For graduation season, I told my friend Rosse G that I decided to impart some of my wisdom (I just heard someone cough) using my original memes. She interrupted me. “Wisdom? Memes? You’re joking, aren’t you?”
“Why not? Memes offer a wealth of wisdom sprinkled with humor. Here’s my Filipino version of that ‘making lemonade’ meme. Ready?”
No. 1: If life gives you bitter melons, make crispy bitter melon salad dressed with vinaigrette tempered with sugar. Take over bitterness with the determination to sweeten your hardships, losses and pains by doing acts of kindness.
No. 2: You realize that the cost of the designer shirt on sale that you covet represents your half-month salary before deductions. Learn to control your desire to base your worth on your outward appearance.
No. 3: You just paid your room rental. Now you go to the mall in search of food free-taste tests for lunch.
“Is that really a meme?” Rosse G asked.
Me: “It is. It’s all me, me — and it’s based on my experience during my young hungry days. I’m now in my hungrier days as a retiree.”
You will have a period in life where you will see the excesses of your past flash before your eyes. You will regret your Prodigal Son chapter. Don’t dwell on that. Get up. Ask for forgiveness or simply try again so you can get restored.
No. 4: Nurture your inner child. Your inner child will take care of you. Continue to look at the world with new eyes. In age, I am now in my P20 cost of rice multiplied three times, plus nine but my inner child is still running around, learning new things and not allowing age to hinder me from learning and creating.
Since we are talking about the child, the poster boy for that is Charlie Brown. He fails and fails, and tries and tries again. We identify with this 70-something boy. His creator, Charles Schulz, explained why his Peanuts star has survived through the decades. He said Charlie “keeps losing outrageously” but “had to keep trying, time after time.”
So, congratulations. Create a fruitful, keep-trying kind of life.