IT IS WELL

[Memories on January 10, 2013 at 5:52pm]

Last Sunday morning at the beach which is, from home, only twenty-five meters away plus a little more, while sitting on the pebbles along the shore, I enjoyed watching my little kids frolicking in the waters, in the sand, like we did exactly in the days of yore.

Initially, there were only the three of us, for it was already around seven or way past. Most of the regular strollers probably had left the beach early or still yet to dash. Suddenly my eyes darted again to the lone structure in a certain part of the sand area. To the unlearned, he would say it certainly is the Middle Earth’s version of a Straightened Tower of Pisa.

In troth and in fact, it is not. It is well, a condemned well. Not preserved by men but by time so well. The well looks as it is today because a big bulk of earth around it had been washed out to the sea. One could mistake it for a mini-lighthouse tower, a beacon for a seafarer, but it’s just a silent reminder for many unforgettable stories in our barrio in the past worth retelling over and over.

Back in the 60’s or much earlier, depending on whom you’re talking to, whether to a grossly exaggerated sentimentalist or a not sober gringo, that well was the lone source of water of residents in that part of Kirayan Norte now known as Zone Two.

I couldn’t imagine the many thirsts it quenched before it gave its final and last drop of water, the many bamboo poles and native jars it filled which the natives once used as a water container. But above it all, personally, to someone who still exists, the heart of the matter concerning the well is the matter of the heart it heard despite its deafness.

When I made a sign we’d go home by waving a hand, the kids were teasing each other and sprinting as they would come. I almost told them they must be thankful for some love that which had gone, else, they probably could be here in this world still but with a different mom.

So learn too to smile with the stories of life with memories of joy and the pain of past trials that anytime would come in part, in droves, in full. But you must be grateful more than ever to the Great Comforter who, whatever the tide, has taught you to say, “It is well with my soul.”