Of Photographs and Memories

    ‘A little girl with her small brother strapped on her back gives us a glimpse of life in the mountains of Peru, especially for children. For me it stirred lots of memories, mostly good, but also some sad ones . . .’

     I found those lines to be striking and true. Fr Leo Donnelly's article What’s in a Photo? made me reflect on how photos can keep memories lasting and fresh. We can feel some portion of our history through the images and even emotions that are ‘immortalized’ by photos. Our past can be reminisced about once again as I have personally experienced going back to my younger years after taking a look at our old albums. With pictures we can always have many chances of recalling the laughter and the tears, the memorable events and occasions in our life that can remind us of our growth and the most embarrassing moment that we can learn lessons from.

     In the story, we read that a photo can stir the memories of how the ‘Shining Path’ terrorists took away lives of innocents. In my reflection, the photo reminds us to pray for the lives of those who were killed and for those people whom they have left behind: Lucia Ricaldi, mother of two infant daughters, the parents of the Yachaychin brothers and the father of their cousin, the wife who was killed when she went to the defense of her husband, the parents of their three catechists, the eleven other people who were also assassinated, and the 32 people who were killed by the Shining Path, including Australian Sister of St Joseph Irene McCormack. That photo reflected their memories but it is our own living hearts that will make their memories alive.

     As for me, after looking at the photo of that little girl with her small brother strapped on her back, I was able to feel the life of the children in other parts of the world and also how an older sister can become a real sister to her younger brother. In the photo there was also an expression of love and responsibility between them and in them.

     I believe that can speak a lot whether they are candid or rehearsed. Try spending a little time uncovering the already dusty photo albums and frames in your closet and witness yourself lavish your attention on those memories of yours once again. Then, one more thing, the next time somebody prepares his camera, be sure to capture the real moment...1...2...3...smile! What a perfect angle!

      This article is originally published in Misyon. You can also see the photograph in the link.

A Journey with a Photographer, Jeepney Passengers and a Young Rider

     This was another travel that just came into Sahid's mind and I'm referring him here as the photographer. We were actually planning to go to Baler, but the time, the weather, and in my case the budget would not allow us to head there. Well, I guess Baler is still waiting for its right moment.

      Yet this trip has been just worth the change of plan. I tried to stop myself from expecting anything though, but I searched for the place too so that I will know what should I bring in my backpack. We are supposed to be three in the group, but we ended up with the two of us. We are supposed to meet at the bus station by 5:30 but we ended up meeting at 7:30. Those could all be bummers but there’s something I could not explain that time that made me say ‘yes, we will push through.’

       It was 6th of October and traffic was not as terrible as it normally would. Yet we didn’t think that it would be the waiting from Cabanatuan to General Tinio that would consume much of the time. We should have taken the bus going to Gapan, Nueva Ecija but we took the wrong way--- another bummer. But then again, we were not dispirited that easy. Sahid was obviously enjoying while honing his photography skills, and he had no other option but to take me as the willing model.

     Inside the jeepney we were engaging with conversations about different realities. I believe such conversations had made the trip even meaningful. Inside that jeepney, people were just so spontaneous. They were telling us portions of their lives. We have a mother with her two children suddenly disclosing that she was afraid that her husband would catch them. She just left home without permission. She wanted to go home. Her young boy was peacefully sleeping on her lap, unaware of what’s happening while her young girl was looking outside, perhaps anxious of where they were going. The mother’s eyes were giving me that message of how determined she was and we could only pray with her.

       While waiting too, there were several children coming to us and begging for coins. I handed quail eggs to a child and then I remembered how I thought aloud and said that street children are everywhere, from urban to rural. Its not just saying that poverty is anywhere. Its more of saying that neglect is anywhere too, and that's a sad reality.

      The lunch time already passed by and we were so hungry. That always happened to me in my trips, and I should be more prepared next time. After looking for snacks we already felt the pressure that we have to be moving and getting to somewhere aside from that terminal in the marketplace. Hence we desperately announced that we will be paying for the three lacking persons. That made everybody else suddenly alive. The passengers were already laughing with us in the joke that the driver must have been the old woman collecting the transportation! We don't really know each other but we all have one goal: to be on our destinations and that goal had made us felt that we are one.

       I couldn’t anymore remember how long it took us before we reached the town. I was just amazed that right there on that jeepney again, somebody volunteered to bring us to Minalungao. While most shared about some spooky and enchanting stories about the place as though we were urban legend writers and I have to admit that had made me think to just go somewhere else, there’s this young boy who bravely spoke that he used to go there. No more room for fears and our problem on how we can get to the place was already solved. No more bummers! In fact, we were both being led to another interesting story of a 15-year old boy.

       I am calling him here as the rider. I may have had forgotten his real name, but I will never forget him and his story. He was only fifteen years old, but he knows how to save money and he had even bought a motorcycle from his tour guiding. Yet another amazing thing I had seen from him was how excited he was to see his best friend. He may have denied it but I had felt how he had become even happier when he had seen her. I know it’s not about the place. He’s always going there. It was not about the best friend touring us around because she lives there, but it’s on the joy of being able to talk with each other again. That reminded me of the friendships I have too. Looking in that another wonderful paradise we have on Earth, I was also thinking about the excitement and genuineness I have seen from these young people. It is that excitement and genuineness that every one of us also need, whether we recognize it or not. The moment we become subdued, we lost the eyes and the heart of experiencing new things and feelings too. I’m just so glad that despite all the nuisances, we still continued the journey. I guess, that’s how it goes in life too. When circumstances seem not to favor you, or when you have so many fears that stop you, you have to learn how to ride along with such annoyances and ambiguities too. You can still pursue your goals if that’s what you really feel. You may have not yet realized it, but the universe is already conspiring to your desires and the moment you wake up from sleeping in a bus or the plane has landed, you find yourself being changed by new things you have learned and reflected upon, and then new people you have meet in the jeepney or wherever, and then, ride along again until you are already home. 

Along the scenic, green pristine Peñaranda River
Bordered by mystically formed limestone walls
In foothills of Sierra Madre mountain range,
A writer journeyed with a photographer and a rider.

with the photographer Sahid

with the rider and his friend

On a Sunday when we overcame whatever urban legends told
To find beauty, friendships, courage, adventure and nature
And that was how, only yesterday, I had welcomed October
And all the changes it will be bringing right now, right here…

A Throwback-Themed Birthday Greeting

Let me throwback images though it’s not a Thursday
For a beautiful and loving woman named Melly
And in the midst of all the greetings and gifts
For one of world’s best mom, that is her
May this, no matter how simple, in a way would show
How blessed and grateful I had been
For having met someone as wonderful as she is
And for the few moments that we had shared
In the Earth blanketed by oceans and sands,
Filled with marvelous views and soothing wine.

Let me throwback with these pictures the learning as well
Because since the day our lives had intertwined
I had known of faith and courage by example
And that was how a great teacher taught me beyond books
In the balance of laughter and serious tones
And over coffee conversations.

Oh, how I wish I could throw back too
The brand of care she had given...

But for now, with this that I have,
I’m sending my heart with my tightest hug, my love and my prayers
And let that heart of mine run across the miles
To look for that beautiful and loving woman named Melly
In a throwing back of lessons and memories on a Saturday.