Love is an action word

Love is magical all the time. Mysterious even. When we fall in love, or whenever we feel it, we are somehow overruled by the emotion; our system is joyfully controlled by it. Some unexplainable bug seems to bite us when we are under the spell of love. It’s a cathartic feeling because love makes us all the more human.

Because the capacity to love is just one of the human traits, the feeling is not exclusive between amorous lovers or couples. Love is also resplendent in the relationship between mother and son, father and son, grandfather and grandson, brother and sister, and tutor and prodigy. Love is the essence where the relationship between two friends is cast in. The heck, love is even present between man and his pet.  

In her book We, Love, Sara Black, a much celebrated beauty and fashion photographer, explores the many meanings of love as experienced by many people from all corners of society. As a result, Sara produced a heartwarming tome that beats the tone of love — pure in a world that’s contaminated with envy and persecution; lasting in the face of uncertainty; colorful amidst the drab background of want. 

One of the touching featured stories in We, Love is the tale of love between Marissa and Rocky Yneco. To say that love is blind cannot be more than literal in the case of Rocky, a blind man with a vision to pursue his love. In a reflexology class, where he was a teacher, he found Marissa, a wheelchair-bound lady, who had a big dream of making her life better. Their story is magical, especially when you read how they survive their daily lives: Marissa rolls and maneuvers her wheelchair on the street. Rocky holds on to the handlebars. And together, they ply the streets to do home service massage. They hold on to their love knowing fully that it’s the most important thing that will see them through.

We, Love is a feel-good book. It does not hide any pretense because, to begin with, it is not the nature of love. Take for instance the story between retired Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga and his handsome son Jigs, a famous and prolific makeup artist. Theirs is a beautiful story of coming out, rejection and acceptance all rolled into one colorful palette of love. Many times, it is with a sincere and understanding heart that one can really display one’s love for the other. Jigs admitted to his father his preference. His father rejected him for a while. The minute they discovered their love for each other was the moment the walls of temporary enmity between them collapsed. Vice Admiral Mayuga mentioned in the book: “Am I proud about the kind of person Jigs has grown to be? Yes, of course, but I am even more honored to be father to Jigs.”

The simple and sincere love between actor Jericho Rosales and his grandfather Santiago Rosales Sr. will surely strike a chord. Santiago is hard of hearing. Jericho, with a slate, writes down his thoughts for his grandfather: “I love you, Lolo.” In his booming voice, his grandfather answers: “Thank you, and I love you, too.” They lock themselves in a sweet embrace. Jericho is not acting, he is just simply doing his responsibility as a dutiful apo.

It’s also very magical how a father’s love can inspire his son’s dream to take flight. This is evident in the story of love between Gary Valenciano and his father Vic Valenciano. In 1983, Gary invited his father to watch him perform during the dress rehearsal with the Kundirana in La Salle Greenhills. Vic liked what he saw in his son and went home telling all his relatives and friends to go see Gary at the Meralco Theater. To this day, his father remains his No. 1 fan.

We, Love also showcases the endearing sibling revelry between Lea and Gerard Salonga. Lea oh-so loves her younger brother that she did not mind at all being his laundrywoman when Gerard was studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston from 1996 to 1998. (Reading their charming story made me wonder if Lea sang Sun and Moon while spinning her brother’s clothes.)

Another engaging read is the love story of beauty queen Abby Arenas and ace photographer Jun de Leon as told by their 11-year-old son Ijah. In the book, Ijah said: “My dad is 56 and my mom is 36. That’s 20 years apart. I don’t think that’s really a big age gap. In love, there is no age.”

One of the most beautifully written stories in We, Love is the mother-and-son tale of Ballsy and Jonty Aquino Cruz. In the book, Jonty was quoted telling his mom: “I don’t know if I told you this before but I always felt a certain sense of peace that whenever when I’m with my mom or my Lola, I feel nothing bad could happen to me.”

These stories are part of the 80 heartwarming tales Sara Black presents in We, Love, her first foray into writing, but her second book of portraits. Did I mention that the book also talks about Kim Atienza’s love for his six-year-old iguana?

No matter how people label this feeling, love will always remain a prime emotion. Sara’s book will prove that love is a verb — it is an action word. It moves people to do good, to be inspired, to be better human beings. Love drives people to make the impossible possible; it puts meaning to the mundane; it colors a dreary day, or, because of love, there is no such thing as a dreary day. Love creates synergy and harmony. It’s magical all the time, mysterious at times. That’s love.

(We, Love is available at Fully Booked.)

(For your new beginnings, please e-mail me

at bumbaki@yahoo.com or my.new.beginnings@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @bum_tenorio. Have a blessed Sunday!)