Cracks in the Mirror

On March 13, 1913, a young boy, in the company of an uncle, left the village of Temple’s Rear in Fujian, China, sailed for the Mountain of Gold, which was how the Luzon mainland was called, and four months later, disembarked in Manila, and quickly settled in Tondo. For 13 years, the boy, Pina, worked as a kargador in a remended jute sacks store on Carvajal Street. He was a model of industry, perseverance and frugality, and so was able to save money, and, with the encouragement of his uncle, who owned the jute sacks store, he opened his own jute sacks store and other business ventures. By 1926, at the age of 25, Pina had become a millionaire. He visited his village in China, gave homage to his deceased parents and the uncle who had brought him up, married a local lass and after seven years, returned to Manila with his wife, four kids and a fifth in his wife’s womb. The fifth was Mar, who was born a month later in Tondo in his father Pina’s once bachelor’s quarters.

Cracks in the Mirror (published by New Day Publishers) is, more than anything else, the life story of Mar. It’s the personal journey of a young boy growing up in the midst of plenty brought about by the hard work and instincts of his father Pina who, unschooled in the English alphabet — but was, like most Chinese — good on the abacus, made it a priority to give his children a good education, and love for books. He sent his boys to San Beda College for their primary education. There, Mar experienced the irony of being punished for missing a recitation of the rosary by kneeling on a bed of cubical table salt. At this time, he was in the throes of finding meaning in his existence, and of the existence of God — uncommon questions besetting serious-minded youths — and the Saline Incident, writes the author, “constituted the first spiritual winter of his life — a winter that was to bring about a pivotal change in the menu of his intellectual banquet.”

For high school, Mar convinced his father to send him to Silliman University in Dumaguete where he took endless flights “in the realm of reading and landed in climes as far back as Time would allow . . . and his intellectual horizons widened.” He read and combed the town’s books, and prowl(ed) and hunt(ed) on the meadows, mountains, and valleys of his mind as a fired-up armchair tourist.” He listened to music, excelled in soccer, wrote poetry, and fell in love with Narcisa Banogon, a lovely girl from Dumaguete who became Miss Silliman University and married him the same year, 1958. Within 15 years, Mar and Nars had four daughters: Marissa, Josielyn, Jenniffer and Ailyn.

A dutiful son, he showed his rebellious streak when against his father’s will who had wanted him to take up engineering in college, he enrolled in the creative writing course. Promptly, Pina had him return to Manila. Mar was not to go to school again — until after 18 years. What anguish it was for a young man who valued intellectual growth, who had to give in to duty over desire.

Many years later, he enrolled in different universities in Manila, for his bachelor of arts, major of his own choice, English. Sadly, up to the time he graduated from college at the age of 38, he encountered racial discrimination. Once while dissecting the symbolism of the storm scene in King Lear, a professor on Shakespeare impolitely interrupted him, “Are you pure Chinese?” Mar was indignant. He replied, “My parents are, and so am I.” That incident made him learn to speak and write in excellent English.

It wasn’t just punishment that got him out of school; his father’s fortune had been drained to the core when Pina invested in a venture of looking for the Asahi Maru, the vessel containing a fugitive cargo of gold bullions worth $62 billion, that had been intentionally sunk by the vessel’s Japanese command with the hope of returning for the gold after the war. He never found the vessel. His son Mar and his siblings worked long and hard to start up a family business, and were rewarded, years later, with successful returns.

Still, heart-rending developments took place. Mar’s father died. Bereft, Mar was at the wake, wondering on the import of life and death. Suddenly, a progressing crack crept upward and diagonally across the glass panel of his father’s coffin. He put his arm around his mother’s shoulders. “Without a word between them, mother and son vied to marvel, no longer at the cruel paradoxes surrounding life and death but at the import and urgency which attended the cracking of the glass.”

For in less than two years after Pina’s death, the Black Dragon — which is how Mar’s brother is called — took possession of the family manufacturing concern, hook, line, sinker, and bins, shattering not only the rights of his siblings but also the dreams of their families. The Black Dragon continues to gobble the company’s earnings.  

Mar continues “to be grieved by the unending recurrences of his Principle of Dilemmatic Inequilibrium in human affairs and in the history of nations: the moment-to-moment conflict between Duty and Desire.”

Now, devoid of amazement and at peace, he hearkens to the Voice in the New Wilderness and settles down on the only Peace there is: 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

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The novelist Mariano Ngan, according to Ed Dames, “grew up with a rich Chinese ancestry amidst a colorful Pinoy backdrop. He is in contemporary parlance, a true blue Chinoy.” He was president of Silliman University High School Class of 1956, and taught English and literature at Silliman. His work has won him literary awards — a fact that a man of pure Chinese origin could, in fact, speak and write in excellent English!”

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A friend forwarded an e-mail message celebrating the use of what she calls “Miracle Drink.” This drink was concocted by an herbalist from China. 

You need one beet root, one carrot and one apple. Place in juicer or blender until blended. You can add some lime or lemon for flavor.

The drink is said to prevent cancer cells from developing, cure liver, kidney and pancreas diseases, strengthen the lungs, prevent heart attack and high blood pressure and strengthen the immune system.

No harm done by drinking this miracle drink. Perhaps some good may really come out of it.

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My e-mail: [email protected]