ALL WE ARE IS
DUST IN THE WIND
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Ma. Fatima Victa Soriano: Her heart can see what her eyes
cannot]
MANILA, NOVEMBER 2, 2009 (STAR) FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo - Curtain-raisers:
• Inspiring messages perfect for the season:
— From Dr. Welson Yap:
1. Worry is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do but it gets you nowhere. God will always take care of you.
2. If A is 1, B is 2, Z is 26, then L-O-V-E is 54 and F-R-I-E-N-D-S-H-I-P is 108. Interesting? Friendship is twice stronger than love.
3. Two things that you must do to be happy: Forget the good you do to others and forget the wrong others do unto you.
— From Tirso Cruz III and wife Lyn Ynchausti:
1. The problems we face each day can seem too much to bear until we turn our eyes to Christ and trust His tender care. We worship a God who is greater than our greatest problem. (Isaiah 40:12;25-31)
2. I’ve strayed, O Lord, and turned aside. I’ve disobeyed Your voice. But now with contrite heart I turn and make Your will my choice. No matter how far you’ve run from God, He’s only a prayer away. (Psalm 32:1-5)
— From Funfare’s “other beauty expert” Celso Caparas de Guzman: If you take care of the things that are important to God, He will take care of the things that are important to you.
* * *
It’s that time of the year again when I replay the song that reminds you and me how “nothing” we are, and how humble we should because when we come right down to it, we amount to nothing more than a handful of dust easily blown by the wind to...nothingness.
Pardon me for sounding like a broken record but I’m asking you to once again sing with me the classic Kansas song while we are remembering our dear departed on this All Souls Day and having intimations of our own mortality:
Dust in the Wind
I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment’s gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes a curiosity
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Now don’t hang on
Nothing lasts forever but the Earth and Sky
It slips away
And all your money won’t another minute buy
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
And since we are at it, it won’t hurt if I reprint (again!) the following relevant-to-the-occasion piece from the book You Can’t Afford The Luxury of A Negative Thought (by Peter McWilliams), given to me by my friend Raoul Tidalgo and which I have since passed to Lucy Torres-Gomez. Here it is:
How to Die
The final lesson in my crash course on dying is 10 suggestions on how to die. You can file these away until you need them.
1. Get things in order. Things you don’t want people to see? Destroy them. Things you want people to have? Give them away. (“Let the season of giving be yours and not that of your inheritors” — Gibran, The Prophet.) Pay debts. Make notes of what you’ve done. Make it easy for whomever you choose to take care of things after.
2. Make a will. Of things that weren’t given away, decide who gets what. Put it in writing. Make it legal. Choose an executor. Do you want to be cremated or buried? Decide what kind of funeral — if any — you want. Bette Davis said, “I don’t want donations made to any charities in my name. I want lots and lots of flowers!” If that’s how you feel about it, say so. In writing. And don’t forget to make it a “living will” if you don’t want extraordinary medical measures used to prolong your life.
3. Say goodbye. Goodbyes don’t all have to take place on your deathbed. You can say goodbye to people, and then see them every day for the next 50 years. Tell people what you would want them to know if you never saw them again. Give them the opportunity to do the same. Usually, it boils down to simply, “I love you.”
4. Don’t spend time with people you don’t want to spend time with. When people hear someone is dying, they all want to make a pilgrimage. Many of these people you haven’t seen in years and, if you lived another hundred years, would probably never see again. Say goodbye on the phone. Tell them you’re just not up to a visit. You don’t owe anyone anything.
5. Spend time alone. Reflect on your life. Make peace with it. Come to terms with it. Forgive yourself for everything. Learn what you can from what has happened, and let the rest go. Mourn the loss of your life. Come to a place of understanding and acceptance. You may be surprised how quickly you get there.
6. Enjoy yourself. Make a wish of all the movies you want to see or see again. Rent them. Watch them. Read the books you never got around to. Listen to your favorite music.
7. Relax. Sleep. Do nothing. Lie around. Recline. Goof off.
8. Pray. Listen. It is said people are closest to God at birth and at death. If you missed God the first time around, catch the deity on the return. Whatever inspirational or spiritual beliefs you hold dear, hold them even closer. You are being held close, too.
9. Enjoy each moment. Appreciate what is here and now. That is where eternity is found. You may only have a few here-and-now moments, but it’s a few more than most people will ever have.
10. When it’s time to go, go. Let go. Say one last goodbye and mean it. Say goodbye so completely that you’ll never want to come back, you’ll never even look back. All the good you take with you. The rest is goodbye and moving on.
Do most of these sound more like suggestions for living than for dying? That’s because they are. The best way to die is to live each moment fully. Then, when the time for death comes — be it next week or 50 years from now — it’s just another event in an already eventful life.
Fatima’s inspiring journey to the heart
Habang may buhay, may pag-asa.
We’ve heard people say that line many times, haven’t we?
You’ll say the same line again when you read Ma. Fatima Victa Soriano’s story.
Named after the Virgin Mary, Fatima was born blind on June 12, 1993. She was diagnosed with kidney failure and for several years had to undergo dialysis every four hours, five times a day.
In July 2003, Fatima met Fr. Jerry M. Orbos, SVD, through the ZNN Veritas radio program. It started a friendship that has blossomed through the years and that has been touching many lives.
Thank God, Fatima had a successful kidney transplant on Feb. 28, 2004. Today, she continues her mission of inspiring lives through her songs of love and praise via her CD titled Journey to the Heart (exclusively distributed by Star Records in record bars nationwide and may be downloaded at www.starrecords.ph).
Fatima joins Fr. Orbos in his teleradyo (dzMM 630 khz) Light Moments With Fr. Jerry Saturday nights, 9 to 10:30 p.m.; and at the Healing Eucharist TV Mass every second Sunday of the month on ABS-CBN, 6 to 7 a.m.
Now, you say: Habang may buhay, may pag-asa. Fatima is a living proof.