Estremera: Knowing when, discerning what

A YOUNG reporter said she stopped buying books because she still has several books that she has started on but haven't finished and I told her she is under no obligation to finish a book. I don't and I don't blame myself.

That I didn't finish a book means the writer didn't satisfy what I wanted, so why should I suffer through that writer's weakness? After all, there are numerous books and writers to explore. Some will tie you down to the book until you've finished it, others will entice you to read on but at a very leisurely pace, and still others will not be able to push you to read past the second chapter. That's just how it is. No sweat, no guilt.

But here's something that we have to work on...

Have you had that niggling feeling inside your tummy since stories of corruption, abuse of power, and just about every shenanigan that all those in power have been blatantly doing through the past nine years? That niggling feeling is telling you that the threshold of decency has long been breached but it will remain breached if we continue to stand by, doing nothing except scoffing at the television.

In author Daniel Quinn's book of essays "Beyond Civilization" (Three Rivers Press, 1999) is this story, which I'm quoting en toto here:

Jack and Jill spent some days with their friend Simon on his small sailboat. One morning they woke up to find the boat was sinking.

“What in the world are we going to do?” Jill asked.

“Don't worry,” said Jack, “Simon's very ingenious.”

Simon called to them, “Come on, we've got to abandon ship.”

Jill was alarmed, but Jack reassured her that Simon wouldn't let them down.

“We're only a hundred yards from shore,” Simon said. “Let's go!”

“But how are we going to save ourselves?” the couple wanted to know.

“We're going to swim for it, of course!” Seeing Jacks look of disappointment, Simon asked him what was wrong.

Jack said, “I was hoping you could find a way of translating us directly ashore, without our having to get wet.”

It's not our fault if we cannot finish a book because the author's way of writing wasn't able to keep our attention, but it is our fault if a rotten system continues to reign over us at the time when the whole world is watching and international groups are all ready to rap governments for abuses. But like Jack, Jill, and Simon having to swim for it to save themselves, we too need to get wet if we want to finally rid ourselves of a system that continues to abuse power in unimaginable lengths and heights.

We should have learned that two decades ago. But just as quickly as Edsa Revolution was abused to serve the interest of a manipulative few and brought about Edsa Dos, Edsa Tres, and all other Edsas, so did we allow ourselves to forget the lessons and abuses of the past.

Don't sweat the small stuff, a series of quick-reads encourages us. But in not sweating the small stuff for our quest for happiness, we should be able to discern what is small so we will know when not to sweat.

“I thought when you have reached a certain level of books, you should no longer read anything lower than that,” the young reporter said when I told her that I still read a lot of children, teens, and young adult books.

“You have to read those as well, because it will keep you in touch with what the young ones are reading and how they are thinking,” I replied.

“There probably was a man called Jesus Christ, and he probably was crucified. But all the value of that sacrifice came from the mythology that sprang up around it, and maybe the whole reason that there is power in his bloodline is because people have chosen to believe in it -- not because of the value of the literal event itself.” This is said by Jack, one of the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica, in The Indigo King by James A. Owen, one of the books in the trilogy, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica. The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica is still available in bookstores classified under "teens and young adults".

“She must be an Illuminati,” my 15-year-old nephew said as we watched the news about the red-hooded woman who jumped at the Pope last Christmas.

Yes, you have to keep up with what the children and the youth are watching and reading to be in touch. Theirs is a far different world than the one we lived in, and the world we are sharing today requires all of us to know as much as possible lest we be shackled to the shambles our generation has made of this world.

In the meantime, Among Ed Panlilio of Pampanga is unseated by GMA ally Lilia Pineda months after local hero Grace Padaca was booted from office in favor of an old oligarchy, hapless and lowly government workers are sent out to the provinces to campaign for individual candidates, and several other stories along that line. saestremera@yahoo.com

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