THE near-mishap while diving in Cebu last June where my buoyancy control device exploded right at the very moment I hit the waters after a backroll just as a squall broke out, and at that very moment realizing that all you had was trainee dive master and not the real one, there was embedded a niggling fear about diving without close friends I know are there, waiting, ready to help.
Still, the sense of security is there when you have a trusted friend around; the memory of that inept trainee that nearly cost you your life easily dispelled by the reassuring presence of an old-time dive buddy.
Enjoying the dive last Tuesday after two months of being high and dry, I realized that there was just my dive buddy and I left underwater, flipping around. All the rest have already surfaced. But there was still enough air to flip around, and so I flipped on. Visibility was not so good, thus at one time, I lost sight of my buddy after spending several minutes taking a photo of a critter. Still, the confidence was there because with me was Peewee, a dive buddy since the early 2000s, a trusted one. I just looked around and pierced the colloidal waters with my eyes until I found traces of bubbles. And sure enough, there was Peewee, just a few meters away, waiting.
Underwater where there is but your breath and occasional sound made by your buddy or a passing boat, your brain tends to be more creative, thus as I located Peewee's bubbles and his figure became clearer as I approached, my mind automatically played The Rescuer's soundtrack, "Someone's Waiting for You". My braincells sang to myself while assuring myself that the momentary sense of being all alone under the sea was but for a moment. Someone is out there, waiting. A friend has my back and there is nothing to fear.
"Be brave little one, Make a wish for each sad little tear; Hold your head up though no one is near, Someone's waiting for you..."
How sad then when in your belief that you have friends and long-time colleagues with you and then realize that not all of them are actually there for you, but are just biding their time to get their greedy hands on stuff you have committed to be a steward of. That must be how the President is feeling now. That realization must be like a rock in the cavity that was once your courageous heart.
Real friendship gives us courage to forge on. Betrayal can take the wind out of someone's sails... or worse, drown us. saestremera@gmail.com