Like the Flowing River

If you have read a book with the same title, and assumed that this is an inspiration from that book; authored by pareng Paulo Coelho, you’re certainly mistaken if you thought of something else. Yeah, since, what happened the day I wrote this was something that went like the flowing river. Well, something like that.

Asking something you do not know is logical since the purpose of asking is to elicit answer. But just like an unexpected opening of a sentence in a paragraph, you’d be surprised when an innocent question is answered by an experienced answer. An answer that brings a lot of frustrating experiences. Experiences like going to school thinking you will be the earliest one to arrive only to find out there are no classes. As well as experiences like doing the best you can to win the girl you constantly think about, but after the millionth time walking her home and asking for the trillionth time if you’d be more than friends, she would answer, “Sorry, I like you but…” Yeah, those kinds of experienced answers.

Or in the Philippines, answers that make you go “NYAY! Powtek naman oh!?”

I was clarifying something that I did not know, something about the system of having leaves of absences. However, instead of being enlightened about such stuff, I was reprimanded of not filing my leave of absence as soon as possible.

I admit it was a mistake on my part (for not filing so soon). But given the circumstances, was it really possible to file a leave of absence as soon as possible? Would it be possible to say you will be absent tomorrow because you know you will be bringing your grandpa to the hospital, even though he’s perfectly fine today? Is it possible to say that, “I will be having colds tomorrow;” even though you are perfectly fine today? Is it possible to redefine the meaning of emergency, abrupt and out-of-nowhere?

Thus, the question about such system of filing your leave of absence.

Seeing the futility of arguing and creating a fuss over a problem that requires a systematic overhaul (and not a singular burst of words), I just let it pass, even though my ears were getting red, and I was around 50 degrees Celsius inside. Like the flowing river, I let my anger and frustration pass through. I wasn’t enlightened by the answers (plural) to my query (singular), but I had to let the feeling arising from it flow.

Look at the clouds, though it would seem like two people facing off to settle their problems in combat. Blink and you’ll see them running to embrace and plant seeds of love and understanding. Let the moment pass for we do not live for one moment alone, but for all the moments to come. I did not blame the lady who answered me since I realized that the problem is a lot more complex. So complex, I can’t understand it well (yet).

So I just went out of the office, let the experienced answer go, get a drink, write about it, and rest later. Solving the bigger problem however would need another day.

In case you haven’t read Paulo Coelho’s collection of stories, well, you know what to do. 😉