Imperfectly Perfect

"Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."
                                                                        — Franklin P. Jones

This world I have been for so long never made any difference. We live, face challenges and problems, survive, and die. I thought all of these rides were the same, that they were just made to let the journey be longer and harder. I thought I had known everything the world has, but I was wrong. I was wrong because there's this 'thing' I haven't felt yet.

Back then in the elementary years, I have known love. For me, it was the feeling you feel when you see a good-looking, fair-skinned, tall and smart guy a.k.a. Mr. Perfect. It's when Mr. Perfect passes and everything's in slow motion. It's when you do not see anyone but him. That's how I picture out love. Unfortunately, I knew how love feels like, but I never felt it. I never felt it until in the fifth grade.

I believe that my crush in the fifth grade was the Mr. Perfect I have pictured out for he was the one who had a great impact in my life. I know I was too young to be in love at that time, but I seriously consider it as love. He was an altar server. Our school is beside the church, so it was an advantage. The first time I saw him, I got goose bumps. It was like everything stops and you don't want the time to move. He was walking, wearing an altar server's uniform which makes him even more charming. I saw his perfect dazzling eyes. When I finally met him, my ride was even more worthwhile. Everything about him mesmerized me.Since then, I felt it. I am in love. Love came into my way.

There was a realization I had. I was thinking of Mr. Perfect who has all the good qualities I want, but the  guy I saw wasn't Mr. Perfect. He is not tall, not that good-looking and not that smart. But despite of his imperfections and despite of not having the qualities I want, I still felt it. Since that time, I called him 'imperfectly perfect'. I realized that it's what love is. No matter how perfect you want the guy to be, you'll still love an imperfect guy whom you will consider as perfect. Love lets you love perfectly a guy of imperfections. Love doesn't make us breathe. It makes breathing more fun and easier. Love gives you goose bumps. It arrives at an unexpected time. 

If I were to define the guy I would want to have, he would definitely be my crush in the fifth grade. He has dazzling eyes, captivating smile, and sense of humor. The things I liked much about him was his closeness to God, great devotion, love for God, thoughtfulness and bright personality. In short, he, himself. The physical attributes may somehow affect your love for someone, but what matters are their personality and attitude. You cannot do anything if you felt love for a person who wasn't able to meet your expectations. We use our hearts to love, not our eyes. Instead of looking for the right guy, our heart feels for the right guy. 

I would love someone because I want to and time permits me to. For me, there is no perfect timing in falling in love. It comes naturally. It just comes suddenly,making your life worth living. Love should not be denied. You should accept it for it may change your life. It may spice up your life of boredom. Love may color your dull life. I will never decline to love somebody for these reasons. Regret always awaits at the end. Trying won't always hurt us, but makes us even stronger. I won't stop loving for this is what the rides in our life want us to feel. They want us to feel the excitement, fear, anger, sadness and other feelings. 

Until now, this feeling never got tired of loving him. It's been five years, but the love I feel for Mr. Perfectly imperfect gets stronger and stronger. He may be far away, but my love won't stop.

Life won't be imperfectly perfect if there is no love. It gives you reason to live, strength in facing challenges, faith in coping with problems, courage to survive and bravery to face death. Maybe love let this worthwhile ride continue while the guy continues the ride in unity with God.

Inevitable Fate (A Tragic Romance)

      There was once a ship that sailed gently through the seas. Boarded were hundreds of people and among them were the two infants, Benedick and Beatrice. They were together for some unknown reason but danger struck. A hard-blowing, strong-raining storm greeted them and cut the ship in half. Unfortunately, the two babies were separated but thankfully, two ships came to their help. Benedick was rescued by Montaboat, owned by the Montagues, and Beatrice was rescued by Capuship which was owned by the Capulets.

     The Montagues and Capulets have been rivals for years and it seemed that their rivalry wouldn’t end without blood. Years passed, both families had loved their own adopted child like they were their own. Beatrice was given great care and grew as a gorgeous maiden, while Benedick grew as a brave and handsome young man. Never did they saw each other, but after 20 years, their lives met a life-changing turning point.

      Three witches came to visit Montague to tell him about their prophecy. With their ugly faces and crooked teeth, together with their long, sharp and dirty fingernails, Lady Montague wished to send them away but Montague disagreed after finding out that their prophecy was of great news for his own power. The three witches called forth 3 spirits. The first spirit showed a knight wearing a crown, signifying that Montague would be the new king of Verona. Eager to make this true, Montague plotted a plan to kill King Escalus. He succeeded and like what the prophecy said, he became the King.

      However, his felicity was short-lived due to the prophecy of the three witches given by the remaining spirits. The second was an infant in a pool of blood, showing that he would be killed by a man not born of woman. The third was an armored head with blood dripping out of its opening. He didn't seem to mind the prophecies at first and went on with his plan to kill his rival, the Capulets. Battles were fought but at the end, Capulet confesses that he was untimely ripped and he beheaded Montague with a triumph smile on his face.

      Benedick was distraught and wanted revenge for his father. He promised never to marry and to spend all his remaining years avenging his father holy. But fate never seems to run out of surprises. Benedick and Beatrice's lives would meet a bittersweet turn.

      As the days near the 21st birthday of Beatrice everyone helped in the preparation for this grandest occasion. They spent days on preparation. While passing the market, Benedick overheard gossips about the beauty of Beatrice and became eager to see her himself but probably just for his revenge. The big day came, and Benedick wore a disguise and went to the party. There he saw Beatrice staring at him with an awe expression on her face. Their eyes met and it seemed like the world just faded away and left nothing but the two of them alone. They fell in love at the first sight and Benedick's crave for revenge for his father and his belief that he'll never marry vanished into thin air. He forgot about the anger he felt for the Capulets.

      Days passed and the King Capulet wanted Beatrice to marry a nobleman named Paris. Beatrice refused to and told her father that she's in love with Benedick. The King Capulet turned red with fury. He told Beatrice that if she would disobey his command, he'll have her either executed or sent to the monastery to be a nun. Beatrice went to Friar Lawrence for help and was given the potion that would stop her pulse for 48 hours. She told Benedick of the escape plan. When the night came and Beatrice's body was transferred in the family tomb, she finally woke up and ran into the forest with Benedick. However, Paris saw what happened and followed them into the forest.

      Paris allies with Puck, a mischievous fairy, and ordered him to pour a love spell on the lips of the sleeping Beatrice while Benedick was out hunting. Puck followed Paris, and when Beatrice woke up, she immediately fell in love with Paris and they kissed thoroughly. Benedick saw what happened and got so enraged but chose to hide it first. When the spell faded, Beatrice couldn't remember what happened. They decided to go and get married on a small village. During the marriage, Benedick proclaimed and told everyone that Beatrice was a whore. He was so furious with Beatrice and his initial desire for revenge returned.

       He left Beatrice on the village and ventured back to Verona to kill King Capulet. After arriving, he immediately sought the senators and other officials and convinced them to conspire against the King.

      Before the planned assassination, while Benedick in his room, a spirit named Ariel came to visit him and deliver news that would surely twist and crush his soul. Ariel told him that he(Ariel) is the spirit guardian of his parents and that when they died, he had watched over Benedick all through the years. Ariel also told Benedick about Beatrice's innocence and that it was all Paris and Puck's fault. Benedick immediately felt guilty, sorry, and horrible all at the same time. He had left Beatrice alone; he had accused her of being a whore yet the truth she was innocent and faithful all those time. He realized that he never stopped loving Beatrice and that he was just consumed by his rage. He changed his mind about assassinating King Capulet. He was about to go and stop the other senators when he freezes on his feet and felt the world crashing down on him as Ariel told him the truth that had been buried together with the shipwreck 21 years ago.

      After being left by Benedick, Beatrice went to Verona in hopes of explaining and proving her innocence to her beloved. But as she stepped foot on the castle, she felt something very wrong. So she ran. She ran so fast and at last, she saw the dead body of her father. She cried and wailed. But then something struck her and she suddenly feared of what might have happened to Benedick. She stood up, and moved her numb legs, not even quite noticing of fast she was running. She saw the door on the ballroom where she first saw

Benedick slightly open. Her heart was drumming inside her chest. She picked up her speed and alas, she reached the door and opened it.

 

      She stood there and saw the greatest horror she could ever imagine. In the center of the room was Benedick lying limpwith blood pooling over his body. She didn't skip a beat; she quickly darted toward him and fell on her knees. She cradled his head on her lap and asked him to wake up. Slowly and weakly, Benedick opened his eyes and tears started to fall from them.

“It's my fault. I didn't save him.” he said weakly, barely a whisper.

“No, it's not. I love you.”

“I love you too. Much more than life. But our love more powerful than the stars is also more impossible to touch, for it is forbidden. It is forbidden, my dear twin sister...”

He took his one last breath and died in her arms.

     Beatrice, painfully shocked of her love’s dying message, took the dagger out of Benedick’s body and said “Oh, sweet dagger, take away all of the sorrow. Let my body be your sheath…” Without second thinking, she stabbed herself and her body lay above the body of Benedick.

      The citizens of the kingdom went inside and saw the dead bodies of Beatrice, Benedick, and King Capulet. They found a note that was seemingly glowing saying the events that perspired for the last days. Paris, who also entered the castle, saw light figure over the bodies. Paris doesn’t know why but he feels that the light figure is crying.

      The figure then walks of out of the door, its true appearance revealed. “It’s finally over; I guess it’s time, after 21 years, our family can be reunited again, in the sky. Benedick, I hope you don’t get mad at me for not telling you the truth sooner, I had my reasons but at least now, we can enjoy the happiness of forever.”

Heroic Candle

 “A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.”

Terror, strict, mediocre, superior and lazy – words frequently used by students to describe the teachers they do not like. They even call their teachers by different names. I, a student, admit that I belong to those kinds of students. I judge them easily without knowing how hard it is to deal with people like us, how hard it is to teach lessons every day and how hard it is to understand why we, students, treat them the way we do. I realized how heroic they can be to consume themselves like a candle just for our sake.

            It is amazing to know that there are still teachers in our time. Though they do not get high salary, they still do their best for us to learn. Though they get less recognition, they still continue doing what is right for us. Despite of all the hardships and challenges they face in school, they can still manage to smile. We may say that it is not easy to be a teacher, but we can never know how it feels unless we become one of them. They are too great to be underestimated. Our society does not realize how important teachers are. Without them, no professionals will be made. There’ll be no president, doctors, lawyers and other professionals if there are no teachers. In short, a teacher is a professional that teaches all the other professions. They make everything possible. Teachers can be companions when we need them. They can also be mothers or fathers who scold at us for us to know what is right, but can be brothers or sisters when it comes to problems. We may always get mad at them, but all they ever want is for us to be successful because I can see how they feel whenever their hardships bloom into something.

I cannot give them high salary nor great recognition, yet I can offer them the sincerest gratitude I can ever give. The gratitude for being a teacher, mother, sister, companion and for being who you are.  Thank you for doing your responsibilities and things beyond your responsibilities. We, students, owe every learning from you. Most of all, I thank you for accepting who we are and for being our candle who lighted up the way for us. We love you, teachers!

Inevitable Change & Disguisement

"Foul is fair and fair is foul" -  A line uttered at the first part of the story by the three witches in one of the most amazing masterpieces, Macbeth. It's a simple and short quote, but means a lot. A lot of truthfulness and reality. Many of us find it difficult to understand, but I tried my best to explain what the line means to me.

For me, there may be two meanings for the line. The first is that change is permanent and inevitable. Change is within our world, within us. In the story, it means that someone may change for the better or for the worse. Someone may have a fair personality and attitude, but it will eventually change into a foul personality and attitude. Though humans want the change or not, they can't stop it to occur. This happened to Macbeth. At first, he is kind and kindhearted. But when his wife tempted him to do terrible things, he changed. He was aware of the change happening to him, but still, he continued. Because of it, he completely turned into a bad guy. He wanted to refuse, but he cannot. Deep inside, he feels guilt. The guilt of murdering innocent people just to have the throne he's been aiming for.

Another meaning of the quote is disguisement. It means that people who have foul appearance may have a fair attitude or personality. The ones who have fair appearance may have a foul personality or attitude. Throughout the story, fair appearances hid foul realities. When Macbeth started killing the innocent ones in the play, the people thought that he is the good and kind man, that he should be the king. His evil plans were hidden beneath his appearance. Thus, everyone believes that Macbeth's innocent. In the end, he paid the price of his selfishness.

In our life, the quote may be also applied. The people we chose to be friends with does not mean that they are the 'true' and 'real' ones. Sometimes, those people are not the same inside. They may show you good deeds, but you may never know what they are thinking of deep inside. We may also experience changes in our life. But no matter how good or bad the change is, we must still know what path should we take and be responsible enough to accept the change.

A Midsummer Night's Dream: The Climactic Scene

Most stories have their own exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement - or simply sequence of the events. But sometimes, do not have the 'official' or 'made by the author' sequence of events. Oftentimes, the author does not focus mainly on the sequence of events. One best example are the masterpieces of Shakespeare. Specifically, one of them is A Midsummer Night's Dream which is a product of Shakespeare's creativity and imagination. 

A Midsummer Night's Dream has a very, very interesting plot and story. It is uniquely made by the creative imagination of Shakespeare. Because there is no specified climax in the story, our teacher instructed us to choose our own climax of our story. For me, this part was definitely the best scene to be the climax:

When Lysander and Hermia got in the woods, Helena and Demetrius followed them. When the couple, Lysander and Hermia, fell asleep on the forest grounds, Puck poured the love potion to the Athenian youth. (Lysander). Unfortunately, Puck poured it to the wrong person who is Lysander, instead of Demetrius.

The love potion worked in the morning when all of them woke up. Lysander immediately fell in love with Helena and Demetrius also fell in love with Helena. The love story was changed. Now, Helena has two lovers following her, Demetrius and Lysander. Because of this, the anger was built up inside Hermia. She thought that it was all Helena's fault.

The two Athenian men follows Helena wherever she goes. This made Hermia even more angry. She went to Helena and challenged her in a fight. Hermia said that Helena took everything from her. Hermia was obviously jealous of Helena. Their fight was supposed to be physical, but it turned out to be emotional. Demetrius and Lysander also fought for the heart of Helena. The four young people got their lives miserable because of Puck.

That was the part I consider the best climax. For me, this part has a very exciting scene and conversations. The four of them fought, making the story more interesting and exciting.

The Same Way Around

"I do not forgive because I am weak. I forgive them because I am strong enough to forget and understand that people make mistakes."

     Life is full of imperfections and mistakes. Life won't be complete if there are no things such as problems, misdeeds, sins and mistakes. They are given to us so that we can learn something. But sometimes, God lets others commit mistakes to test the person they have hurt. As usual, the hurt ones may feel sad, mad, angry, down, hopeless and lonely. It is normal for them to feel the way they feel. It's part of our life. But if you are on the shoes of the hurt person, will you forgive or forget?

     For me, forgive and forget goes the same way around. Forgive comes with forget. When you forgive, you also forget. When you forget, you should forgive. The best way for forgiveness is the art of forgetting. If someone treated me wrong, I won't avenge. If someone said something bad about me, I won't revenge. To be honest, the first thing I will do is to feel disappointed. I'll also feel bad about myself. I am going to ask myself why did others commit mistake towards me. Then, I'll hate them. It's inevitable for a hurt person to be angry, but the decision I'm sure of is that I will never ever revenge.

     The healing of a wound takes time, but worth it. No matter what and how big their sins are, they are still humans. Humans who are made imperfectly by a perfect God because he wants us to forget and accept each other the way they are. Forget every details of their misdeed and learn how to forgive them completely. Some may think that it won't benefit them, but what they do not know is that forgiving and forgetting have a great benefit for us. It makes us strong and sturdy from any problems we may encounter towards our journey to success. It lets us realize that everyone has in-capabilities. It teaches us a very essential lesson for our life which is acceptance.

Sportiness or Excellence?

If we're given a chance to choose between excellence and sportiness, how will you know which quality has the greater importance?

Excellence and sportiness - two essential qualities for an individual, particularly for teenagers. Each of us has our own choice. It always depends on our interest. If a person likes physical activities more, then he/she will choose to be sporty, rather than being excellent. If a person wants to be academically good and smart, then that person will choose to be excellent. The choice of an individual also depends on their experience. If one already experienced to be active in sports, then he/she might choose excellence to try a new one. The same happens if a person is academically good.

We all have that one choice which was the best choice for us, but the worst for others. One thing that might help us is by learning their advantages and disadvantages. In excellence, a person may be the top of the class, the smartest of all, the most envied person and the one who's well known for his/her academic performance. Other people will idolize you, teachers will give you high grades and your family will be proud of you. Those are the sweetest things in being excellent. Your parents will be happy for you and you'll be able to repay their good deeds. Despite of all those advantages, disadvantages will always bother us. Being excellent could make you a nerd, your friends will go away from you because you're in a higher rank and you won't experience the fun of being outdoors and playing. A person's social life will be very much affected.

In sportiness, an individual may be physically fit, healthy and strong from any physical activities and diseases. A person can enjoy his/her social life and will be able to have so many friends. Other people will idolize you because of your skills in sports. It may give you fame and recognition when you are good in sports. On the other hand, there will be an effect to your academic performance if you'll only pursue your sportiness. First, a student's grades will all lower, leading to more bigger problems. The teachers will get worried, so they will consult our parents. Our parents will feel ashamed, sorry and angry, which break a heart of a son or daughter. To see your parents' sorrow is powerful enough to crush us. The relatives and the whole family will question, ask, blame and judge him/her. The problem becomes worse.

If I have to choose a one quality between the two, I'll undoubtedly choose excellence. I will choose to be excellent because I want to experience the feeling of knowing very well the lessons and the feeling of being able to express or explain your ideas, thoughts, knowledge and opinions. I am not worst academically, but I'll still choose to be excellent because sportiness can be practiced. If you want to be good at a certain sport, then you can train yourself. But if you want to be excellent in every subject, practice is not enough. A person needs to memorize, learn, compute, understand, review and many more. It's difficult to train yourself on how to be excellent in majority of the subjects. The feeling when your parents are proud of you convinces me more to choose excellence. Nothing's more valuable that seeing your parents proud and happy of their child. My parents now are proud of me, but there's still comparison between me and my brother. It's incomplete and unsatisfying. I also see that being excellent has greater importance than being sporty. If you're excellent, you can graduate from the best school, get the best job and live the best life you can have. A person's skills in sports dies and fades away, but excellence never fades.

Each of us has our own choice to defend. But no matter what it is, as long as we know we're taking the right path, we'll succeed in anything.