Unforgettable memories

Gratitude is the heart’s memory. — French proverb

MANILA, Philippines - It’s amazing how time passes so fast. I didn’t realize it — because I don’t like to celebrate my birthdays even as a kid — that I’m already in the fourth decade of earthly existence. Wow! “At 20 years of age, the will reigns; at 30, the wit; and at 40, the judgment,” US statesman and writer Benjamin Franklin said.

The Roman philosopher and orator Cicero said: “This wine is 40 years old. It certainly doesn’t show its age.” (In Latin, “Hoc vinum Falernum annorum quadragenta est. Bene aetatem fert.”) A French proverb says it best: “Forty is the old age of youth; 50 is the youth of old age.”

We are forever young as long as we have positive attitude!

Thanks to Enervon Prime of the Philippines’ leading pharmaceuticals giant United Laboratories (Unilab) and its tie-up with the country’s leading newspaper The Philippine STAR, I’m reminded about my having entered this period which I’m calling “the youth of old age.” As a kid I used to drink Enervon C; now I’ve discovered Enervon Prime, which helps us have sharp minds to make better memories. Health is true wealth!

For the next three Sundays, we invite readers who are 40 years old and above to share your most memorable events — whether sports, familial, hobbies or anything you consider important or wonderful and how having a sharp mind helps you make more memories. Enervon Prime will give readers gift packs.

Please e-mail to willsoonflourish@gmail.com or at my Facebook account.

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Reaching 40 is a good time to pause in gratitude and recall recent memories in an interesting life beset by bewildering storms — like losing both parents early, my dad’s death when I was seven, causing our family’s fate to turn upside down, and my mom’s death in my 20s. But it’s also a life brightened up by a multitude of blessings. 

Here are a few recent memorable events (not in any order), which this not-religious guy is thankful to God for and which inspire me to strive to be a better person.

• Memories of writing — I just received a letter informing me that I’m a finalist for a possible award in the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) next month. Having a sharp memory, I am able to bring back recent memories of my winning nine CMMA Awards in past years due to my columns in The Philippine STAR, the latest of which was the CMMA Hall of Fame Award for Best Business Column and Best Entertainment Column in October 2008. I’m grateful for awards, but the process of writing is already in itself the best reward. Writing is so enjoyable and I can only do this with a sharp mind.

Thank you very much to my editor Millet Martinez Mananquil for first publishing my writing outside school publications even when I was still in college. Thanks also to my late mother, who’s probably the only Chinese parent in the country who ever suggested to her kid to someday write a novel. Another fond memory was my winning Palanca literary awards three times as a college student when Mom was still alive.

• Memories of travels — I often get to travel abroad on mostly short trips. Long travels to foreign exotic places create great memories and are more enjoyable with a sharp mind. There’s nothing like many insights learned about the world so vast out there and also of the boundless inner world that is one’s self. 

A recent memorable trip was to historic Egypt in north Africa, which included a Nile River cruise aboard the Swiss ship Movenpick. Another recent trip was to the quaintly captivating Istanbul and other cities in Turkey, which were once the heartland of the Christian Byzantine Empire before being conquered by the Moslem Ottoman Empire. 

Unforgettable too was my three-month journey from October to December 2008 via affordable, convenient but passable Cosmos tours through central and eastern Europe, plus a Greece islands cruise. That was my second but longest trip to Europe.

Learning more about the world’s oldest continuous 5,000-year civilization of my ancestors and studying business trends were priceless benefits from my 2006 winter journey of six weeks across 18 historic cities in southwest and central China up to the new year of 2007.

Some people ask whether traveling alone is boring. Traveling alone for long extended trips overseas to explore peoples, cultures, history and observing diverse business conditions can be intellectually, physically and even spiritually rejuvenating but one needs a sharp mind to be able to appreciate everything.

• Memories of teaching — Teaching is not easy but it’s indescribably fun and educational. In the hope of trying to imagine how life was for my late mother Mary Young Siu-Tin who was an educator, last year I accepted the invitation of La Consolacion College Manila to teach in Mendiola, Manila. Though my schedule is hectic due to my modest businesses in realty and private money lending, I immensely enjoy teaching college students literature, journalism, history and advertising. I am thankful, for with a sharp mind, I am still able to teach.

I believe I am not yet a good teacher due to lack of time, but teaching has given me wonderful memories plus valuable lessons on patience, humility and on the paramount importance of encouraging others. It is my hope that even though I’m not a great teacher, that somewhere out there in my classes I could hopefully touch the lives of some students or help ignite curiosity, imperishable hope and dreams even in just one kid.

Teaching has also steeled my resolve to someday find ways to help alleviate the unjust plight of all teachers in Philippine society, our sunsung heroes who are not accorded the exalted socio-economic status that this noblest of all professions deserve. 

• Memories of art — Painting is a childhood passion that I recently rekindled. I enrolled in art classes under the talented Fernando Sena at the University of the Philippines’ Vargas Museum, thanks to the introduction of art curator and S magazine managing editor Susan A. de Guzman. I wish I had studied art under him years ago, but I believe nothing is ever too late. I believe there is no age limit for nonstop learning as long as I still have a sharp mind.

I also recently started collecting art as a hobby, with the imagery or theme of paintings that inspire or attract me as my guide and not the name of the artist as my main consideration. It is not true one has to be a George Ty or an Ayala to collect art; a non-tycoon like me focuses on young, contemporary artists mostly in their 40s or younger.

My delightful memories in art collecting started with my first three purchases in three weeks — an inspiring yet gritty and rare oval-shaped Ronald Ventura oil painting from a collector, followed by a fancifully romantic work by Mark Justiniani, then an austere work by Rodel Tapaya. My first sculptures were cast bronze busts of my parents that I had commissioned the very talented Juan Sajid Imao to do.

In college at the Ateneo while studying business, I took an elective summer class in watercolor and pastel painting. One of my earliest memories of school is that of my winning a watercolor painting contest during Prep 2 when I was six years old; the big framed diploma with a golden school seal is still with me, but my first childish attempt at watercolor painting of a mighty tiger is lost except in my fondest memory.

• Memories of loved ones — On the few occasions that I can “borrow” my younger sister’s four sons to watch movies, go to lunch or to the bookstore on Sundays or the government’s numerous instant holidays, those are my fond memories. My sister and our late mom were my first best friends, but now, my nephews are my new best friends.

People claim I have a sharp mind because I tend to remember things in detail even years ago and I also like to remember birthdays of friends or acquaintances in order to greet them either via texts or hopefully with handwritten notes.

Whether with relatives, friends or people we care for, I realize that many of life’s truly best and unforgettable memories are those simple moments of shared memories.

In recent months, added to my fondest memories are the relaxing moments when I invited a young Cebu-born Chinese lawyer often out to movies and dinners, including the last big outdoor concert of the Eraserheads at SM Mall of Asia (I’m not into huge-crowds concerts and there were no seats even in the VIP area, but I had so much fun!). She’s a beauty and brains combination with good character, and I have never ever met such a wonderful person like her in my whole life of so many memories.  

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Readers are welcome to share your recent memorable events via email to willsoonflourish@gmail.com or at my Facebook account and get gift packs from Enervon Prime.