To Never Forget - a comment

 I’ve just finished reading Sir Dodong Gullas’ To Never Forget. It’s autobiographical in content with the events so dramatically recounted one finds it hard to put down the book once he starts reading it. It’s a story of one man’s life. But not just of any man, but of one who has blazed a trail of achievements in public service particularly in the fields of education, journalism, and the arts.

 An ordinary man’s story might still have an appeal, for as Pope says, the proper study of mankind is man. But if such story is reinforced with landmark achievements, that appeal is made more meaningful and memorable. Such is the case with this memoir of a book.

 To those who have not known the author closely, the question in his mind as he opens the book is likely, what kind of a person is Dodong Gullas? But for those who have been associated with him that query is more on Gullas’ inner thoughts and guiding principles which underpin his major accomplishments. They have been privy to what he has done, it’s true, but the motivation behind them has been largely under wraps for the author as person is not given to “sermonizing” or lecturing, the usual weakness of other so-called achievers.

 These inner thoughts are partly found in the Epilogue of the book entitled “the Inhumanity of Time”. Here’s the introductory portion:

 “We are each provided with faculties to make the most of our lives. The heart, for example, is not only there to sustain our physical life. This vital organ enables us to feel both joy and pain, contrasting feelings to color our experiences and our relationships with our fellowmen.

 “And there’s the tongue, for rendering our thoughts as spoken words. Words, as we know, can either connect or isolate us from others. Every word we say may build essential relationships or undo the ties that bind.

 “Yet among the most wonderful gifts that God has given man is the mind, with its capacity for memory. For what is man without his ability to remember? He would be unable to learn anything, unable to find meaning in his experiences…”

 Of the heart and the tongue and the mind – what wonderful gifts God has given to each of us! And yet, as the author says, these gifts can work for good or evil, for salvation or downfall. We should therefore be very careful how we use these gifts if only to make ourselves deserving of them, and capable of giving thanks to the Giver.

 There are other gems of thought in To Never Forget, and these have no doubt added weight to this material as something one should treasure and keep as his guide. Here’s an example: “All people are blessed with love, because all people were created by the same God of immeasurable love. But not everyone realizes the truth in what the Bible says that even if I have everything yet do not have love, then I am truly nothing.”

 How true! Without love one’s act of mercy is of no moment, and the giver is as hollow as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Remember this line from a poem? “A gift without the giver is bare…”

 Of giving, Sir Dodong says: “If we have something to give, let us not hesitate. God knows who has something to give – and He has a way of sending the message. He wants people to be kind and generous and to become the mirrors of his great love for mankind”.

 This was said in connection with the author’s project to help rehabilitate the centuries-old church in Oslob, Cebu, which was gutted down by fire in 2008. This writer was with Sir Dodong’s group and the UV Chorale when we visited the parish to turn over the proceeds of the Chorale’s concert. The church was in complete ruin with only the adobe walls and a portion of the altar standing. Now that edifice has been completely restored, thanks to the author for not “hesitating to give”, when the call for it came.

 Sharing what they have for church-related causes has been a characteristic trait of Sir Dodong and the Gullas siblings. That Oslob thing was, however, the only one given a space in this Memoir. The truth is there have been several other initiatives extended to various religious groups at present and in the past which the author must have intentionally omitted to mention probably out of humility and the tendency to avoid publicity. And all these, Sir Dodong (and Nena) undoubtedly did – as well as Sir Eddie and Inday Sering – in memory of their parents, the late Don Vicente and Inday Pining Gullas, who throughout their lifetime were active benefactors of religious groups in Cebu.

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