Sacrifice

With an entire nation still mourning perhaps its greatest loss, I found myself with a lingering question - what made the late president so endearing that she touched an entire nation?

Many people would probably attribute it to her colossal role in bringing back democracy into a country crippled by tyranny. Or perhaps her indescribable bravery in standing her ground when several power-hungry individuals led coups that attempted to oust her. Or maybe her simple humility in admitting her inexperience or her utter dependence on a God who answers prayer.

With all her achievements both big and small, I see no other reason why she has so moved many not just in this country but all throughout the world - she died long before that fateful day her body succumbed to cancer.

She died to her own ambitions for the sake of her people when she gave up the comforts of being a simple housewife and a private citizen for the tumultuous world of Philippine politics. And yet like in an incredible story so familiar to us that we celebrate it every Lent, in her voluntary death to self, somehow, she lived.

That is why I think she touched so many. Her life echoes that of a Man who gave up his for a people undeserving – a Man whose life now divides history as we know it.

Through her life, we now know that nothing is impossible with God on your side, that fiercest of dictators bow down to the way of peace, that the very purpose of our lives is to lose it in service to others for it to be lived to the full.

And, since you can't really kill a dead person twice, though her remains will go back to dust whence it came from, her spirit - her legacy will surely live on.

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Food

It happens to me all the time.

I go inside a restaurant, order food, and wait. Most of the time, out of quite a long list, what arrives first is the rice - which makes sense as it's the easiest to prepare whether it be yang chow or simply fried.

And within that time of waiting for the rest to arrive, I often wonder, why bother wait?

I don't think my stomach will be able to distinguish the difference from finishing a cup of garlic rice first then the adobo to having a plate that's freshly cooked and mixed by your own hand with that certain oil and a stick (or two) of chicken inasal from Nena's.

Then I realized, we wait because there's more to eating than merely nutrition - than simply breaking things down to proteins, carbos and calories, although I must admit that those are important too.

God gives bread for us to enjoy. So smell it, savor it. If it isn't so, then there won't be any bagels or pitas or pizzas or my personal favorite, hopias. Besides, what's the use of having the ability to differentiate what's sweet, sour, bitter and salty when all we could get from the hours and hours of grueling food preparation, we can acquire from a couple of pills?

Our meals should remind us to bow our heads not just for the feast on our tables but by simply being grateful that while God could've made eating something boring like sneezing - that in just a snap, you're full - He chose not to.

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