Spending time with the Robinsons

THIS WEEK’S WINNER

MANILA, Philippines - Aileen C. Ibanez is a high school teacher at Cagayan National High School in Tuguegarao City. She is the adviser for the school’s newspaper and was the first place winner in the Civil Service Commission Essay Writing Contest in September 2011.

How can one savor the sweetness of childhood without siblings and relatives to share it with?” I remember my college friends wondering how I survived those growing-up years alone and far from kin. My family has its roots in Iloilo; however, my parents had to move to a province in the north — Cagayan, where my father worked. Hence, I was raised a Cagayana with an Ilongga flair. Being the only child of a struggling family, most of my childhood days were spent on occasional visits and games with kids in the neighborhood, or staring out of the window, watching people pass by. I remember many sad Christmases, New Year’s Eve and holidays I had alone with my parents. My mother’s Lola Basyang stories and fairy tales are my greatest consolation after a lonely day.

Those tales sparked my interest in books. My mother nurtured my growing passion for reading. I guess that was her way of compensating for whatever I lacked in my childhood. Books provided me company. She gave me sets of storybooks which she read to me patiently before I slept. There were nights when she had to make up new highlights to the plot just to satisfy my queries about what happened to the prince or the princess.

When I reached the elementary and high school years, I fulfilled my dream adventures, and met intriguing characters through reading. I would save five-peso bills in my pencil case until I had enough money to buy a book. I began with the Nancy Drew detective series. As my collection grew, I tried other novels from different authors. A visit to the bookstore was a treat, a sacrosanct ritual that relieved me from the tedium of schoolwork.

It was in one of those “book-hunting trips” that I found The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. The blurb immediately caught my interest: “How can a family survive for many years on an uninhabited island?”

Curiosity and excitement made me “gobble” the story about the Robinsons who were on a journey when a storm met them at sea. They ended up shipwrecked on an island with no clue as to what happened to the captain and the crew.

I fell in love with the characters. In some ways, I share the Robinson family’s predicament. They were stranded on an island far from relatives and friends. Like me, they must have felt that deep longing to go back home.

However, I found their hope, courage and faith in God inspiring. At first, they seemed helpless in a seemingly hopeless situation. But the mother and the father allayed their sons’ fears with optimism. Fritz, being the eldest of their four sons, was only 15 when they were thrown such a perilous challenge. What’s amazing is that the family showed how they depended on one another for strength. They faced the odds together, and chose to start anew on the island.

In addition, The Swiss Family Robinson mirrors my family’s values. Happiness, I realized, depends not on how much we have, but on how we manage with what we have in life. The Robinson family’s desolate island may seem barren at the beginning. Surprisingly, the family’s creativity and resourcefulness transforms the bare and rocky island into a bountiful haven. They explored, improvised and invented. They utilized sticks, shells, plants and herbs from the lush foliage they discovered in the island. Their harvests from the vegetable garden and the poultry farm they cultivated were abundant. Everything was put to good use. They even utilized the hides and bones of the animals they caught during their hunting escapades.

 To me, their tub boat made of large wooden casks was a brilliant invention. Their tree house was indeed a “palace in the sky.” Their Rock House in a Salt Cavern was splendid.

The Robinsons never allowed themselves to be idle. Another admirable thing is how life went on for them though their experience would probably evoke despair in almost anyone else. They continued building their paradise, and kept dreaming that, one day, the world would come to discover a flourishing New Switzerland.

Moreover, the twists and turns of the Robinson adventure tell of life’s answer to the secret of achieving happiness, which is simplicity. Live simply, but with meaning and purpose.

Little by little, I came to see that my own family’s situation was not bad after all. More importantly, I began to appreciate the reason behind my father’s frugal ways and wise use of time and resources.

I started to notice and understand why things had to go a long way in our home. My parents taught me not just to save for the rainy days, but also to love work. “You cherish your success when you feel every measure of hardship you had to endure to achieve it,” my mother once told me.

My father is comparable to the father of the Robinson family. Being our family’s sole breadwinner, he snatched every opportunity to augment his meager income as a government employee. He tried his hand at fixing tricycles and cars. He ventured into raising poultry. He learned the art of making aquariums and fish tanks where he bred fishes to sell.

Meanwhile, my mother had a knack for transforming old things into new creations. After a run under her faithful sewing machine, old pieces of cloth were turned into table covers and pillowcases. Bottles, boxes, cans and cups made colorful vases and containers for plants and utensils. Food leftovers from last night’s dinner like adobo, sausages or omelet became scrumptious ingredients in her “fried rice surprise” served for breakfast the next day.

The Swiss Family Robinson showed me that even the toughest times bring trickles of loveliness that life has to offer. After reading the book, I stopped feeling depressed and lonely; instead, I saw my family, small as it is, as a source of renewed strength. I believe that other families too can learn lessons from the Robinsons. Aside from their ingenuity, the bond of love kept them afloat amidst the raging tides of life. Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie says the same thing about the family: “There is no foundation, no secure ground upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family.”

Today, I turn those familiar pages to revisit the Robinsons on their island. I still feel that same joy and peace I found in their home some 22 years ago when I first read the book.