Back to the future

One time, when I was around 6 years old, I hung around with a bunch of my neighborhood friends and we got into a very deep discussion. My friends, who were slightly older than I was, were talking about the future and every person’s destiny. They were talking about horoscopes and how each one’s "sign" can determine how that person’s life will pan out. There was even one in the group who suggested that your horoscope sign can tell you how you will eventually die. I wasn’t too familiar with the whole horoscope thing at that time, so I asked my friends, "How do I know my sign?" They replied, "When’s your birthday?" I answered, "August 16." They looked into their horoscope manual and they said, "Oh, you’re a Leo."

I froze when I heard that. I gulped and felt a piercing pain in my heart. I said to myself, "Dang, that’s how I’m going to die? I’m going to be eaten by a lion?!" That night, I didn’t sleep a wink. I swore to myself, "That’s it, I’ll never step in Manila Zoo again!"

Anyway, as I look back on those times, I can’t help but laugh at myself. I haven’t been eaten by a lion – well, not yet at least. And since I have no intention of becoming part of the National Geographic Society, my chances of becoming a lion’s dinner is pretty remote. But when I was 6, I really thought that that was my destiny. I guess my main problem at the time was that I was gullible. I just believed whatever everyone told me. I am older now – and a bit wiser (I think) – and I can confidently say that I am less prone to believe what people say about the future.

Or am I?

Time and again, some doomsayer politician, bureaucrat, or fortune-teller will predict something bad about the government or the economy – and my usual tendency is to believe the bold prediction. And it’s not just me. A lot of people out there also have a tendency to believe anything foretold by anyone bold enough to make a prediction. Anytime someone tells me, "Hey, there’s going to be a coup tomorrow," my usual reaction is, "Oh, no, really?" But time and again, it never happens. A coup – or an attempted coup – only happens when nobody knows it’s going to happen.

So why do we tend to believe? I have no clue. What I do know is that when it comes to the future, no one really has a clear picture. Not even Nostradamus was accurate. Jean Dixon has had a lot of misses. Even the great Madame Auring can’t claim to be 100-percent accurate.

Of course, I’m not saying that we are totally incapable of reading the signs of the present. We have all been equipped to anticipate what lies ahead, based on what we have in the present. We see trends from the past and present, and based on this, we are able to make an intelligent guess about what’s going to happen. Economists and weathermen do that all the time. They’ve been able to come up with formulas and mathematical equations to anticipate what’s going to happen next. But that doesn’t mean they really know for sure. They can only tell you the likely scenario. Even with today’s technology, economists still miss out on their readings on the future, and weathermen still screw up on their forecasts all the time. How many times has there been an announcement of Storm Signal No. 3 and the suspension of classes, only for us to be welcomed by a bright and sunny day the next day? The future has a mind of its own.

Not even the great ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, with all his accomplishments, was accurate in his own prediction about his life. I read recently that Sir Paul just turned 64 years old, and there were many write-ups about him because he had a song when he was around 20 years old entitled When I’m 64. In the song, he predicted that when he’s 64, he’d be losing his hair, he’d be scrimping and saving for a cottage in the Isle of Wight, he’d have grandchildren on his knees named Vera, Chuck, and Dave, he’d be doing the gardens, digging the weeds, and on Sunday mornings, he’d be going for a ride while his wife knits by the fireside. Last June, he did turn 64. He hasn’t lost his hair (although it has turned gray); he’s a billionaire and has enough money to buy the whole Isle of Wight if he wants to; he has hundreds of people working for him who can do his gardens and dig his weeds; he has grandchildren, all right, but none of them are named Vera, Chuck, or Dave; his beloved wife of many years, Linda, died a number of years ago due to breast cancer and he got married again to a lady named Heather Mills, who is hardly the type to be knitting by the fireside. In fact, they got separated around the time he turned 64. So the answer to his question of "Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m 64?" seems to be a flat-out "no." He and Heather are currently going through a bitter divorce. So much for a quiet and idyllic life.

All of us go through that occasional philosophical mode when we try to imagine what the future holds for us. When we were kids, we’d ask ourselves, "What will I be when I grow up?" And when we’re finally grown up, we ask ourselves, "When I get old, what will I be doing?" It seems like a never-ending quest. And it’s natural. That feeling is very human. Partly, we do it because we’re curious. But most of the time, we do it because we’re anxious – anxious about ourselves, and anxious about our loved ones.

Recently, I went to the wake of a former colleague of mine, Hazel Recheta, the news reporter of ABC-5 who died in a car accident together with her crew Maeng Cabugayan and Arnel Guiao. They had just covered the events happening around Mount Mayon and were on their way back to Manila when the accident happened. I was a news anchor for ABC-5 before, so Hazel and I knew each other. Arnel, on the other hand, was my basketball teammate in the ABC 5 Team. Both had a zest for life – and seemed to be happy with their respective jobs. I was stunned upon learning about their untimely deaths. During the wake, I talked to one of the news-crew members who took over the team of Hazel in Mount Mayon. He related to me that they had lunch with Hazel, Arnel, and Maeng before the three set off for Manila. "We had lunch – you know, the usual lunch with colleagues. Little did I know that in around five hours, they’d be gone." I left the wake sad – and totally shaken.

Sometimes, I am guilty of looking too much towards the future. I worry too much – and I often ask questions like, Will I be able to solve this cash-flow problem? Will I be able to bring my company to the next level? Will I be able to close this deal? Or will I be able to find the funds to pull off this project? I get so immersed with what’s next that I am not able to appreciate the present.

Don’t delve too much into the past (regrets, bad memories, mistakes) or the future (anticipated problems, anxiety about our career, money problems, etc.). Appreciate the present. And appreciating is not just about realizing what the present is. It’s a pro-active thing. You tell yourself, "Okay, no matter what situation I am in, I will take it – and I will focus on the task at hand." Empowering yourself to handle the present is a very powerful tool to get through life effectively.

The present. Live it. Feel it. Appreciate it. Love it. When tomorrow comes – if it comes – then that’s when you deal with it. We can never tell what will happen, anyway. We can’t tell what will happen in the next 10 minutes, let alone the next 20 years. So many things can happen. So we might as well savor the present – and live it to the fullest.

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Incidentally, I wish to make a clarification. Last week, I wrote about Goldilocks’ success – and in the article, I related how I mentioned to Pinky Yee, marketing director of Goldilocks, that I used to love Justice League cakes, the ones with Batman, Superman, and Robin statues. And I quoted Pinky Yee as saying, "Oh, we still have those." I wish to clarify that I used the words "Justice League, Batman, Robin, and Superman" in reference to superheroes in general – and that Ms. Yee’s affirmative reply was really in reference to "superhero" cakes rather than a claim that they have the license for Justice League characters. The license to use Justice League characters in cakes belongs to Red Ribbon. Goldilocks has the license for other superhero characters. My apologies to both Goldilocks and Red Ribbon for any inconvenience that that casual line has caused. I promise to be more careful next time.

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Thanks for your letters, folks! You may e-mail me at rodnepo@yahoo.com.