I always say that one of best things that could happen in a life’s
journey, no matter how arduous and depleting it may become, would be
the great people you can meet along the way. Because with these
people comes a profusion of unforgettable experiences and lessons that
will leave indelible marks in your life - and in the process, makes
life more meaningful and worth living.
I am blest to have met a
lot of these outstanding and unforgettable human beings who have surely
contributed to what I have become as a person and what I wanted to be
in the future. These people, whom I can visualize now in my mind in
what appears to be a lucid montage of faces and images straight from
the recesses of my memory, are my life’s indubitable treasures. And
what is amazing about this is that I did not have to meet all these
people personally. Some of
them came into my ‘radar’ via a bedtime story, an epic tale, a
theatrical play, a case study, a blog post, a news item, the grapevine,
an awesome film, an essay, a song, and a book to name a few.
But
it is still best to be able to hobnob and hang around with these
people. The past days, while I could not find time to blog, I had the
opportunity to sit down and talk with some of them. I believe one of
the most memorable was my serendipitous conversation with Dr. Danny
Gerona during a quiet Sunday morning while having coffee in one of the
coffee shops downtown. I was already enjoying the quiet and the hot
drink for a good half hour when the highly respected historian, intellectual,
and professor arrived. I was a former student of his in Social
Philosophy back in college so the salutations were quick and immediate.
What ensued after the usual greetings was an intense and very
interesting conversation about politics, culture, philosophy, life and
career, of course history, and even blogging and some famous
personalities, but with him doing most of the explaining and I, the
questioning (which I did not mind at all). I got to express my thoughts
also though about the topics but I was more interested on what he has
to say about the same. And boy was I treated to an overwhelmingly
engaging and thought-provoking punditry!
I also learned a lot of
interesting things about the man, like having thousands of volumes of
books already in his library (and no way, according to him, he has
plans of slowing down as far as collecting and reading books is
concerned anytime soon); about him not reading the newspaper (he said,
in effect, there’s really nothing worth reading from it) and fiction
(for some reason that really brought the house down but I do not want
to divulge here lest I wish to stir up some hornet’s nest among fiction
lovers); about him being a relative of Atty. Leni Robredo, the elegant
wife of Mayor Jesse, but finding himself in a more closer professional
relationship with the Villafuertes, political rivals of the Robredos
here in Naga City and Camarines Sur; about him having been offered a
juicy position by a leading university in Manila only to be persuaded
(again) to stay here in Naga and at the Ateneo de Naga University (good
for Bicol and the Bicolano student!); and about him being more open now
to the idea of utilizing the internet for his pursuits.
With
that, I asked him to try blogging so that he may be able to reach and
‘educate’ more people especially about the rich history and culture of
Naga City, in particular, and the Bicol region, in general. It would
also be great, I thought, for many of us to hear him expounding on the
many important issues affecting us all today.
Well, if ever that
happens, I’d like to believe that he could be the next important, if
not the most important, Bicolano blogger aside from the few ones that
we already have in the blogosphere right now. In this light, he shared
to me some very striking insights about some of the more essential
bloggers, writers, politicians, and other personalities of our time and
their works, like blogger Manolo Quezon, political analyst Alex Magno,
opinion-writer Conrado de Quiros, the Villafuertes, Mayor Jesse, some
senatorial candidates, and even GMA, the president.
In politics,
I found out that we share the same dismay about what have been
happening in the political arena lately which flaws and downsides I
wish not to discuss here anymore because first, I presume that they are
already a common knowledge, and second, I do not want to be depressed
again.
Anyway, I asked him what, in his opinion, could possibly
be done given the present political quagmire that we find ourselves in
today and he said that, in effect, the desire for genuine reforms and
the wave of change should start from the people, especially the masses,
that constitute the biggest chunk of our population. But to achieve
that, they should be more educated, according to him. Asking Professor
Danny further as to who should take up that responsibility, he said the
schools and universities could play a very crucial role. But what about
the media? I inquired with the belief the media could also make a
difference in this situation. The problem with media, he said, is that, sadly, it is now so corrupt.
To be continued…
