THOU SHALL KEEP THYSELF FROM BEING A ZOMBIE: An Open Letter to A Beloved Former Student

(Taken from my journal entry dated December 14, 2013)

I got lots of gift that day: a cute Thai sling bag from Mrs. O and a yummy homemade fruitcake from the good-hearted, meek, diligent and wonderful Rose Legarda. It will be my very first time to taste a fruit cake. Yum! However, the best day I got for this day was so far, Ron Bello’s random reflection for the day – yup, one of his super random thoughts – which (1) brought me back again to one of life’s most important reminders and (2) made me laugh hard and that healed my heart.

Ron Bello was randomly telling his stories again when he suddenly pointed his finger at the bulletin board’s “Things To Be Grateful For” section. He read the bulletin board section’s title : “Things To Be Grateful For” then went to a brief pondering moment. His mind suddenly started thinking about the things he could be grateful for…

RON : Oh, things to be grateful for. Hmmmm….

ME: FILIPINO, Ron! (it was a routine for me to urge him to tell me his stories in Filipino)

RON: Uh, how do you say “I’m alive” in Filipino?

ME: What exactly do you mean? “I’m still alive”, “I’m alive”, or “I’ve survived”?

RON: “I’m still alive.”

ME : Buhay pa ako… *thinks twice*. Oh, BUHAY AKO.

RON: Okay… Buhay ako.

ME: *Lots and lots and lots of sense came flooding my empty mind and barren soul*  You know what Ron, that’s so far the most wonderful thing I’ve heard a person can be grateful for, seriously…. *attempts to congratulate him so I offer  him my hand so we can shake hands*

RON: Oh…. *steps back* … I have money.

                                                           * * * *

This student of mine, whom w e fondly call as Ron Bello, has a lot of sense in him. He is a good-hearted boy who denies his goodness, downplays his abilities and himself, and tries to play the role of a bad boy, but he is far from the bad boy image he is trying to portray HAHA.

During our class discussion, he kept on telling the class that his dream was to be a prince. If he will be a prince someday (I wish it will happen at the right time!), I guess that the people of the land will have a well-off, decent, and peaceful living because his sense of fairness as a boy is very strong, which I hope he’ll carry with him and preserve as he grow up to be a man. Only that he needs guidance and gauging of his whirling thoughts but there is goodness in the heart of a child in this boy, which is worth keeping and worth learning from.

So if I will have the chance in the future, I want to tell this future prince / czar / emperor these thoughts:

1.  “Buhay ako.”

                 - Ron Bello

Firstly, let me share with you my take on this:

 It is not shameful to be grateful for the fact that you are alive and still wake up each day. Many bad things could have happened along the day but none of those bad things – nothing—happened to you. You, me, all of us, WE can still LAUGH, eat, play, SEE OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS and change and make up for all of our shortcomings. You can still do the things you’re supposed to do each day. You can still do new things every day. You can still improve and learn and find out many things about yourself and others. You can still discover and live out who you really are meant to be. You can still (and must) find out why you’re still alive all the while bad things could have happened to you or to your loved ones. You can still experience healing and witness healing in all aspects of life. The truth is that being alive is the first and last thing that people could and should be thankful for. Nevertheless, sadly, we often    overlook the fact that death can just knock through that door and snatch us into the darkness, but it didn’t—we’ve been given the chance to enjoy life; WE’RE ALIVE. J

2. Thus, do not be a zombie—

Secondly, let me just clarify with you what the true meaning of zombies and ‘zombie-ness’ is, and who real zombies are – what they look like and what they do in real life.

Zombies are not really the ones you see in films. True zombies exist in real life, and they are far from the zombies shown in TV or films. They look much like you and me and every human being out there. In movies, you can easily identify who the zombies are but in real life, you most likely won’t be able to identify who the zombies are apart from humans. That is unless you have already practiced the ability of “tracking who a zombie is apart from humans” and vice-versa. The worse news here is that these real-life zombies are a majority of our population today; You just bump on them every day without knowing that these so-called ‘human beings’ have already turned into zombiieeesss. Isn’t that scary, or should I say, scarier?

To give you a quick-guide on how to track zombies, let me say that zombies are selfish people—really selfish people. They are so afraid of losing even though they have so much. They too are so self-entitled despite the fact that they are enjoying privileges that most cannot enjoy. To put it simpy, they just don’t care at all. They do bad things at the expense of others, without any second thought, without penance. Their conscience had been tuned out, already impaired due to the lies and injustices they’ve chosen to commit. They didn’t care what kind of person they will be for their evil. All they cared about was their comfort, no more and no less.

Zombies don’t actively spread their virus. They don’t go around chasing and biting the humans in good health. They just continue not caring at all. They just go on doing the wrong things. They just live their lives the “zombie way”: the way that does not care about others, the selfish, inconsiderate, unjust way of doing things.

So they don’t need to bite you so you can be one of them. They just need you to learn their ways. Then, without you knowing or noticing it, BAM you’re already a zombie! You’ve become one of them because you have slowly accommodated and adopted their ways. Your mind got used to it, you opened your mind to it, your mind was exposed to it, then slowly but surely you are already doing “the zombie lifestyle”.

Oh, human beings and real-life zombies both have heartbeat and pulse! So don’t rely on pulses and heartbeat—these are not reliable. Real-life zombies can be (and definitely is) malicious, mischievous, and SUBTLE. Isn’t this much scarier than the zombies you watch in TV or in films?

Therefore, BEWARE! Here are the signs you are already turning into a zombie…

One definite sign of being a zombie is when you just no longer care. There are moments in your life when the things that happen to you will rob you off the ability to care and hope BUT when that happens, go against the tide of your feelings of inadequacy or apathy or laziness. Get out! Yes, get out of your room. Get out of your house. Get out of your problems, of your emotions. Get out of yourself. Reach out to people. Just go out and talk to family, to friends, to classmates, to neighbors, even to strangers. Trust me, going out, talking to people and reaching out does a lot of help in correcting your perspective (I’m talking form experience here). Most of the times, my day had been a lot better because I chose to go out and reach out. The best part was when I learn from the little people—from the ordinary tricycle drivers, jeepney drivers, FX drivers, taxi drivers, security guards, barker, information desk lady, waiter, fastfood clerk, public servants, or even the street kids. I have learned so much more about life with the little people I come in contact with on a daily basis. Perhaps it is because they have become experts at living life and battling the severe epidemic that is ‘zombie-ness’, so learn your Filipino well!

Yes, get out of your zone of comfort which is also the zone that turns you into a zombie. Reach out. But reaching out to people is just not enough. Somewhere along the journey, you will find out that reaching out to people is still not enough. That’s why you have to get out and reach out – reach out to God. Talk to Him. Tell Him everything. Do not be afraid to reach out to a God who always checks on you (but perhaps you’re always busy with your own things, own busyness). I tell you, once you reach out to people and TO GOD, you will experience tons of surprises you or I or anyone have not thought of. This world, this system, loves turning us humans into zombies-- turning our true worth into the humdrum of efficiency, productivity and effectivity that we forget who we really are and who we're supposed to be (creatures of joy, purpose, and life). So just remember to always put God in the picture. Reach out to God. Surely when you do that, you will never be a zombie because He will save you from all the instances you can be or could have gone zombie!

‘Zombie-ness’ is acquired; therefore continuously being a human is also learned—with intentionality. If you don’t want to be a zombie, fight the possibilities and urge to be one. It is done  intentionally.  You have to be aware, alert and willing to fight zombies, so you will not turn into one someday. Keep your heart pure and fight for it at all cost, but do not fight only for yourself or you will be self-centered, self-important, self-entitled or selfish. Fight for your heart so you can fight for the people you love— your brothers and sisters and friends and even for the people you really don’t know. Fight for the heart of others. Fight for our country. Fight for your generation. Fight for the future. Fight for the big things in life.

If you may and if you already can, fight the real-life zombies that hurt others because of their unjust, selfish ways. However, make sure that as you fight zombies, you do not imitate / learn their ways and be turned into a zombie someday. Be the prince you dream to become – fight graft, fight corruption, fight selfishness, fight any form of unfairness and taking advantage, especially taking advantage of the poor, of the disabled, of the powerless, of the voiceless. Do not be a zombie who just mindlessly goes with the flow.  Live out the prince you dream to become.

Most importantly, as I’ve said, get out [of yourself] and reach out [to people, most importantly to God].

So that’s all Ron! I just want you to be careful with real-life zombies and be the prince you dream of (that’s why don’t ever be a zombie!). J

   

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