Transmutation at the Crossroads….by mindo n. aquino

I’ve written this a long time ago but ‘twas shelved in my rickety table on a dim-lit corner of the olden house for obvious reasons:

“Here we are – at the crossroads. Hovering above is the crosswinds. After a long and arduous journey over rough and rugged roads, at times looking for glorious events and fascinating laurels to prop up the mortal ego, we’ve reached this far. But not far enough for varied reasons. The travel has for some time stop in the nick of time. Not because of fatigue factor nor compass distraction. Not because of conflicting policies nor unending vertigo of directives. Neither was it due to limited incentives or the lack of it…

“It is so because the burden on the heart and mind has become too heavy to bear, too pungent to swallow, too troublesome to handle. The Fearsome Threesome bit ya know. The dwindling zeal of belongingness, of participation, of camaraderie, sort of, had taken their toll. This, we now know, because of arrogant interventions and influences, torpedoed ideas, reverberating innuendoes, massacred opinions, insipid recitals of plans, and crumbling walls of beliefs and faith…

“The gospel of conservation, of sustainability and preservation of the natural land- scapes seem to land on deaf ears, dwell on insouciant attitude, sleep on over-bearing stance and evaporate from the cynical audience, from insensitive albeit demanding inhabitants.

“No matter what simple approach we want to employ just to stress a point, to manifest a consequence or to highlight a pattern, there is always a deliberate move to elude from the natural, to evade that which is realistic, to forego that which is basic and normal, and ethical.

“Which redound to unbearable reverberation of pain, bitterness, insolence, dismay, disbelief and yes, disgust.

“And so, after more than a decade, travel time has but to stop, for good, for posterity, for peace.

“And since here we are in this forlorn crossroads, we’ve got to look low in a bit of agony and emptiness; there is no more need to look back at the memorable (both positive or negative) events our feet have trodden upon. They just now serve as statistics on a once clear and spotless paper. Talk of history and you ‘re right. Talk of courage and you’re wrong. It is just plain destiny; nothing more, nothing less…”

This is one facet of nature’s preservation--for mankind. There are constraints along the way which may tend to degrade our faith but we should not lose hope as we perform our respective functions. For it is incumbent upon us to persevere--as employees, as citizens, as human beings, to hand-in-hand help in the sustainability of nature’s resources for the benefit of the whole and upcoming generation. Let old habits metamorphose into modern, realistic and attainable goals for Earth’s preservation and conservation.

Who cares about turning back? Beyond the crossroads I’m hoping against hope that there is no cul-de sac