Thinking Aloud

The fast pace of life no longer amazes me. I have learned to take things in stride, as the songs of Solomon come more vibrant in the book of Ecclesiastes. It is no use to chase after the wind. When vanity creams over your accomplishments, you realize when adulation stands still, you are confronted only with yourself.

The pursuit should be the betterment of oneself. Nothing else. Simplifying one’s life does not mean giving up on the pleasure of living. It means living with the pleasure of lesser to no pressure. Take my friend Ernie for instance who from a life of an entrepreneur and a professor has opted to live daily in his farm where he delights in the flowering of his fruit trees and finds peace in the view of every sunrise. He missed those moments when he was living in the city.  The urban jungle covered the natural landscape that was a reminder in every sunrise and sunset that God is in control of time.

Recently I have been receiving messages of friends passing. I cannot avoid that pinch of loneliness that comes with the news. That ache of a certain void that that person used to fill will no longer be assuaged by that same being. But I know that through time, the memories or the lessons learned from that relationship will be enough. So we move on, making new memories with new friends, not forgetting the old but augmenting their meaning as you share them with others.

In conversations, we lose ourselves to new discoveries of similarities and uniqueness.  We revel in the freedom of self with other selves that we meet along the way. And perhaps the fleeting beat of time may be a friend as it is an adversary to building more connections. Yet, some things are meant to just remain where they are so they can flourish in a distance. Together you blossom apart.

And that is how you take care of your business, after business. The real intent of this column where you go beyond your daily enterprise and look into the softer things. Your social responsibility.  Your responsibility to yourself. And your responsibility to God. For after all these are the relationships that are more profound than the till and will last until…

I wanted to take out the word responsibility just as I wanted to take away the boundaries of time. Well we cannot get away from both I guess. So let it stay there. That consciousness, that the use of our time must be done responsibly.

And to follow the old adage, as we earn, we must learn, that the best things in life are really for free.

With these thoughts I remember Jonathan Allan A. Garces, my friend, my manong for one day and my silent PR consultant. Share your laughter in the heavens bro!