The Glorietta tragedy was on my mind the whole day today, and simply because the mall was my favorite spot for hanging out and writing. The exact place, Glorietta 2, was a part of the mall that I frequented because it had a cozy Starbucks branch for me to write in, a host of shops for me to get my mom’s phone cards from, and a book sale every month. Had I been home, I would have seen everything. Not home, all I can do is pray.
And perhaps dream – see, when tragedies like this happen, and when they happen too close to home, I start thinking all the more urgently about the future. Human life, cliche goes, is fleeting, and we cannot sit back and watch it lest it leaves us unawares. Life has to be enjoyed every single day, and lived to its fullest every single moment.
Caught up in this study, in this realm of nothing but books and reasoning and dreams that must lie dormant as mere purposes and ends to this unholy mess of academics…Dreams come to the surface when tragedies like this occur. I thereby start my speech with that much ubiquitous One day…
One day, I shall finish all this and be a doctor. I shall put up my own Discovery channel and I shall earn money – lots and lots and LOTS of money, and simply because my cause is noble and clear enough. I want to educate people, I want to make science popular without confounding it or compromising its integrity, and I want to make more people learn.
One day, I shall have my own family. My health seems to scream out otherwise, but I am trying, and so very hard, to be healthier. One day, it shall happen.
One day, I shall have children, and I shall give them all the luxuries my parents gave me – and so much more. I shall take them traveling, so that their minds may be opened early and their perspectives on the world may be widened. I shall read to them constantly: while they are in my womb, as they suckle at my breast, as they lie in their cribs, as they watch their parents with wide, eager eyes.
I shall be mother and teacher and friend. One day, I shall be all that.
One day, I shall be a much, much better person than I am today. Inez today is vain, and selfish, and self-centered and weak. But I am working toward betterment; I am working as hard as I can, so that one day can come soon.
I wish that all my “one days” would come soon, for that matter.
Life is too short for mere wishing.
