oh, you'd be amazed!

... by how life is indeed simple and precious.

When one speaks of a lifetime, it is inevitable to perceive a chronological measure of time where one could make a timeline of all the events in the past and all the events that may or may not happen in the future. We equate or estimate it to 6 decades or more of waking up, working, eating and sleeping. Within this lifetime, we have so many plans and dreams that we try to fit in our "busy" life. And these plans are always made for what's ahead of us. We document the past, and plan out for the future, but what about the present? What if our timeline is not a line after all, but a single dot where the whole of our life is already contained?

Now let's try to see this lifetime as a moment. If we were given a moment to live, and not the typical lifetime we perceive to last as long as 6 decades or more, would it still be plausible for all our dreams and plans to be accomplished? If we only have the now, where there is no later nor tomorrow, how do we literally "live the moment"? Our trip to Boracay might have to be cancelled because the life span we have may not even last the whole plane trip. Our dream to be a millionaire by the age of 25 may not be realized because there is no certainty of living the next day. How do we live a lifetime of a moment --- where the moment cannot be bounded by years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes nor seconds? We have no way of measuring time, because it doesn't matter anymore. For in this moment of life, it would be pointless to count and recount how much more time we have left to live. The only way of living it is to live it as it is. The only concern we will have in mind is how to live it as meaningful as possible. The question may not be the neverending question of life which is: "what is my purpose in life?" but "how can I have a worthwhile moment of life?"

A worthwhile moment of life. It is from this point that we may realize how the little things we take for granted in life can be so meaningful in a momentary life. Do you recall that moment when you made an old woman by the street happy? How about the time you put a smile on a kid's face by giving her a pat in the head? The little things we never planned in life may after all be the very things that will give essence to our life. What better way can we make a To-Do list than this:

__ Hug my mom and dad
__ send my friends a note of how much i care for them
__ smile to the person at the cashier
__ talk to the street kids
__ buy a person an ice cream
__ greet the security guard that opens the door for me
__ thank the stranger who gave way along the busy corridor
__ compliment a friend
__ appreciate my brothers
__ Thank God for the gift of life

With this kind of plans in life, would there still be a chance for hatred? It's living life for goodness' sake.

A while ago, I was walking by Katipunan Ave. to get to National Bookstore. Upon reaching KFC, there were a group of students (a college girl and 4 college boys) standing by the KFC parking. Two meters away from them was a street kid selling banana-q and whatever merienda he might have had that time. As I got near the vicinity, i heard the girl said to the boy in a very pleasing and sweet voice: "Umalis ka na... 'wag ka d'yan. Naiirita ako sa'yo eh." It wasn't a sarcasm when i said she said it with a sweet voice. It was too shocking and ironic for me not to hear it from where i was coming from. As i got pass through them, i heard the little boy said with so much truth in his voice: "Bakit, akala mo ba hindi ako naiirita sa'yo? Eh kung ikaw na lang kaya 'yung umalis?" And then I found myself giving a smirk after hearing the remarks of the boy. I'm not in a good position to judge what just took place at that moment. I have no idea how the kid may have irritated the girl before i reached their place. But whatever the kid may have done or said prior the incident, i still see the girl responsible for the situation, because as the uniform implied, she is an educated person. She should know better and may have reacted better in ways she doesn't tolerate disrespect and at the same time uphold her identity as an educated person.

oh the trivial things we could have avoided. The seconds wasted on that particular moment could have been spent in such a way we could make it a memory to smile upon. We make our own treasury of memories... What's done and what has happened is kept in there no matter how we might try to forget and erase it in our memory.

Life is just a moment... a moment that cannot be bounded by time but by the memories we create and by the simple things we do for goodness' sake.