...and I promise to make it to Grade B....after Jaimie turns 4. :):):)

My Lakbayan grade is C!

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Created by Eugene Villar.

Panic. That seems to be the order of the times.

Eversince the Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy (which hit the newstands early Monday), informal talks has focused on what the future holds for our bank (which incidentally was the first to disclose to the public that it has an exposure to the doomed investment firm) and our personal stake. The Lehman news, though somehow cushioned by recent developments - Merrill Lynch having been taken over by Bank of America (at least saving the former from total bankruptcy), and AIG being bailed out by the US federal government - did not only send shivers down the spine of traders doing the course of their job in the bourses worldwide (with the constantly bleeding figures on the stock exchange board) - but also kept big foreign banks on guard, seemingly not wanting to have anything to do with local, much smaller banks and firms.

On a smaller scale, hard.working, decent.earning employees, professionals and businessmen who set aside some of their keep in insurance plans, money market or equity instruments, are now jittery on how the recent events would impact on their respective investments. It is no joke to scringe on one's spending just so a portion of the take.home pay could be set aside to finance future needs or simply to have something to dig in times of emergency.

Events like these only remind us mortals that while there is some sense in saving for a rainy day, there are really no guarantees in life. Everything may go in a snap, no matter what formula one applies, or how prudent, vigilant and diligent one is in safeguarding his/her assets.

At the end of the day, one painfully learns that there is no greater folly than attachment to matter. When what one deems consequential is lost, one learns to put greater value to what is seemingly inconsequential.

“Fate led you straight to me; you came and suddenly
I was weak beyond control, I had given you my soul…
My life was no longer mine….

I love you more than life itself,
I wouldn’t love anyone else,
I’ve tried to stop myself so many times,
It hurt me….

A love like ours, where can it go?
I must be strong, ‘coz now I know…
It’s wrong for me to stay and love you…

When life won’t let love grow
It has no place to go…
So you tell yourself be strong
When the world tells you you’re wrong
‘Coz life has the final say….”

- theme from “Butterfly”, the film

Does this song cause a twitch in your heart? If it does, you might have been in a relationship others might term as being “doomed from the start” because of some “handicap” in one’s civil, physical, emotional or social status.

They say that the best thing that can a happen to a person is to love and be loved. Love has many forms, but the most celebrated is romantic love. Unlike familial love which is constant, static, and unconditional, romantic love has many forms and faces, and usually encountered more than once in one’s lifetime. Some are pretty fortunate for having ended up with their “true love”, the one that they desired and wed; others might have tried to pursue the object of their affection, but might have ended up having a love unrequited. Still others, despite all odds, opted to fight for a love that is forbidden, one that is against the norm, and unacceptable by any standards.

In all aspects of romantic love, there is the object of one’s affection, the one that is being pursued. This object might be the embodiment of one’s ideal, or simply a reflection of oneself, or the part that would finally complete the puzzle called “self”. The “pursuer” is one who offers his/her affection, or his/her self. In most cases, the object and pursuer are well-defined. But in some, the object becomes clueless to the pursuits of the pursuer, and only finds he/she is trapped in the web called love, a little too late. In rare cases, the pursuer had no intentions of pursuing, but circumstances led them to dance to the prelude called friendship, which naturally led to the complexities of the symphony called love.

The reasons for loving is as varied as the species of crustaceans in the ocean, and its effect as addictive as raw tuna bathed in sauce with wasabe. Once drowned in love’s calm and alternately stormy sea, there is no turning back. One may try to fight it, rein it, or simply ignore it, but just like water, it simply flows to find its own level.

And what about forbidden love? If love were a sculpture, Venus de Milo would aptly represent the forbidden kind - it is a thing of beauty - eternal and ethereal – but disfigured. But just the same, it is a true work of art, one that comes from the heart, and formed by the Master’s touch.

These are my random (and initial) thoughts about love. There will never be enough blogs to unravel “love”, the most fascinating, encompassing, and absorbing mystery of all time – definitely life’s greatest gift.

(Written on August 28, 2006; First posted in blogspot)

You are God's most precious gift to me.