Friday, January 04, 2008 Capillas: Always coming through By Stephen Capillas Galley Proof
PROBABLY the worst part of greeting the New Year is the resulting hangover as a result of indulging in too much food and drink as well as inhaling all that smoke from the firecrackers blown up by the neighbors and listening to all that noise caused by car horns, trumpets and the like.
This experience spoils a lot of the fun of greeting January 1 on a bright note for a lot of people, this writer included.
Anyway, there are a lot of things to be thankful for--that's the usual line--in the past year and a lot of things one wishes didn't happen but that's life, as writers would usually say.
At the very least, one survived last year intact and enters 2008 with a sense of purpose and hope of better, brighter things not only for oneself but for the country and the world.
There was one statement said by the late Louie Beltran, columnist and program host of "Straight From The Shoulder" that made me think in a more optimistic frame of mind and that's his fervent belief that no matter how severe the tragedy, how difficult the trials and tribulations in life, the Filipino always comes through.
He said this in 1991, at the onset of "Desert Storm" when the world was plunged into an unholy state of terror with then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein took over Iraq and threatened to launch a "mother of all battles" that would plunge the globe into another Third World War just as communism was on the wane in Europe.
We all know what happened next but the thought that a Third World War would become a possibility sent everyone into a state of depression and panic the year before.
Since it's out of our hands practically, one looks ahead with mixed emotions but with the equally fervent belief that pulling and coming through the times ahead is not just a prospect but a reality.
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