what we are not

earlier today, i rode the bus going to the university where i work at. i was looking at my watch every now and then, probably because i was running late. the trip is also the time when i gather my thoughts for the day's activities, preparing what approach i would use for the lectures.
i had a seven a.m. class. just ten minutes before seven, a girl about eleven or twelve of age sat beside me, she was also on her way to attend school based on the fact that she was wearing a school's uniform. before she sat she patted my shoulders signaling me to move a bit. i was a bit busy with thinking how my day would go. i looked at her and moved to give her some space so she could sit. while seated, i noticed she tried to look at me for several seconds and tried to look at the other direction. she was probably observing. after some seconds of silence, probably thinking if she should speak or not, she looked at me and ask in a very gentle and innocent tone: "padi ca po?"(are you a priest?). a question which i didn't really expect.
i did not have a ready answer so in silence i slightly turned my head from side to side to mean no. i did not see her reaction. after a few minutes she went ahead to attend school. while on the bus i contemplated on what could have made that girl ask that kind of question?

last sunday's sermon is somehow related to what had happened this morning. the celebrant talked about the real essence of a human being by discussing what man is not. he mentioned three important things that we are not supposed to identify ourselves with.
the first is that we are not what we own. we are not what we have. it is wrong to identify ourselves with our possessions or properties clearly because the essence of man is not only limited to tangible things.
secondly, we are not what other people say. the point here is to look at how we are living our lives, are we slaves of good reputation? do we always please people by acting according to what they want? again, the real self is not dependent on how other people see us and what they say about us. it's something more than that.
third, we are not what we can do. it is not right to equate ourselves with our talents, our job and even our achievements. there certainly is something more than the things we can do.

is it already clear to us that we are not to identify ourselves with the three things?
are we fond of looking at the things we have and boast about them? do we always pattern our lives to the notion that other people should see us untarnished? do we tend to please other people more often, to the point of false humility? do we claim that we are what we do? that the self is no different from our work or our talents? do we limit ourselves to these things?
half of the year is over but it's never too late to rethink the way we see life. the way we value ourselves. the things we identify ourselves with. we have to be aware of one simple fact: that we human beings were certainly made for greater things.

kairos*

Let me start today's reflection with a short story about two monks and a lady, here it is:

A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a very young and beautiful woman also attempting to cross. The young woman asked if they could help her.

The senior monk carried this woman on his shoulder, forded the river and let her down on the other bank. The junior monk was very upset, but said nothing.

They both were walking and the senior monk noticed that his junior was suddenly silent and inquired "Is something the matter, you seem very upset?"

The junior monk replied, "As monks, we are not permitted to touch a woman, how could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?"

The senior monk replied, "I left the woman a long time ago at the bank, however, you seem to be carrying her still."

reflection:

several minutes ago i turned our calendar to what month it's supposed to be, half of the year has ended, i'd say very quickly. in about four or five months we will start worrying about the holidays. more than two weeks ago i went to an island called maculabo, i still  don't know the origin of the name but it sure was a great place. the trip was something "unplanned",  because it only took us less than thirty minutes to decide that we definitely have to go there.  aside from the beautiful beach, beautiful means white sand and azure waters in this case, we also trekked to see the rock formation on the other side of the island. it reminded me of the photos i've seen of batanes, windy grasslands and cliffs and the vast sea. i also had a chance to gain new friends (see facebook). different walks of life. different motivations why they went to the place. we drank cuatro cantos (ginebra san miguel),  and ate really good food except for the grilled liempo which was tough. i had a hard time chewing the meat.  i got to experience stillness in the middle of a mild storm inside a tent, which was dripping along with the rains. it wasn't waterproof, we just found out that night and accepted the hard fact that it just wasn't waterproof.

in about an hour i will be in front of my class and will start my lecture about the ten principles of economics by greg mankiw, an economist based in harvard. i will be talking to sophomore students, deciding what major to pursue, and i need to sound very convincing to entice them to take ageconomics as their major. talk about vested interests.

when asked what i am doing right now, i'd say i'm typing this while reflecting, and going back once in  a while to sip coffee. that's what i'm exactly doing right now, which in just a matter of milliseconds will become part of human history, part of the past. what's good about the future, i've heard, is that it's not here yet. what's good about the past, i'd say, is that it's not here anymore.
and the present? what can we say about the present? the present simply comes to pass in a matter of milliseconds.gone even before you think it is. so we never really own time. so we never really have the chance to hold on to our precious time. it's similar to writing about that island while i'm sitting inside my room.

sequential events. we look at the quantitative nature of time, for instance, how long it would take to write this without me being late for class. we look back and we look ahead. we are aware that it is finite. limited.

*the qualitative nature of time. definition

photo by ms. trish benitez