ANG PAGTATAPOS

ANG PAGTATAPOS

Gemiliano Pineda

Mahigit nang sampung taon ang nakararaan nang iwan ko ang mataas na paaralan sa aming lalawigan, nguni’t hanggang ngayo’y matingkad pa sa aking alaala ang gabi ng pagtatapos at ang kalugurang sumapuso ko sa pagkakataong iyon.

Kami’y dalawampu’t anim lamang---limang babae at dalawampu’t isang lalaki---na nakatapos sa ikaapat na baitang sa maliit na haiskul na itinayo sa aming bayan sa tulong ng kayamanang ipinamana ng isang mapagkawanggawang mamayan.

Nang kaming nagsipagtapos ay nasa munting tanghalan, at pinagmamalas ng aming mga magulang, kamag-anak, kababayan at mga guro sa paaralan, ay saka lamang ako nakaramdam ng tunay na kaligayahan at pagpupuri sa sarili. Noon ko lalong natiyak na ang aming pagkakapag-aral ng apat na taon ay sumapit sa isang makahulugang yugto ng aming buhay---at kahit gaano ang hirap na aming tiniis upang makamit iyon ay parang bulang napawi sa pag-uumapaw na kasihayan sa aming puso. Ang mata ng boung bayan ay sa amin nakapako. Nang gabing yaon ay kaming nagsipagtapos ang paksa ng salitaan, hantungan ng maliligayang pagbati, at siya ring pinag-uukulan ng pinakamakulay na pangarap. Ngunit batid kong sa mga sandaling iyon ay may mga katanungang naglalaro sa guni-guni ng bawat isa sa amin: kung makakapagpatuloy ng pag-aaral sa Maynila. Gayon man, lahat ng mga suliraning naghihintay sa aming landas ay pansamantalang nalingid sa aming mga matang may kislap ng pag-asa at kaligayahang bunga ng pagtatapos sa apat na taong pagsisikhay. Ang mga pagbating aming tinanggap, ang mga papuri ng panauhing pandangal, at ang masigabong palakpakan ng mga manonood nang tinanggap na namin ang mga diploma, ay tumiim at nagtining sa aming puso---nalaman naming kami’y karapat-dapat. Ang gabing yaon ng pagtatapos ay tanging para sa amin.

Datapwa, ang kahulugan at kahalagahan ng pagtatapos ay hindi siyang mahalaga. Madaling napapawi ang ningning ng isang gabi ng pagdiriwang at pagsasaya. Ang mga palakpak at papuri ay dagling nanunuot lamang sa ating pandinig ngunit hindi namamahay sa puso. Ang mahalaga ay ang panahong ginugol natin sa pag-aaral bago nakarating sa yugto ng pagtatapos at ng pamamaalam sa paaralan.

Ang apat na taon sa mataas na paaralan ay siyang kadalasang namamagitan sa hangganan ng kamusmusan at ng pagsapit sa pagiging ganap na dalaga at binata ng isang nag-aaral. Sa loob ng panahong iyon ay hindi lamang sumasailalim ng pag-unlad ang katawan o sariling anyo, kundi pati na ang isipan at ang puso. Kaya naman ang mga nag-aaral sa haiskul ay puno ng pananabik sa karunungang natatago sa mga aklat at sa karanasang inihahandog ng buhay. At iyan ang ikinapagiging masaya’t di ikalilimot sa mga taon sa haiskul.

Ang bawat magtatapos sa haiskul ay tiyak na makararamdam ng kabigatan ng loob sa napipinto niyang paglisan sa paaralang sumaksi sa kanyang pag-aaral ng apat na taon. Ngunit hindi ang mga gurong sa kanya’y nagbukas sa malalawak sa tanawin ng karunungan.

Kapag siya ay nagtapos sa haiskul, ay nasa iba ng pook o kaya’y tumutuklas na ng karunungan sa isang unibersidad sa pangulong-bayan ng lalawigan o kaya’t sa Maynila, at saka siya makararamdam ng matinding pangungulila at panghihinayang sa lumipas na panahon. Ito’y aking natitiyak, sapagka’t siya kong naramdaman at nararamdaman hanggang ngayon.

Hahanap-hanapin ng mga nagsipagtapos sa haiskul ang dating mga mukhang naging kaniig-niig pagkatapos ng pag-aaral at ang magiliw at bukas-loob na pakikisama ng mga kaklase. Ngunit mapait na pagkabigong may kakambal na pagkagulumihanan ang kaniyang malalasap sakali’t nag-aaral na sa unibersidad. Makikita nila, tulad ng pagkakita ko at pagkadanas ng lahat, na ang pagpapalagayan ng mga mamamayan sa lungsod: kahit magkapitbahay ay hindi nagbabatian o hindi magkakilala. Ipagtataka niya, ngunit maaring maunawaan pagkatapos, kung bakit gayong magkakasama sa isang silid sa paaralan, kapag nagkikita sa lansangan ay parang hindi magkakilala. At natitiyak ko rin, na kapag siya’y tanungin kung may nakikilala na sa kanilang klase, ay wala siyang karang-rakang maituturo. Ang kalagayang “pagkakaniya-kanya” o individualism ng mga nag-aaral sa unibersidad ay siyang unang katotohanang napalantad sa paningin ng mga nagsipagtapos sa haiskul. Silang namihasa sa loob ng apat na taon sa magiliw at bukas-loob na pakikisama ng kanilang mga kaklase ay maninibago sa pag-aaral sa unibersidad---mahirap nilang maramdaman na sa isang silid ay mayroon silang maituturing na kaibigan. Maaring lumipas ang mga taon ngunit ang mga nag-aaral  sa unibersidad ay maaring mabigo sa paghahanap ng kaibigang natagpuan nila samantalang nag-aaral pa sa haiskul.

Sa mga nagsipagtapos sa mataas na paaralan ngayong taong ito ay aking sinasabi: pagyamaning lagi ng sa alaala ang lumipas na panahon sa pag-aaral at ang pakikipagsamahang nalasap. Tulad ng kabataan, ang pag-aaral sa haiskul  ay minsan lamang dumaraan sa buhay. Natitiyak ko na sa pagdaan ng taon ay paulit-ulit na magbabalik ang inyong gunita sa nilisang paaralan. Maaring may mahigit na kalayaang naghihintay sa inyo sa unibersidad, ngunit ang pakikisama ng mga kamag-aral, ang inyong kabataang bago pa lamang nanunungaw sa larangan ng buhay, ay mag-iiwan ng malalim na bakas sa inyong alaala. At ang inyong pagtatapos sa haiskul, na maaring walang kasinligaya at kasinsaya, ay saka ninyo lubos na maunawaan: na yao’y simula lamang ng totohanang pag-aaral sa buhay.    

Steve

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of... thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. . . Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” –June 12th 2005, Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford University

Semi-Final Exams in Mythology and Folklore

Questions

1.What do you think is Odysseus' worst action of his wanderings and why?
2.Why is Odysseus looked to as a powerful representation of the mythic hero? Identify instances or situations that made him represented this way.
3.Using a diagram or map , compare and contrast the character of Achilles from Hector.
4.Is the central conflict of the Iliad an internal or external one—that is, does the epic concern itself more with a conflict inside a person or more with a conflict outside of a person? What is your idea on this? Limit your essay to less than 300 words.

Answers
1.
Christian as I am, I am like a god angered by murder. I was about to praise Odysseus for his “greatness” but when he slaughtered the unaided kings who wooed his wife, I regarded his act as hateful.
For me, it is not justifiable that he butchered those bastards. Yes, they devoured his cattle, swine and sheep and even emptied the wine jars of its content but still it is not enough a reason to kill a bunch of helpless men. Why? Because they are neither swine nor sheep, they are humans. In fact they are kings. If they ate his reserves, he can just ask him to replenish what they had taken. In the first place, the troubles they had caused in his palace cost no life. They killed no person. Can Odysseus replace the lives of those kings whose souls he sent to Hades dwelling? NO! Why is it then that they have to pay their debts with their lives? Odysseus failed to consider that the people of those kings will lose a ruler. He should have put to mind the condition of Ithaca when he was away before he did such.

I pity the kings whom Odysseus killed. I know very well that they would heed Odysseus’ command to leave his palace if he commanded them so. Instead, he resorted to a horrendous act which makes him worthy of another punishment.

2. Dying altruistically would only make a man a hero. But living after gargantuan feats coupled with divine stirrings would make a man a mythical hero.
Inspite of his wrongs, I think Odysseus can be considered as a one powerful mythic hero. One is that he was able to withstand all adversities in his life. Logically, a man of average strength and intelligence would not be able to conquer all the odds which Odysseus fought. What makes his life even more amazing is the fact that he fought against the gods endowed with supernatural and comparably stronger than him.
Anther thing is that he is the brain behind the Trojan horse and the cunning tale of Sinon. If not because of him, the Greeks might have been defeated. That is why; Athena favored him and later felt sorry for him because of his sad fate.
“She is delighted in his wily mind,
his shrewdness and his cunning;
she was always forward to help him.”

He survived all perils ordained by the gods. He won over trickery of nymphs, nostalgia, hunger, exhaustion, wars, storms, and loneliness. He did not only suffer, he suffered the hardest of sufferings. Now, isn’t he mythic?

3.

4.
Fierce warriors choked the battlefield;
Spears, arrows, and swords are stained with blood;
Moans and battle cries filled the air;
Trojans fighting for their city and their families led by Hector;
Troy is left to flames and burned to ashes by the Greek victors.
Silence.
Trojan War is fought and is over.

If this story indeed happened, I think it is one of the bloodiest of all the battles. What is its cause? Imagine, ten years on relentless battle? How was it sustained?

The war occurred because of the following reasons; jealousy, greed, vengeance and hatred. Eris was jealous because she was not invited to the wedding feast. Hera and Athena were resentful toward the judgment of Paris. Agamemnon was greedy for power and territory. And Achilles was remorseful of Patroclus death and spiteful of Hector. All these and a series of greed, treachery, and lies caused the Trojan War.
So, is Iliad a conflict outside a person? Yes it is. But it’s more than that. It is also a conflict between man and gods and between gods and gods themselves.

Reaction paper on the love story between Pyramus and Thisbe

Too Much Love will kill you

“Love, cannot be forbidden. The more flame is covered up the hotter it burns.”

            Starting with the premise that love is naturally unfathomable, it will be difficult to express one’s view on the love story of Pyramus and Thisbe. The issue of fatalistic suicide is our concern here. Is it immoral and unethical to commit such?

            To be straight, the reason for the suicide was LOVE. It is sometimes difficult not to subscribe to the idea that love transcends limits and knows no boundaries. Love is too deep for the human mind to comprehend. That is why, when you ask people about love, they would give you different “definitions”.  Love can’t be grasped unless one (subjectively) experiences it. One cannot measure it for it has no dimensions of length, height, width, mass, volume, specific gravity, altitude, angle, diameter, parameter, radius, vortex, speed, velocity, or whatsoever. One cannot explain it just by using the method of experimentation and observation. Why? For one thing, love is a spiritual phenomenon not a tangible occurrence.

            If I were to put myself in the position of the lovers, I could have done the same thing. Although I believe that suicide is a sinful thing in the eyes of God, no one knows how the lovers felt at that moment. It was mentioned that fate had been hard on them. So, God might have decreed that the couple’s affair should commence that way. If this is the case, we cannot go against the will of the Father. Even Jesus Christ died because it was his Father’s will. After all, what’s wrong with dying? It is not awry to die for love.  Is it? For me, it is better to die for something or someone you love than to have not loved at all.

            From one view, the suicide is a sin. But I think the lovers were more of victims than criminals. They fall prey of loving each other too much to the point of killing themselves.

WOMAN: The Gift of All

Trials, deaths, fears, wars, overshadowing dominion of men, battle against good and evil, love of lover and husband, and dignity---this is the background with which women strive to carve their roles in Greek Mythology.
Generally, women were regarded as insignificant. They were thought of as mere household keepers. While their husbands are out in the open to explore the world, they were left to tend to their children and when he comes home, she has to serve him and satisfy his earthly desires. Aside from that notion, they were also labeled as temptresses, wreckers of marriages and a being destined to suffer and to do evil. She lures men away from their journeys.

Women gained this infamous status after the first woman was brought to being. Evil and torment enveloped the earth due to her curiosity and due to her evil and destructive nature. It should be remembered that the gods fashioned her that way. Another account of feminine frailty was the frequent infidelity of Zeus towards Hera because of his inability to resist the beauties of Nymphs and maidens. In turn, these women were punished by her. But in this case, women cannot be blamed alone. It was man’s insolence which prompted the gods to create the destructive Pandora. And it wasn’t the fault of the maiden nor the nymph’s either to be very lovely for the gods to adore her.
Those are but a few of the illustrations of women’s bad reputation. However, this is not always true. No matter how powerful Zeus’s father and the father of Zeus father was they still needed a woman to bear their children. Without a woman, the great Zeus will not be born. In fact, it was Zeus mother who saved him from his father’s fatal paranoia. Gaia fills the earth with all its bounty. She also provides a dwelling place for all humans. She is one source of life. Demeter, the goddess of vegetation is also a mother not only to Persephone but also to humans. She can cause famine over the earth thereby putting humans at her mercy. Childbearing alone is no easy feat.
The huntress Artemis who rightfully kills his subjects whenever they displease her, the athletic Andromeda who can equal men in strength, and the amorous Aphrodite; they are all out to prove that women has a pivotal role in the cosmos.

While it cannot be denied that men are superior over women, this doesn’t mean that they are inferior to men. Yes they are only second to men, but beyond this vista is the fact that it is the female beauty which launched a thousand ships. Women can’t be underestimated. They, too, deserve the laurels.

The Virility of MEN

For ages, men have been held in greater esteem than their female counterparts. Men have commanded the armies, have ruled the strongest of races, have possessed most the influence and power, and  have garnered the greatest of honors. They have excelled in the arts, literature, science, politics, and athletics. This goes without saying that men are dominant. In Greek mythology, the strongest power is wielded by men.

The strongest of all powers is owned by a male god, the king of the gods, whose home is Mt. Olympus ---Zeus. It is  a “he” not a “she” who can make all kings and queens bow on his feet and follow his will. Zeus showed his might early on when he led his brothers and sisters in overthrowing in overthrowing and castrating their own father, Cronus After that, he ruled the world. He can also do anything that he wishes especially in making maidens submit into his sexual desire.

Another dominant male figure of the Greek literature is the hero Prometheus. No one, not even any god, equals him in wisdom..He was very heroic that he was soon forgiven by the one whom he wronged.

Narcissus enslaved lovely nymphs and maidens  by his beauty. Apollo was the most skilled of all musicians in Mt. Olympus. He was also the first to introduce healing arts to humans. Water, one of the vital elements of earth was ruled by Poseidon. He can send tempest and can even drown the earth if he wants to. And Hades, an Olympian God who rules the world of the dead. He left Demeter helpless when he abducted Persephone from her. All of them are males.

   This gives the picture of how Greeks viewed men as a supreme power. They created the image of gods in their likeness. For the Greeks, the male figure is a vessel of strength.

   No doubt, the greatest events, crises and wars were triumphed by males. They made the made the most important decisions and they have the final say in almost all things. It was the male Adonis who caused the feud between Persephone and Aphrodite and it was the male Zeus who settled their dispute.

   Rather than let things happen, males rise to the occasion and change the course of destiny. And this same nature is immortalized by Greek poets. For without males, Greeks mythology will never exist.

Chapter 6. Eight Brief Tales of Lovers

PYRAMUS and THISBE

 Characters: 

Pyramus - the most beautiful of youth

Thisbe - the loveliest of all maiden of all

Narrator

Setting: the East of Babylon the city of Queen Semiramis, in houses so close together that one wall was common to both.

Scene: On the night the lovers decided to flee their city and meet at the Tomb of Ninus, under a tall mulberry tree full of snow-white berries.

Pyramus: Thisbe, dearly beloved I could no longer bear the desire to see and kiss you.

Thisbe: Pyramus, my lover, I also burn in the desire to be kissed by a lover whose lips are dipped in the sweet nectar of love.

Pyramus: Oh Thisbe. We shall meet at our tryst. Wait and I shall come. Under that tall mulberry tree we shall pass the goodness of the night.

Narrator: At last, the sun sank into the sea and night arose. In the darkness Thisbe crept out and made her way in all secrecy to the tomb.

Thisbe: Pyramus dear, where are you now? The warmth of my cloak cannot suffice to stand the chill of the night. I need your arms to cover me from this coldness. It is the heat of your body which will me warm. I shall wait ‘till dawn wear away the stars.

Narrator: Pyramus had not come. But out of a sudden she saw by the light of the moon a lioness. The fierce beast made a kill; her jaws were bloody and she was coming to slake her thirst in the spring. She was still far way for Thisbe to escape, but as she fled she dropped her cloak. The lioness came upon it on her way back to her lair and she mouthed it and tore it before disappearing into the woods. This is what Pyramus saw when he appeared a few minutes later.

Narrator: (Pyramus was awe-stricken. In utter disbelief he begin to caress the cloak as if a maiden in his arms)

Pyramus: This cloak I recognize. But, what is this? Where is my Thisbe? Why this filthy remains of her cloak? (Almost in tears) No. No! This cannot be! (Screams) NO! (Begins to stutter) Wha..what..e.e..evil..bea..s.t h.a..ve.. preyed upon my..Th..i..s..be? (Screams angrily) Show your face, you evil beast! I shall hack your flesh from your bones. Oh Thisbe... I allowed you to suffer this cruel fate. It is I who is the beast. It is I who killed you.

Narrator: He lifted up from the trampled dust what was left of the cloak and kissing it again and again carried it to the mulberry tree.

Pyramus: Now, you shall drink my blood too.

Narrator: He had drawn his sword from its case which hung from his side. After which;

Pyramus: With the blade of this sword I shall end my life so that I may spend it with you my Thisbe. We shall resume our love in underworld’s Elysian Fields where I shall grieve no more. Take this you beast, Pyrmaus.

Narrator: He plunged it into his side. The blood spurted up over the berries and dyed them dark red. Thisbe, although terrified of the lioness was more terrified to fail her lover. Thisbe, after running away from the lioness, decided to go back to their tryst, the mulberry with the shunning white fruit. When she had returned to the exact spot where was seated waiting for Pyramus she blurted in surprise;

Thisbe: Where is it? Where is that tree so pompous and overbearing? That tree in whose bough hangs snow-white berries? Why, that tree, in my stare I could not find?

Narrator: She noticed something moved on the ground beneath the tree.

Thisbe: But wait. What is that shadow I see moving? Who are you? If you are a god pardon my insolence but if you’re not then show your face at once. I’m not afraid of you!

Narrator: But it did not respond nor move. But in a moment, peering through the shadows, she saw what was there. It was Pyramus, bathed in blood and dying.

Thisbe: Pyramus? What had befallen unto you? Speak! Let your lips whisper the same sweet words you used to whisper to me on that wall. Speak for my hearts bleeds for your voice. Burry me in the warmth of your embrace, flood me with your burning kisses. Spare me the sight of your eyes.

It is I, your Thisbe, your dearest.

Narrator: She cried to him. At the sound of her name he opened his heavy eyes for one look. Then death closed them.

Thisbe: (Shaking Pyramus’s body) No...! How could fate be scornful to us?!

Narrator: She saw his sword fallen from his hand and beside it her cloak stained and torn. She understood all.

Thisbe: Why allow this sword snatch life from you oh my Pyramus? No beast had devoured me. That hateful wall might have prevented our hands from touching each but you are now in my arms. Kiss me! Only that, your lips is no longer hot but pale and cold. If I mourn, I shall mourn eternally. But my mourning cannot retrieve the same hot blood which had once fueled your being. (She held the sword in her hands) This sword shall not only fierce my heart but shall also send me to where you are now my beloved. In this same tomb where Ninus is laid unto rest, shall also our tomb. Under this mulberry tree, the night shall witness me taking my own life.

Narrator: She plunged into her heart the sword that was still wet with life’s blood. The deep red fruit of the mulberry is the everlasting memorial of these true lovers.

~Fin~

Note:
Italicized words are not included in the word count since those are lifted from Edith Hamilton’s MYTHOLOGY; Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes


Total word count: 543