The Path Not Often Taken

I strolled around our house at five in the morning. It was so quiet. The birds weren’t awake yet, and the night was just ending. I put on my slippers and lazily walked up the stairs to our bahay-kubo at the back of our house. I felt the cold morning breeze, the sweet fresh scent of dawn as I was ascending. Hearing the stairs creak with every step, no chirping birds mindlessly flying, I saw the rays of the morning sun breaking. I sat down on our kubo’s balcony overlooking the rice field. I let my feet dangle on the edge, watching the ripening stalks of rice swaying with the wind - graceful and almost dramatic. Dews adorned the leaves, the sky looked like a canvas painted on by the greatest artist, and in my heart it was. Everything was so beautiful, tranquil really.

Sitting there, watching the day unfold before my eyes, everything happening just how they are supposed to - waiting for the world around me to wake up - I was speechless. There was really not much to say in that moment also. It was like the world placed me in that exact spot at that precise moment with no worries, no fears, no everything! Just pure awe. My heart melting with the night, my mind wandering like the wind, my hands relaxed, and my breathing therapeutic.

Then like a swift pirate invading a ship, a thought entered my unassuming mind, “If you love this moment so much that it left you speechless, why do you choose caffeinated sleepless nights? If you love this moment so much, why do you keep on choosing to stuff yourself with books and unending cases rather than admiring this view daily? Why do you stress yourself so much, you even break down once in a while?” I may be lying if I say that I think long and hard for the answer, because I already know. It was etched in my heart, and my mind knows about it. It would be the greatest lie, if I said it wasn’t. I may always feel hesitant, but I still remained constant.

I heaved up a heavy sigh, now feeling the heaviness in my shoulder. I took a deeper breath, hoping it would help but it didn’t. I put my hands on my knees, and looked at the scenery in front of me once more.

Somewhere, someone in this world is sitting in a jail for the crime he did not commit, not able to see the dawn break nor hear the birds chirp. Somewhere, someone in this world is waking up without a home or even a kubo because of injustice. Somewhere, someone in this world is crying for losing a loved one mercilessly killed. Somewhere, someone will be waking up with a heavy heart so heavy it feels like the world was never beautiful. Somewhere, someone is crying for help without receiving any. Somewhere, someone is receiving a fresh wound or bruise. Somewhere, someone is being taken advantage of. Somewhere, someone is being abused without knowing when he or she will be saved. Somewhere, someone is dying without seeing hope. Somewhere, someone is not so lucky with their lives. Somewhere, someone badly wants to scream and demand his or her rights. Somewhere, someone wants justice to prevail.

As I was still sitting there, feet dangling on the edge of our kubo’s balcony, I knew I was not just myself. I was in the position of all the law students with their reasons why. I know that if I was to choose between beautiful mornings and terrifying recitations and exhausting readings, I would not think twice and choose the first, and would hesitate from the other two. However, I know that if I would be that selfish, more injustice would follow, more people will lose their lives with their culprits roaming freely, more people will be taken advantage of, more people will be discriminated, more people will be oppressed, more people will stay silent, and more broken hearts will flood the world, and the world would not be as beautiful and peaceful. The world will be silently crying, its heart bleeding.

So I thought not to get me wrong. I love beautiful mornings with chirping birds and swaying leaves bejeweled with dews, and I would always choose this over any part of the day, but this part of the day is so fleeting it’s like a small fraction of a very big whole. The world will wake up and its demons will stir. Life so beautiful while the dawn breaks will not stay as beautiful. Terrors will reign even in houses; killings are even done in the daylight. Not everyone is as blessed and privileged as I am. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but I know that I have to use my resources other than for my own. Somewhere, someone out there is waiting for the help I could offer, and if that means caffeinated sleepless nights and unending readings, then I am up for the challenge. However, even when I know what I want to do, and where I want to go, somehow I wish I could prolong that perfect morning and stay there a little bit longer. It feels so good to see the beauty of the world without judgment and expectation. But the time was running fast, the birds woke up altogether and started singing sweet melodies, and I stood up, stretched my body and went down to continue the path not often taken.