the latebloomer

The First Moment

Marie was a fortunate girl. She was born to an upper-class family. She was able to study and graduate at a prestigious university. Sometime in her 20th year, she has never felt so alive. She was raring to go to work for a multinational company in two weeks time. The more beautiful thing is, she has found her love. And they were due to get married within the next two years.

Marie’s life seemed complete. Except probably for her faith. Marie grew up in a family of conservative and religious members of the community. She learned to pray the rosary at age 5 and was a choir member at age 9. But somehow, she has never felt closed to God. The idea of a higher being seemed distant to her.

She’s not even sure if angels are real. When she was 12, she predicted that if an angel appeared before her one night at the foot of her bed, her life would never be the same. By 16, her prediction somewhat changed, hoping the angel that would appear to her would look like Piolo Pascual.

But the angel that appeared at the foot of her bed one night did not look like Piolo. Marie was not even sure if it was a boy or a girl. All she knew was that in an instant, amid the cold night, she felt this warmth followed by a radiant light emanating from nothing. And the next thing Marie saw was a person with wings looking calmly to her.

The angel spoke, "Don’t be afraid. I have arrived to send you great news."

For a few seconds, Marie couldn’t say a word. She thought she was dreaming, but then she remembered she hadn’t slept yet.

"Are you an angel?" Marie replied.

The whole encounter seemed to last for only a few minutes. But by the end of it, once the angel disappeared and the room went dark again, Marie sat on her bed frozen.

She felt that her whole life — everything she had planned for the rest of her life — went down the drain.

"I’m gonna be the mother of a saviour? How can that be?" Marie kept asking to herself.

The angel told her she would give birth to the son of God, a God she has viewed only as an abstraction, a God she was not sure existed. But then there’s the angel and she’s not hallucinating. "Or am I?" Marie asked in the dark.

Fear and confusion crept inside her. But somehow, she was amazed at herself. "Is it really me who said that?" Marie thought when she remembered what she uttered before the angel disappeared. "I will submit to God’s will" Marie repeated her words.

The Second Moment

Yousef knew Marie was the girl she was meant to marry. He has always laughed at the concept of love at first sight, not knowing that he would experience it a few days before graduation.

Yousef also knew that his life would be an uphill climb the minute he professed his affection for Marie. Yousef’s family was middle-class. Though half-Arab, Yousef was born Catholic. Nevertheless, Marie’s parents disapproved of him. Had it not been for Marie’s insistence and the recent success of Yousef’s family business, theirs would have been a tale of Romeo and Juliet.

But like villains in a play, Marie’s parents were just waiting for a moment to cancel their daughter’s march to the aisle.

The time came when Marie told them the news. Marie’s parents heard and remembered everything, except the angel. Suddenly unmindful of any Catholic sacraments, Marie’s parents laid down their ultimatum. Marie gasped and wailed. She was told only two choices: the child will be born if Marie severed her ties with Yousef, otherwise the child must die.

The Third Moment

Yousef felt as if he was buried alive. Marie told them about the angel and its news. Unlike Marie, Yousef had a strong faith in God. He believed in angels.

But in an instant, he felt like a fragile human soul. He felt dazed and unbelieving at the prospect of divine intervention. He began to worry about what people would say about Marie and him. He began to ponder of breaking up with Marie, fearing that people would think they had premarital sex. Then he thought of staying with her, fearing just the same that people might think Marie had a tryst with another guy. HIs actions would have repercussions to other Arab people in the community who continue to receive prejudice from neighbors.

But Marie did not remember him saying all these things to her. She only remembered Yousef telling her how much he loved her and how much he’s excited with their baby sent by God.

Yousef went home feeling empty. Then later in the night, the same angel appeared to Yousef. Like a douse of cold water, Yousef realized his role in God’s plan. And he needed to do everything to play his role well.

The Fourth Moment

Yousef became the only one Marie relied on for support. She was on the brink of a nervous breakdown, almost thinking of ending her misery and her baby as well.

Every night, the couple prayed. Marie fought hard to remember what the angel said and how she felt at that instant when she submitted to a will not her own. That total surrender, the feeling of floating into space and being carried by strong arms towards somewhere only happiness exists. The certain feeling of hope and serenity.

She needed to remind herself to be strong. She and Yousef are homeless. Their only possessions are their clothes. She is more than eight months pregnant. She and Yousef went from house to house, from one friend to another to seek shelter. Through it all, the night remained starry, the air remained fresh, as if preparing for the arrival of a king.

The Fifth Moment

Clarita is 64 years old. Her husband left her for another woman forty years ago. They had six children. She took almost every job imaginable, except sell her flesh, just so she can send her six children to school.

She can just smile at her achievements. Her eldest became a doctor and was working at a private hospital in the city. Her two daughters became lawyers. Her second eldest son was a military officer. While her two youngest became engineers working abroad. All had families. All had left her. Not even a single birthday card arrived at her house since her children left.

Three stray cats were all the company she had in her tiny house. On one corner of her bedroom laid a box full of old photographs, broken toys, reaction papers and other mementos reminding her that she was once a mother.

She would look at these things every night. On one such night, she heard a knock on her front door.

Within a week, Clarita was swept with joy. For the first time, she felt as if she saw her first grandchild.

The Sixth Moment

"You have guests. They want to see your baby," Clarita said to the couple one Sunday morning.

Marie and Yousef stood frozen. Who could it be? Their families? What would they do? Take away their baby, send Yousef to jail and Marie to the convent?

Fortunately, the guests were not their parents or in-laws. They were not even wearing conventional attire.

Three magicians entered Clarita’s house. They had gifts for the baby. They were followed by a group of gypsies, and a group of farmers. The gypsies sang lullabyes while the farmers gave the couple a month’s bounty of food.

"We followed the star. We heard the good news," the guests chorused.

The Seventh Moment

How mistaken she was. Twelve years ago, Marie thought her life was going down the drain when she heard the angel’s news. But now, while looking at her son helping Yousef in the junkshop, she realized what went down the drain was her self-doubt, her insecurities, her anger. She need not see God, she is seeing God in her son.

If there was a feeling left along with happiness, it’s fear. "He is not my own. I am just a vessel. My child is God’s child. And one day I have to let him go," Marie said to herself…

…Marie’s hands were covered in blood. Her hair was full of spit from the crowd that gathered that afternoon for the execution. She held her son in her arms, gazing at his lifeless body one last time. She kissed his son’s forehead. Then a group of armed men took his son’s body away.

With weakened knees, Marie struggled to stand. She was helped by another woman and a young man, among the few who stood by his son when everyone else turned their backs.

She knew from then on everything will change. Because everyone was saved.

this past week, ive had one more reason to stay up late. ive been following the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. not really a sporty person, but i like watching these kinds of sporting events that come only once every four years.

most probably like everyone else aware of the 15th Asiad, ive been praying and rooting for Team Philippines to nail that elusive gold. For the first five days, sadly, we weren’t able to win even a bronze medal. We were defending bronze medallists in the men’s trap event in shooting, and in the double sculls event in rowing, but a more improved foreign competition and lack of foreign exposure and adjustment on the unpredictable Qatari waters bumped our shooters and rowers from the medal positions, respectively.

the most disappointing thing so far has been our bowlers. not that i fault them for finishing not higher than fifth in any of the first four categories that have been completed, but it pains me to think that lady luck was not our side this year. Malaysia has already three golds, and South Korea two golds (out of seven medals already won), while our world-class bowlers got the wrong end of the Qatar organizers’ decision to limit the number of blocks to be played from the usual 12 to only 6. and i think this did the damage to Team Philippines. i think they weren’t able to adjust to a quicker mode of competition. with only six blocks, you have to hit your rhythm on the very first throw, or else there’s no way you can catch up. Team South Korea and Team Malaysia were very lucky, as well as the West Asian teams. Malaysia’s Mei Lan Esther Cheah was on the background during bowling competitions in the 2005 SEA Games held in Manila. but in Qatar, she was the star, winning the gold in the singles and powering her team to the trios silver and team of five gold.
still, im sure our bowlers did their best given the circumstance, and nothing can take away the fact that we have three former world champions and upcoming talents.

Luckily for Team Philippines, the boxers and taekwondo jins saved the day. Violito Payla gave RP its first assurance of a medal last Wednesday, while Veronico Domingo and Kathleen Alora gave the first two bronzes which finally put our country on the medal tally after six days. Yesterday, Mary Antoinette Rivero (probably our best chance for an Olympic medal come Beijing) gave RP its first silver in the 15th Asiad, losing unsurprisingly to a tougher Korean opponent, which i think was the gold medalist in the Athens Olympics.

by 1 a.m. today (8 p.m. Doha time), our boxers assured a fourth bronze medal for RP, while Antonio Gabica battles for our first gold in the 8-ball singles of billiards. Busad Asiad bronze medalist Tshomlee Go meanwhile improved on his performance as he defeated a highly-fancied opponent from Taiwan to reach the finals, where he nailed the country’s second silver in the Asian Games.

right now, im anticipating Gabica’s match, hopefully he beats his Japanese opponent and finally make our country proud and land our first gold in the 15th Asiad.

which leads me to what i want to point out. how a country performs in international sporting competitions like the Asian Games usually reflects on the level of development its people has attained. this is different from the kind of development our officials are trying to picture to us, citizens, and most importantly to creditors.

it should not come as a surprise that we are barely in the top 20 of the medal standings in the ongoing Asian Games. we should stop rolling our eyes on our athletes, and expecting them to win gold when their best performances are way behind counterparts in China, Korea, Japan, Central Asian countries and even Thailand and Malaysia.

our sports infrastructure is very much behind Asian powers and even our Southeast Asian neigbors. Vietnam has catch up with us and probably better since their government INVESTS on their athletes. this is the root of our ho-hum performance on the world sports stage. our government invests in athletes that have already won or winning, but shun those who are losing but with enough investment and support can be winners themselves. our officials give all these sorts of fiscal rewards for medal winners, when basic support in terms of allowance and trainings abroad remains lacking. rewards are ok, they are expected, but more funding must be given to our athletes.

and this involves stamping out on corruption, with the government enforcing an iron hand on erring and corrupt sports officials who prioritize their junkets and other "personal expenses" than the trainings of athletes.

thus, let us be reminded to give our athletes only accolades, and leave the criticisms solely on our sports officials shoulders whenever we face a debacle like the one were having and hopefully will about to end in our campaign in the 15th Asian Games.