Life

(As part of her college entrance requirement at the Ateneo De Manila University, my niece wrote this beautiful and inspirational essay a few months back. It only seems like yesterday that I played with her back in the old house. It has been more than two years since my father passed away, but the memory in which he left just lingers in my mind. This is very hard for me to accept at times, especially when I am alone. When I am alone I keep asking why. Why... It should have never happened. I would've told him of the other night when my college buddy and I talked for six hours about Jesus Christ and the Bible and the whole Catholic faith in disarray and the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. I would have been drinking beer with him. Drinking beer with him. But he's gone. Indeed, our existence in this world -- albeit short -- should be a meaningful one and should never be wasted. - KGB)

Are there any experiences you've had, or accomplishments you have realized, that have helped to define you as a person?

Right in the middle of my sophomore year in high school, my grandfather passed away from cancer. No one knew the profound effect it had on me as a person, and as a child of God.

As a teenager, I had a sense of immortality. For me, time was no obstacle, however, the things that I knew and loved had to end. Youth brings us to believe that life has no limits, but that incident opened my eyes to reality. Death, for me, became a part of life.

Knowing one's limits helps bring one to make the most out of what one has. In this case, I realized that I have to make the most out of life that was given to me. Yes, there is an end and that is the limit that I know; but in the meantime, there is that life I have to live here on earth. I became aware of the passing of time, and the urgency of my doing all that I can do to make a mark on this earth.

One of the things that I realized during that experience is that people are not necessary. When we die, the world does not stop for us. Time will pass and we have merely left a dent on the ground. All it is a matter of whether we choose to leave a big noticeable dent, or a small one that will be blown away by the wind someday. Knowing that, I realized that we will come, then we will go, but we don't have to be forgotten. I've become the kind of person that takes life one day at a time, making the most out of each one.

It is one thing to be told that life is short, but another thing to actually see and grasp it. My grandfather was only 61. In all those years that he lived, he never failed to go through a day without touching a life or making a difference. Topping the bar exams at #7, he was a great lawyer; but what set him apart from other bar top-notchers was the fact that he chose to serve the poor. He chose to live without luxury, using his talent instead for those who were less privileged. He rarely accepted money since his clients did not have any. When he could have lived more comfortably, he decided not to (he begged-off from offers to work for the government - KGB), yet somehow there was something in him that commanded respect and honor. Only after his death did I realize that success is not measured on salary or material goods, but rather on how much one fulfills one's purpose in this life. This was evidenced by the numerous people who paid their last respects during his wake, some of them even flying to Manila from their home provinces.

It took the death of a loved one to make me realize that nothing is permanent. I learned to savor what I have. I learned to prepare myself for the end of anything else. I learned to accept the fact that there is an end to everything else. I learned to appreciate what I have now. That experience helped me to see what I've found and embrace it. What I once took for granted, I now take advantage of. I learned that, although we usually ignore them, cliches are true. They are the outline of the only things we really need to know. Time flies. Life is short. Seize the day. At the end of everything, knowing this can save you from wasting the one wonderful gift God has given, which is life itself.

Ana Francesca A. Betita