Being Sixteen

I don't have much recollection of when I was sixteen.  It seems too far away in the past with most of the confused memories ensconced in the deep recesses of the mind. Maybe there wasn't much in it.   I was still in high school despising my uppity school mates.  They even had a mock fraternity which they called Alpha Seiko S:a:r:a:o.  Alpha - because that sounded like how fraternities are named ie with Greek alphabet names.  Seiko - because everybody wore a Seiko watch of some sort.  S:a:r:a:o - because they all hanged out in or near the jeepney parked in the school grounds.  Much as I like the Greek sounding beginning of the name, I didn't wear a Seiko watch nor was I ever inclined to ask my parents to buy me one.  I wore a Rolyot watch made in the USSR.  I was probably the only one in the Philippines or probably in the Southern hemisphere wearing a stupid sounding watch like that.  When I showed it to some of my school mates I said it was like Russian Rolex.  They had to strain their eyes as I pointed to the Russian words on the face of the watch.  At that time I could even read Russian.  Not that I understood much of it, but I mastered the Cyrillic alphabet and I would even write some notes using Russian letters.  I was proud of it.  Well my schoolmates were not impressed with my watch; you needed to have a Seiko watch to get some acceptance.  I didn't join their group and I never had any inclination to.  I also didn't like the sound of some initiation rites they would want one to do to be able to join their clique.  Something like doing something embarrassing or suffering a modicum of pain cum humiliation.  So at sixteen, I was probably like the new butterfly trying to squeeze out of the cocoon.  There was struggle and there was some pain.

When my granddaughter turned sixteen, I saw it as a big milestone for her.  Last Saturday, a big party was held to honour her arriving at this important age.  There were many people there who I have  not seen in years.  It was good to talk about some mundane things not going much beyond the general radar of how-are-yous.  With some of the guests, it didn't even go beyond the feeble handshake.  But it was all good to know such and such still lives; we don't really care how you're doing but it's good to know you're still in Planet Earth and somehow there is still a connection between us no matter how tenuous it might be.  Yes, we all serve a purpose hopefully and it's wow that somehow our lives have been in some kind of tangent.  You never know what circumstances will bring us together again.

Seeing my granddaughter turn sixteen, I realised that I had never really imagined to see a day like that and that carried a bit of surrealism with it.  I am thankful for the many years God had permitted me to be in the flesh and living a life here on earth.  I guess she felt that the whole world is out there for her, with grand opportunities, with many permutations of possibilities for directing her life and bring her focus onto.  I was hoping she wasn't as confused as I was when I was at that tender yet mature age with the perennial question on my frowning face:  Que seré?  What will I be?  Whatever it is, "Try to have fun. Otherwise, what's the point?" (Colonel Stars and Stripes, Kick Ass 2).  I was hoping that there wouldn't be an Alpha Seiko S:a:r:a:o or similar crap that would pretend to give colour and meaning to an otherwise bland high school or college existence.  I was hoping that she would find true friends that would help her along the way and that she would do likewise to them for that is what really brings true purpose to our lives, helping one another, building a better world, and realising that beyond this world we know, touch, hear and feel, is a world that's not only better but purer, billions and billions of times more beautiful, a world of untold and unknown perfection. 

Excuse me while I kiss the sky.