(In) Passing

The mother of one of my classmates in high school passed away due to cardiac arrest last week and will be interred tomorrow, at 9am at Lambunao. Some of us found out about it only last night despite the fact that another one of our classmates was an intern at the hospital where Maret's mother expired. Two things made me extremely sad about this incident.

First, when we were still in high school, we spent an overnight stay at Maret's place where we were all accepted with warm hearts and such hospitable ways that can only come from a Filipino family who live in the countryside. Yes, Filipino families are hospitable in general, even the ones who live in highly urbanized places, but none as hospitable as those you's find in the province. I clearly remember how we were treated to the best food, how Maret's siblings indulged us in playing basketball and in mountain climbing, leading us to swim in the only waterfalls I've ever swum in my whole life. Not the resort kind where water was directed by mechanical schemes, no. It was real, honest-to-goodness waterfalls. And though I honestly don't remember Maret's mother in our visit, I'm pretty damn sure she was one of those in the family who welcomed us with open arms. I only remember Tita from the very few times we've seen each other at school. One at a party, another at a PTA meeting and I think the last one was during graduation. She was kind, much like her daughter. And Maret (her real name's Marichu, we call her a variety of names--- we were all called a variety of names back in high school --- March, Kuba, Nanay Marichu), ah, how do I even begin to describe this wonderful person? Marichu was undoubtedly the kindest person in class. A lot of us had evil hearts, not just evil in our hearts but EVIL hearts, but Marichu was not one of those. She was always there ready to help someone out, ready to listen, ready to be the butt of any joke thrown at her. And believe me, we were pretty harsh in high school. She was President of our class three times out of four, and we were led well in all her terms as class president. In elementary, the smartest or most popular was almost always voted class president. But in high school, we become a bit more mature, a bit more conscious in choosing the person who would lead the class to High School Week championships, Palabas awards, and religious direction. And Maret fit the role perfectly. All these make me feel really sad for the loss that she encountered. I just hope I can make her feel even a bit comforted when we see each other tomorrow and not make a complete ass of myself as I always do in awkward situations.

The second thing that's made me sad about this incident is the fact that one of us who belonged in what I thought was a closely-knit group could've informed us earlier about what happened and maybe we would've been able to visit Maret earlier instead of just attend the burial. Only eight of us from UPHSI Class '99 managed to be in the star section from the First Year to the Fourth Year (yes, it's a big freaking deal!) Marichu was one of us. Our intern classmate was the other one. But in this incident, none of the six of us knew until last night. So much for being closely knit. If my intern classmate sees this, I'm pretty sure he'll be angry as hell with me. But for the moment, I really don't care. A Close-Up commercial comes to mind, about how people all over the worldwere kept busy by texting all day long, how the world was made smaller but not necessarily closer. Yes, it's a sad fact. While it takes only a fraction of a second for news (as trivial as Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's breakup) to travel from the other side of the world to where you're sitting at, it took almost a week for this crushing news to travel a few measly kilometers. I know how busy our intern classmate is, he's doing nothing less than saving people's lives every day. But if he could show compassion for these strangers, was it too much to ask for the same compassion to the mother of a person who went the distance to make each one of her classmate's life a bit more comfortable. Again, I know how busy he is, but sending a text message to one of us wouldn't have taken more than a minute of his precious time. He said that he also only knew about it two days after Maret's mother passed away and MOST knew about it already. MOST? Who were these people who were too many to be considered MOST? If this didn't concern death, I'd be close to infuriated!

Of course, some of us have to be more mature about the situation and concentrate on the more important matter at hand. I just wish that the internet, mobile phones, landlines... I hope all these did make the world smaller AND closer. And I just wish we still cared for each other now even if we don't hear much from one another the way we did back when we met each other every single day...