Friday, January 06, 2006

Hanta Yo

When 4th year happens, clerkship happens. Clerkship is when people start thinking that sleep is priceless, when people start considering an impending blepharoplasty, when social lives go further downhill, when strangers become good friends and good friends become enemies, when strangers become lovers and lovers become strangers again, when people who absolutely hate coffee become addicted to it, when partygoers become nerds and nerds become partygoers, when stable egos crash and unstable ones go berserk.Clerkship becomes fun when you start mustering the guts to go out there.It's not easy but it's worth the try. Clerkship introduced me to beautiful people. Forget the nasty ones. They're not blog-worthy anyway. Hehe. Through clerkship, I met a really beautiful person, whose weirdness was extraordinary (redundance intended). "Ahbleza" or Shitting Horse (for no particular reason) to some, dreams of getting maried to an American Indian from South Dakota, wears a Bohemian outfit to parties, dances like she's been possessed by the spirits (we have videos to prove this), writes soulful poems which are truly blogworthy (too bad she wants to keep them private), paints like a pro, brings out the profoundness of ho-hum comments and reads Hanta yo (Clear the Way) with gusto. This book, which was based on a Lakota historical document (basically a saga of the American Indians), was so carefully and tediously written, that it took the author (Ruth Beebe Hill), a quarter of a century to complete it! I scanned some of its pages with "Ahbleza." The book deserves 5 stars.Here's an excerpt from the book...
I stand at the center and the light shines all around me. And now I know that my spirit glowing makes this light. I come into power with the sun for I am like the sun. I am my own light.
Here at the center I see the meaning of things, all things. And I know that I am the meaning. The whole meaning.
The four directions come together in me. I am the center and everything flows from me, returns to me.
I am that which they call great mystery. I am that which each calls Wakantanka before coming here, before seeing the light.
I am here and so I know. Here I know everything. Here I know myself.
I am thought and will. And nothing sits above my will.
I am pride and joy. And nothing sits above my joy.
I own my life. And only mine. And so I shall appreciate my person. And so I shall make proper use of myself.
I stand here in the light of my own presence and I recognize my power.
I am reason. And nothing sits above my choice.
I am truth. And so I live in the spirit. And so I live forever.
I am the oneness of the whole. And whatever happens, happens in me.
I am Ahbleza. I own the earth.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

The morning after the blast of firecrackers that revived my dependence on earplugs, I looked out the window and saw a flock of white birds buildings away from my nearly deserted apartment (save for a few souls packing their bags and psyching themself up for the inevitable family reunion). Against the smoggy backdrop, these birds flew together, following a graceful pattern they invisibly drew on the grayish sky. White against gray. I stood mesmerized at the eccentric combination. Wait...My mind started to doubt what I saw...A flock of birds merrymaking along the skies of polluted Manila? Surreal but nice. Happy new year!