stop on a dime
Awake in a snap of a finger. Awaken by an unknown cause. Yanked out from the world of Morpheus and dumped back into the world of reckless abandon called reality.
“Open your eyes”. Someone whispers to me. And like a knee-jerk reaction, I open the windows to my soul. Only this time it is my soul that takes a peek outside.
Sunrays cut my room. One corner lies asleep, cradled by the dark that is now stealthily drifting away. And another corner gleams, jolted by the riveting light…nature’s caffeine.
Under the stringent scrutiny of the sun, and ditched by the mystery rendered by the night before, my room reveals its unruly nature. A place ransacked by the frustrations I carry with me from behind that door, and confusions I drag with me from beyond these walls .
It’s a filthy room, but it’s loyal to me so I like it.
Outside this anarchic space, greater chaos awaits, tempting me to join the bandwagon of the cutthroats disguised in…
coats…
ties…
handshakes…
and smiles…
Busy streets.
Busy phone lines.
Busy feet.
Busy hands.
Busy people.
It’s a fast-paced world trapped in its own game—a race. One big sophisticated race for survival. And the world has become dependent on it. It’s like dope. The more you sniff, the more you need to go faster.
In this uncompromising empire if you don’t move you’ll die, and if you start moving you have to continue moving. It gives new light to Newton’s Law of Inertia.
Lately the race has become more and more injurious. Those who cannot keep pace have been trampled upon by the ruthless stampede of the unsympathetic majority.
I can hear it outside. The deafening horn of the jeepnies. The roar of engines, which I imagine comes from smoke-belching buses. And a manong hollering putang ina mo magnanakaw ka!
Yes, it’s another day and the race has begun anew.
I have a theory.
One day, if this chase doesn’t slow down, the world will have a heart attack and die. If it doesn’t pull-over to pick up those who have been crushed aside, it will stumble on its own feet.
In this room time is frozen.
I can stare all day at the dust particles floating in the sunrays and no mad dash will step on my face to crush me. I can have my daily arcane contemplation on my purpose in all these madness.
I like it here.
I like it here because after painstakingly joining the pack of the racing mob outside all day, I enter this room and everything…
…stops on a dime.
