Bad weeds don’t die), despite the fact that it was nurtured by the mud in the boots of a “bad” soldier. In 1626, Governor Fernando de Silva “described the soldiers as ‘the scum of the entire Spanish nation’, saying that most of the recruits were criminals and young boys with corrupt minds.” It is therefore possible to survive, by chance, for the seed, at least.

The realm of the possible is as perplexing in our personal lives. There are people we have not actually met but fully trust, unmindful of the possibility of betrayal, or worse, immense harm. Harm not only in the physical sense, but in diminishing our self-worth. It is even possible to trust, to act in full abandon and be given comfort and sanctuary by a stranger, although often unexpected. It is possible to develop intimacy in absentia, like in long-distance relationships, although most often, difficult to sustain. The possibilities are endless, as endless as the limitations.

 

In between thin lines

in the border between
sanity and madness
is the possibility
to distill
to draw
meanings from the knots
in the thread
sections of the weave
that cohabit with the senses
the spiritual, the mundane
a clarity born
from the storms in the brain
from the stirring in the loins
becoming indivisible
One

 

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