Fragile

Watching movies like "28 Weeks Later" or “Spiderman-3” and even series like “Heroes” and “Smallville” reminds me of how fragile human civilization is. The achievements we've done, the mistakes we've committed, the order we've set, all are insignificant in the universal order of things. We are truly but a speck in the infinity of space at a moment in eternal time.

In all those movies, change is indeed constant. Change has defined history and has made it interesting and exciting.

The dawn of men came when the dominant reptiles were wiped out by a single meteor (or fine, maybe not) or by a global winter or something. Hahaha. Point is they were dragged to extinction and the funny thing is we didn’t have to do anything about it.

Tyrants easily changed the course of their nations’ history as much as they changed the world’s. Qin Shihuangdi forged the Chinese Empire. Caesar laid the foundations for the Roman Empire. Xerxes, the Pharaohs, Alexander, Napoleon, and even Hitler all shaped history by instituting change. They used war, conquest and ambition as tools for history to remember them. They immortalized themselves by making sure the changes they made remained.

Other changes involved entire civilizations that impacted the history of the world. South America might be different today if the Aztec, Incan and Mayan civilizations were not destroyed. The collapse of the Roman Empire that had stood for centuries ushered in a new era in history. The fall of the fascist German state and the Russian communist system defined the world as it is today.

When you study history, it’s always defined by the changes that occurred. World War I, World War II, 9/11 – these are the most familiar turning points of history.

There are, of course, the changes that mattered not only in this world but beyond as well. A single bite of an apple brought eternal damnation. A single yet ultimate act of love brought eternal salvation.

From what is shown in the movies, human beings seem to value normality so much that it’s worth dying for. Of course, there are instances when humanity is (hopefully) united in change such as in the fights against AIDS or poverty. But there are battles that we unite against it. In “28 Weeks Later”, the US military fought to control the spread of the Rage virus. In “Spiderman-3”, Spiderman fought the symbiotic alien life form from taking over him. In “Heroes”, they fought to keep a bomb that would change the world from exploding. In “Smallville”, Clark fought to save himself from the scrutiny of the world he is also saving.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with fighting for normalcy, for keeping things the way they are. The problem emerges when we fight for it for the wrong reasons. They say energy companies discretely fight green technologies to retain their monopolies. They say the old rich of this country fight to keep their monopolies of the agricultural lands and of political influence.

Striving and living for success in the standards of the world is futile simply because these standards are artificial. Society today measures success in grades, diplomas, wealth and influence. They are but temporary social constructs. Success in life must not be based on a fragile society’s standards. We’ve managed to build a world for ourselves and we’ve lived in it for so long that we think we can work to keep ourselves in it.

We should therefore strive for success that will never wane and be forgotten, achievements that change cannot tamper with.

The greatest battles are indeed fought within because these are the battles that truly matter. In these conflicts are decided why we are doing anything that we want to do. Is it merely for ourselves, or for the worldly society, or the eternal God that we should be doing it for?

To rephrase my earlier premise, change is constant only in this world. So we must strive for riches that are beyond this world, success in the realm of eternity. And we’ve already been told how to do it and arrangements have been made for us to do it (that’s what the single ultimate act of love did for us). It’s only a matter of if we will do it, if we will defeat the temptations of the world to keep us in its grips.

Contrary to what Linderman said, true happiness is founded on meaning. True happiness is eternal and not subject to change. A meaningless happiness founded on the now will change in the next moment. But happiness built on an eternity of meaning will last even if a bomb goes off and ends the world.

Summer Job

I've been working for this '94 Pisay graduate this past few days (thanks Cheska for bringing me on board :D). Other than the fact na we're being paid, the type of work I'm doing is something I really like. Haha. Essays, research papers. saya! Plus the topics are very interesting. Siguro the worst part of everything is the deadline (which I've actually broken twice).

The first paper I was asked to write was about Illegal Immigration in the US. Siguro the best thing I realized is that buti na lang the Philippines is an archipelago surrounded by large bodies of water and that we're an ocean away from the US or else we might see millions of Filipinos crossing the border to the US. As it is, (one option lang pede, visa overstaying) the Philippines is one of the top countries wtih visa holders who become illegal immigrants because they stay in the US indefinitely beyond the terms of their visa. Grabe pala. Thousands of Mexians cross the border everyday and hundreds die because of the harsh conditions they have to face to get across. Nakakaawa pero it's a fact of life there. Hindi pa nga yung mga super duper poor ung lumilipat e, un pang mga may trabaho naman at may pamilya. Sad na we see the same thing here in the Philippines. It's the middle class that's leaving this country. And a country without a vibrant middle class is a country doomed to economic collapse.

The second paper I got was about the diseases of famous rulers. Ang saya gawin nito! hahaha. Grabe pala. Sickness can really shape the fate of a nation. The third Roman Emperor, Caligula, had either epilepsy, encephalitis or meningitis seven months from the beginning of his rule and it turned him from a benevolent and compassionate leader to a cruel, egoistic and insane tyrannt who thought himself to be a living god! Ivan the Terrible was one of the greatest rulers of Russia who brought expansion and reform to the empire but his reign came crashing down because he caught syphilis and took mercury as the "treatment" aggravating his mental instability. Queen Victoria holds the record as the British monarch with the longest reign. It was in her era that the Industrial Revolution came to its zenith and the British Empire included India, South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand making it the foremost Global Power. But her grim legacy was the hemophilia gene she passed on to her children who later on married several members of other royal families in Europe. The defective gene penetrated the Spanish, German and Russian imperial families. Astig na the gene could have entered the British royal family if Alix, a granddaugther of Victoria, had chosen to marry a prince fo Britain instead of the Czar of Russia. Hemophilia was expressed in the only son and heir to the throne of Russia, Alexis. His parents focused so much on his ailment that they lost touch of their subjects, allowed a healer to gain influence in the Kremlin and caused the deterioration and final collapse of the centuries-old Russian Empire because of the Russian Revolution. Galing talaga nito. One single mutated gene transformed Russia from an ancient empire to the communist super power it later became! Ano kaya nangyari kung sa Britain pumasok ang gene at hindi sa Russia? Magkakarevolution pa kaya? Ang galing di ba?

So yun. We're currently working on another project. Hopefully, we don't break the deadline again. hehehe.