ADRIAN CRISTOBAL IS DEAD AT
75:
FAREWELL, ADRIAN, FAREWELL!
[PHOTO
AT LEFT COURTESY OF MANILA BULLETIN]
MANILA, JANUARY 2, 2008 (MALAYA) ‘Adrian Cristobal, 75, was not a pun-loving, sensation-seeking columnist, but a heavyweight interpreter and analyzer of political tea leaves.’
A good friend, Adrian was not a pun-loving, sensation-seeking columnist, but a heavyweight interpreter and analyzer of political leaves.
Many other friends and admirers have already paid tribute to him. They have recited a litany of what he did in life as a journalist par excellence, editor, publisher, essayist, author, and public servant.
Adrian, in the words of one of them, was "the supreme autodidact – the ultimate self-made man, precisely because self-taught… In a nation where the fetish for formal education makes someone without a college degree only half a person, Adrian achieved eminence despite – and perhaps even due to – his lack of a diploma. Cristobal understood power because he’d work in such proximity to its most adept wielders …"
There is nothing more I can add to their accolades except perhaps to note that as a colleague in columny he was indeed unique in our world of punditry. He verbally lighted matches at the feet of the high and mighty and miscreants in the corridors of power to remind them of their duties and obligations and debts to the people. As a satirist non-pareil, he exposed the arrogance, vices and follies of the wielders of power.
In all the years I have known him, I must say without fear of contradiction that Adrian was not a philodox. He never thought that everything he wrote was brilliant, that he was right and in love with his opinions. He was indeed a pundit in the real sense of the word that comes from the Hindi phrase for "learned man"!
And now, Adrian has dropped his pen to join the long caravan on a journey from whence no man has ever returned.
Farewell, Adrian, farewell, may the song of a million angels sing you to your eternal rest!
***
"A Farewell Letter to Friends"…Were Adrian Cristobal still with us today, I’m absolutely sure he would have loved to read this letter of one of our favorite authors – Gabriel Garcia Marquez – famous writer from Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize in Literature laureate who wrote it when he retired for reasons of health:
"If God, for a second, forgot what I have become and granted me a little bit more of life, I would use it to the best of my ability.
"I wouldn’t, possibly, say everything that is in my mind, but I would be more thoughtful of all I say.
"I would give merit to things not for what they are worth, but for what they mean to express.
"I would sleep little, dream more, because I know that for every minute that we close our eyes, we waste 60 seconds of light …
"To all men I would say how mistaken they are when they think they stop falling in love when they grow old, without knowing that they grow old when they stop falling in love…
"To old people I would say that death doesn’t arrive when they grow old, but with forgetfulness….
"If I knew that these are the last moments I see you, I would say ‘I love you’
"There is always tomorrow, and life gives us another opportunity to do things right, but in case I am wrong, and today is all that is left for me, I would love to tell you how much I love you and that I will never forget you.
"Tomorrow is never guaranteed to anyone, young and old. Today could be the last time to see your loved ones, which is why you mustn’t wait to do it today, in case tomorrow never arrives. I am sure you will be sorry you wasted the opportunity today to give a smile, a hug, a kiss, and that you were too busy to grant them their last wish.
"Keep your loved ones near you, tell them in their ears and to their faces how much you need them and love them. Love them and treat them well; take your time to tell them ‘I am sorry’, ‘forgive me", ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and all those endearing words you know.
"Nobody will know you for your secret thought. Ask the Lord for wisdom and strength to express them.
"Show your friends and loved ones how important they are to you …"
"For you, with much love …"
***
Adrian, I’m sure, would have written similar thoughts, if God had granted him a little bit more of life, in his own farewell letter to friends and especially to his beloved wife Teresita, daughters Anna, Celine, Stella, Pia and Monica, and his son Che, his namesake, and grandchildren.
To all of them, my most heartfelt condolences.