Gravity

"What goes up must come down... Spinnin’ wheel got to go round... Talkin’ bout your troubles it’s a cryin’ sin. Ride a painted pony let the spinnin’ wheel spin..."– D. Clayton-Thomas

As soon as The Philippine Expedition had made it to the summit of the highest peak on earth, the news resounded all over the world. One more group from so many mountain climbing aspirants worldwide made it to the top of Mt. Everest – and a Filipino flag now flies high atop it all. Certainly back home the news was worth several days of headlines. And then a texter sent some rain on the parade. He texted, "Okay na, sige na nga nakarating na sila sa tuktok. Eh bababa rin naman sila di ba?", said this guy from Tanza, Cavite who must’ve been having a bad day. But, come to think of it, there’s nothing to argue about that one. Yes, indeed, what goes up, must come down.

The law discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, when an apple supposedly fell from its tree, is true for most things in most situations. The Law reveals that, simply said, "Things tend to fall downward." Many Greek philosophers such as Aristotle believed that "things fell because their "natural place" is on the ground. The idea has become so popular even among ordinary non-scientist/genius earthlings such as housewives that even the jowls on their faces or the sagging skin of their bellies and behinds they attribute to the "natural order" of things. But the allusion does help drive home the point that things cannot stay the way they are always and forever.

Man’s quest to know the unknown, reach the unreachable and have what he doesn’t has arguably led to many great inventions. Still the airplane has to land, rocket ships have to literally come back to earth and, no matter how far up your penthouse office takes you, you still need that same elevator to bring you the same number of floors down. Many have followed the feat and even gone beyond the pioneer Neil Armstrong as the first man to ever walk the surface of the moon. But even he spoke of the reality of completing his turn and coming back down where he really belongs. He said, "I was delighted to be in that project. But I don’t think about it on a day-to-day basis – probably only when you guys (in the media) remind me." And then I ponder on the greatness of men’s conquests in history such as the very first Emperor of China – the guy responsible for the design and building of the Great Wall. So great was he that he was exalted as the highest ruler in all of the world by his constituents. He wished to stay on Top of the World forever and commanded the wisest in his courts to invent a potion for eternal life. Out of fear from showing nothing, they came up with the bright idea that liquid mercury would do the trick. And the Emperor drank and drank the otherwise toxic chemical so that he slowly but surely fell back into his early death. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Yes, even for the mightiest emperor in the world.

I watch the coverage of Leo Oracion’s arrival at the peak of Everest and I imagine the great and beloved US President Ronald Reagan brought down by Alzheimer’s disease; the great boxing heavyweight champion of the World Muhammad Ali often down on his knees because of Parkinson’s. I remember the grandeur which was the Twin Towers of New York, or the force that was the Berlin Wall... I remember the day of peaceful turnover of Presidency (how I miss those days of peace and regularity) between the outgoing President Fidel Ramos to the newly elected Erap Estrada. Right after the ceremonies citizen Fidel walked by, practically, his lonesome back to his car. I imagine a TV director talking down on me 20 years ago and 20 years later asking for help because he’d gotten in trouble with the government. I imagine a whole pile of rubble in a vacant lot in Baguio reminding me of the glory days of the Hyatt Hotel until it was brought down by an earthquake in the ’80s. I remember Geny Lopez, the giant who created and then recreated ABS-CBN succumbing to illness... I remember my mother, standing ten feet tall in her high heels as president of her company when I was little, and then decades later holding my hand, weeping in fear in her hospital bed. I imagine myself far from the prime of youth, retired, willing but unable with mostly memories of my own climb and my own conquests to make me smile...

He Who designed it all made sure that, okay, while the pursuit of the unnatural is free for everyone to try to reach or accomplish, the status remains for but a moment and that it would soon have to come back to its original, natural state. In the end everyone is equal.

If we give it all up in the end and the adrenalin wanes on the journey back then what was it all for?

I guess I’ve walked long enough on this earth to acknowledge much of the natural order of things. The law dictates that "you’re free to roam around but you can’t really get too far." So, go ahead, it says... reach for the stars, shoot the moon, dare go where no man has and fly, fly away. Defy gravity. Then come back down. Read close enough, you will find the provision, in fine print, in the same law that says that "the climb is what it’s really all about."