Baguio as seen through a crystal ball

SEATED at the table, cloaked in velvet and, peering through a crystal ball is a fortune teller. As her sapphire like eyes light up the darkness around, I approached the seat in front of her. I sat down and she asks me the pass word and I softly whispered … “Baguio Tomorrow”. She lifted her cloak and chanted the magic words. I too peered through the crystal ball and the fantasy begins.

I see complete darkness but a blinding flash of lightning and a crack of thunder make it all clear. A bubbling brook flows by a beautiful forest. Mountains clothed in green, all the land crowned with glory. Beyond the beauty of all that surrounds me, I see a modern city of love, hope and joy; a road paved with pebbles leading to a wonderful urbanized city. As I reach the clearing I see one of the citizens. I approach him but he doesn’t seem to see or hear me. Feeling like a ghost, I continue my journey seeking answers to my questions and as I walk down a familiar street I come across a sign that reads “Session Road”. I then remember the road I once walked and I noticed something different. I search the streets for mendicants but I see none. I tour the place where sleazy acts were most likely but instead of finding filth I find treasure. What once was bad turned to good, mission centers and homes for the homeless replaced the casinos and motels.

Liquor stores and drinking holes for bums were replaced by recreational halls and fastfood centers. Places that were once garbage dumping sites were converted into fairs, and unused lots metamorphosed to amusement parks. People who once lived in the shadow of death walked in the light of life. I approached a group who were conversing on how everything evolved into what it is now; city with no crimes, no injustice and no poverty.

From that moment on I knew it was time for a change. If we start within ourselves for better and idealistic as it seem we may achieve the impossible with the guiding hand of the Almighty.

As night falls I journey back into the forest and under a majestic pine tree which our city of Baguio is well known for, I cuddle up on its roots and let Mother Nature take care of me. I take a deep breath, while the scent of pines fills my lungs and lulls me to sleep. Under the stars my body basks in the moonlight. A few hours hence I wake up to find myself in the place I was before the fantasy. Now I know what I must do to be able to get a better tomorrow and as I step out of the door, I whisper to myself…” A new and better Baguio today.”