Divide the mats by two

This story by Arcellana is about the tragic loss of a father's three daughters. In the beginning, the story itself is not revealed wholly however, little by little it unfolds. It would talk about the simple joys and happy moments that the family would have together and coined the term pasalubong as the father always returns home with something to give his loved ones. It gives us a glimpse of what we could empathize with as the story rolls on actually, but what saddened me was the moment the mats were being used in the story. it was a very sad moment when i was reading the story as sentiments were poured more and more into it. then by the end of the story, regrets were blooming one after another as the completion of the whole story began to emerge from it and showcasing the term of "sayang".

Needless to say, its true that people like to keep living on as if nothing has changed. Its a creepy thing if you ask me actually, but it can't be helped since it is better that way than seeing people talking more about someone who has moved on. To me, i've always believed in death as important part of our lives like how would we be when we died? Will our heart move on in others? will we be remembered by the people who really knew us? will we influence a change in the world we lived in? all these things have always been in my head since as far as i can remember. nevertheless, legacies are formed when we die and it is those memories that make a change in the world that needs to keep changing.



The next story, "divide by two" is about a feud over land. we can see throughout the story the stress and degenerating relationship between the characters as the story goes on. It's main plot revolves around the problem over the few inches of lot that sparked the wick in the relationship of the characters. In a way, simple as it maybe, it's very remarkable to see that a spotlight can bring about so much life into a small section of life that many people fail to notice but happens everyday in the world.

In the movie anger management, Jack Nicholson's character explains that there are two kinds of angry people, explosive and implosive. Explosive is the guy screaming at the cashier to get his change so that he can go on his merry way, implosive is the guy who weighs bags they in and day out and counts the money in the cashier then slowly brings out the shotgun hidden in the counter and decides to shoot everyone in the store and calmly leaves the place. There are times that we really can't take things anymore especially when we bury alot of angst towards alot of things like work, people, and even simple things like the car, the house and even bills that need paying. but if there is one thing that i learned in my life is that it is better to feel sad than angry even if the latter feels better. but to cause harm to others is in no way healthy in anyway. maturity demands of this as we are constantly surrounded by kids of different ages. even people in their 20's can be considered kids. in cases like this, it good to be prepared by tempering our anger with wisdom. that is the harder challenge.