My Thoughts and Ideas

There is a new craze that began in States and is now in Manila . It’s called the Landmark Forum.

Friends of mine have attended it. You pay P10,000 to spend three consecutive days eating bad food and sleeping in the same room with 100 other people and sitting in a chair from 8 a.m. to midnight every day, trying to hold your water as “if you take a bathroom break, you might miss an important point.”

At the end of this conference, after having heard that your past forms you to be the person that you are today, you are told what they consider to be the most revolutionary truth of them all: life is empty and meaningless…it’s up to you to make meaning out of life.

I have a friend whom I always thought would be there for me, so I took her friendship for granted. One day she went abroad, and I hadn’t said half of the things I needed to. If only I had known things would happen so quickly, I would’ve savored every moment. But regrets will get me nowhere. At least there are days when we’re together in the house, just like it used to be.

One of my sisters got married late last year. My other sister is already on her fourth year in medicine school and is often on 24-hour duty. I can vividly remember the three of us having all the time in world talk, play games, go shopping, watch movies together…seems like yesterday.

I remember Dad and I were shooting hoops at the park one day. I had just started to take an interest in volleyball. Last year he discovered a pinched nerve in his left leg. Although he can still walk well, he can’t really play anymore.

P100,000. My sister’s brother-in-law hit the ceiling when he saw what he had to pay the phone company. The culprit? Her teenage nephew’s visits to porn websites.

The confrontation wasn’t pretty. When the boy came home, there was no screaming. Just the undeniable proof of his addiction staring him in the face, out in the open unlike Playboy mags and dirty videos that can be easily stashed and hidden.