It is mid December and I’m unsure whether winter has started officially or not. In any case, the seasonal change has long started and despite the snow and frost that has visited and now seemingly left us-for now- the Christmas jingles ever so present on the radio need not remind me of the fact. Yes, the leaves are still barely hanging on the branches, no we cannot walk on ice yet, but it is approaching. With the coming of winter comes the reminder that the year is drawing to an end. As the year draws to an end, I am still looking for closure and trying to comprehend that my return to the Netherlands signifies a new beginning.
As I make my way through daily life and try to create a new life consisting of my study, work and friendships, I start to think of the life that I have left behind in the Philippines. Yes, granted, the new digital age has allowed all of us to keep in touch on a daily basis with those on the other side of the world and those living in a different world. Yet, I cannot help but ask myself if new beginnings necessarily entail the end of a part of one’s former life? Are we giving up, losing or simply putting a part of ourselves and relations with people into hibernation?
This leads me to the question I pose to all of us as rational thinking individuals but also as persons living in the ultimate age of the inescapable machine of consumerism wherein everything is available at all times and simultaneously. Do we expect to have everything? Do we no longer believe in compromise for we believe in having it all or have we just fooled ourselves into believing in the impossible; long distance relationships and maintaining existing lives while abroad? Perhaps even more striking is that because of our perception that we can have everything, we can tend to hold the false assumption that things and people are replaceable but they are definitely not replaceable.
When I am asked about religion, my standard response is explaining that I’m a non-practicing Roman Catholic who believes that there is so much more logic in the cycle of nature than in a book that nobody seems to be able to decipher accordingly. If one looks at the cycle of nature, it offers so many answers. Yes seasons change, winter entails the “hibernation” of trees but it makes way for a new flock of birds. It is the closure of a seasonal cycle but it is the start of a new one. In a few months time, the trees will return to their state of green with even greater glory and the sun will shed new light on things unappreciated afore. Perhaps the key issue is the importance of patience. Maybe, yes we have to give-up, give-in, compromise, but maybe patience will allow us to make informed decisions and patience will prove that we can be all-round consumers but things we consider valuable will remain even if we have to leave it behind- be it for a few semesters or a few seasons.
I do not know the answers to all the questions posed in this piece but I will get back to these questions and topics. Know that sometimes the awareness of the mentioned is momentarily enough and it will initiate a discussion within yourself and perhaps if you’re lucky, a discussion with your community.
(C) Anthony Jake H. Atienza
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