The high life

After daylight, when the sun goes down on a sleepy city such as Cebu, you're in a secluded area and you're a cheapskate like me who saves on lighting costs, you find yourself literally in the dark. You're left to the pleasure of the company you're in -probably just yourself. And because I never had the patience for movies and sitcoms anyway, the horizon becomes my television.

The moon is always beautiful. I could stare at it to the point of hypnosis. The stars dot the velvet sky in diamond clusters. Still moments like these remind me of God and of nature.

When you're in the city, you appreciate the still moments that come your way once in a while. When you're trapped among cubic structures, it's easy to forget that you're connected to the earth because you're so separated from it by layers and layers -from the soles of your shoes to the sheets of asphalt and concrete. In the city, a premium is even placed on being able to live high above it all -in skyscrapers and high-rise condominiums that touch the clouds.

When you do descend into the bowels briefly, you consider it a suffocating, horrid experience made worse by spewing emission pipes and your own haggard reflection peering curiously at you from the tinted windows of passing vehicles. The street noise is deafening and the pace of rush hour, menacing. It is discouraging to come into contact with the city's pits. So higher and higher we go, separating ourselves further from the earth, in perpetual efforts to find a pristine paradise.

But no matter how plush the furniture or how bright the lighting in our high-rise homes, nature will always be our only real paradise. Recently, I found myself unexpectedly at a lovely beach. Walking barefoot on the sand reminded me that I am still part of the earth and let me see that the rhythm of my body does, in fact, harmonize with the rhythm of the world. It is always refreshing to return to nature, to return home.

When one escapes the bustling existence of the city, you allow yourself to take a pause, keep still and just watch. You inhale, hold your breath and wait patiently for release. You realize you're not always in control of the world. Usually, I make life happen, other times it just does. You start to look at the world a little bit differently. Once in a while, the Great Director claps his hands for the show to go on. That's the cue to find my place in the broadway and play my part.

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Manny Pacquiao in the running for a congressional seat. I've read more recently that he has decided not run anymore, to the relief of his advisers and his fans. Pacquiao mentioned that he'd like to concentrate more on his boxing career.

Good luck then to the Pacman in his upcoming fights! He may not end up as the People's Champ in politics (at least not this year) but it has always been enough that he's a champ for the Filipino people at his world-class boxing matches. More power to him!

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