She is NEAR
On the 6th day of April 1994, a family celebrated a new life. A baby girl was born in a hospital in the heart of the city of Caloocan. The girl grew up to be a nice cute girl, well; she’s really cute because you can’t say her age if you base it on her height, by that I say she’s really small.
Years past and the girl turned four years old, her family moved to another city, a city far from the customs, language and traditions of the city she was born in. It was difficult to adjust at first but as years go by, she was able to adapt in the new environment she was in.
She started going to school at Ford Academy of the Arts, there, she learned different aspects of life, started working on her projects without her parents and sibling’s help. She also honed her talents in dancing and in different fields of art.
High school, a whole new experience. New circle of friends, new teachers and a whole new world compiled in a small school called Davao City National High School. There, she learned more about handling pressure and enjoying life without parent’s supervision. Organized programs with only her members to stand as manpower.
Scouting, an experience hard to forget and an addiction that’s hard to quit. This girl is a member of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines Davao City Council, she was able to go to different places and experience life as a hiker, a friend, brother and admirer. Well, maybe it’s because she admires a lot of people she knew in this activity it is mainly because they helped her overcome challenges and obstacles on this field. Because of scouting she also became a part of the BSP – Emergency Service Corps and undergone a lot of trainings to be able to learn things as a first aider. It really did make a lot of help to her; she became second family medic in their house. Why second? It is because her brother is a nurse and is more knowledgeable at this field.
First day in the dormitory. It was heck of a nerve tingling experience. She don’t know what to do first, it was her first time to be studying away from home. She will spend a lot of her time staying in this place. She must accept that the University of the Philippines is now her new home.
Things happen for reasons and those reasons, she’ll never know if she won’t try doing things prepared for her. She believes that her one and only God has a lot of things to give to her and she’s willing to wait until the time she’s able to give back to others.
This girl, knows a lot of people and a lot of people knows about her, but not her real name. she prefers to be called Near than being called by her real name. Why Near? Simple, she wants people to know that there is always someone near them to be of company whenever they need help. She wants to people to know that even if they are not with her, there is always someone near to call upon and share burdens of life. It may sound absurd but this deep meaning behind her nickname is the way she wants people to remember her. Who is she? She is Karen Joyanne Chua. She is Near.
A Place of Independence
I was sitting in a corner of my bedroom when suddenly I took a glimpse of the past 13 years of my life. It was one September afternoon of 1998; I woke up from my siesta and saw my papa carrying two huge bags. My mama was in the living room talking to her siblings and her mother, their eyes a bit teary. My brothers all dressed up while playing with my cousins. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw that I was also dressed up and seemed to be ready to go somewhere. Few hours later, my aunts called us and we proceed to the dining room. They also called the rest of the members of the clan, both Chua and Balagtas families were there. I ate a lot that time so I felt really sleepy but I tried to fight it so that I can see what really is happening because as far as I know, there wasn’t any occasion to celebrate that time. Before I totally fell asleep, I saw myself not home, I mean not inside our own house; I was in my granny’s house. Mom then approached me and said “Karen, it is about time, tell your cousins and aunts whatever you want to tell them and don’t forget to tell grandma that you love her.” It was then I realized that it may be the last time I can see these people and take step inside my granny’s house. I thought it would be a happy day but it turned out to be a sad one after I saw my relatives crying and I realized that it was a despedida. I was too sleepy that I fell asleep inside the car and when I woke up, I saw myself inside an airplane. I did not mind it at first but when it landed, there seem to be a voice inside my head that tell me that this is the first time I’ll take step in a place I’m not familiar with. It was the first time I will be away from the rest of my relatives. It was the first time I saw Davao. Since then, I was only given a chance to go back there during my grandfather’s cremation and during my two day visit there, I saw a lot of changes, I became unfamiliar to a place that I was once familiar with. It seems like I don’t have the feeling of coming back again. It seems that I just want to stay here, the place where my family started a new life without other relatives. The place of my family’s independence.
A REVIEW ON DEPARTURES
The dead are part of the living. As we can see in the story, only some people appreciate the beauty and how much help a casketer could be in a society. Well, maybe if we don’t talk of the sense that a casketer touches dead people, but if we talk about how much happiness and joy he could give the family of the one who died, including the soul of the person who died. Imagine he’ll depart the world clean and restored to his beauty. It seems to be a crazy idea but this practice really helps a lot in helping the families move on to the tragedy of losing someone important. It doesn’t only help in physical aspects but also in the emotional and mental aspects. As we can see, there are softer people who tend to go crazy after having a person near to their hearts die; it is actually a tragic phenomenon to a person, think again of the people who lost a loved one in a morbid way. Will they be able to move on seeing that their loved ones buried without being restored to a beauty? Of course not, it hurts not being able to do something to give justice even in a simple way of making the corpse’s appearance look better, this is where the casketers start to work. They do not only give and restore dead to more presentable and peaceful looks, they also give some prayers so that the soul will depart the world with protection and ease. As what we saw in the movie, Daigo only entered the job to earn money to sustain the needs of his wife Mika, but later in the story, he begin to love his job and he did not care what others would say, Mika was even disgusted when she found out that Daigo’s job was a casketer. Daigo’s close friend also looked down to him after hearing rumors about Daigo’s job but he eventually found out how this job made his friend so happy and the person he was once disgusted with was the one who made his mom beautiful before the burial. At the end of the story, Daigo found out that his father died, he noticed that two undertakers did not care at all and carry the corpse carelessly, he was furious and he wanted to process his dad’s body. He soon realized that being a casketer is not just a mere job for desperate peole who badly need jobs but it is a fate-led mission. A mission to make others realize how the dead were once a part of the living and as time goes by, they will always be part of the living and it will never be changed.
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