On Not Running Away...

I went to New York September of 2006 to attend some World Economic Forum in the Church Center of the United Nations for almost the whole of October.  Even when the forum is only for about a month, I asked for a four months visa... I was going to spend some time with my grandmother who's staying in long Island, and I also want to get to see the country, after all, it is my first time to visit and it is not easy to get a another visa to the US! 

Perhaps, it is because of this, not being easy to get into the US, and probably also of the ever present "American Dream", that my uncles in NY and cousins in Chicago pester me every now and then NOT to go back to the Philippines!  

They could arrange everything, they said, there are ways they said, more opportunities here, they said, higher paying jobs than in the Philippines. I wasn't really interested in what they were saying... 

Well, not until after the forum ended in October when I got to see the country in all its wonder and glory! I went around Las Vegas & experienced the lights, sounds & life only the Fabulous Las Vegas can offer; I was able to see the Grandness of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and saw the magnificence of God's creation; I walked on the boardwalk & shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean while grasping the depths  of my friend, Paolo's spirituality; had my first Thanksgiving experience with cousins & other long lost relatives in Chicago and realizing the unity & oneness that the celebration was truly about; drove the interstate from Chicago to California with my cousin Patrick, and, while listening to how he is doing this to "follow his heart" I am seeing the beauty of the country that even some of it's citizens have never yet seen in one journey... from the valleys to the prairies, the continental divide, mountains of Wyoming, salt flats of Utah, played with snow for the first time in Nevada, saw winter-wonderland in Lake Tahoe and fall in love with San Francisco!

Before i knew it, i was torn between doing the right thing and going back to my job (which brought me here in the first place); and taking my relative's prodding seriously and staying in this Big Beautiful country!  

I was in that confused state of mind when i got to know him... well, not really "know", just got the chance to read an excerpt of his talk to his staff, as the then (2nd) Secretary General of the United Nations, his name is Dag Hammarskjöld.

Yeah, like most of you, I haven't really known of him except for the fact that the UN library is named after him so he is probably one of the big man there before.  Well I'm sure I encountered his name in Social Studies before but I really find it hard to remember or even pronounce.  

Anyways, I was then walking along the halls of the UN perplexedly... discerning deeply... would this be my last time to walk inside this grand institution or would I allow myself to be swayed by a promise of a "better" lifestyle by staying in this country of abundant opportunities? 

All of a sudden I came face to face with this wall exhibit. After reading one hanging poster, i was so struck by what it said (even took a picture of it, not even asking if its allowed or not).

I am overcome by emotions I had to stop myself from crying right there in the corridors of the UN library. I immediately tried to look for the exit, but before doing so i presented myself to this table (I usually ignore before when exiting the UN compound); and there, surrendered my UN badge (issued to me so you can officially enter UN premises and not limiting you to just the tourist areas inside).  

As I went out the gates of this international territory and stepped into the pavement of 1st Avenue, New York, US territory, I never felt more sure and more eager to go home and go back to my job...

This is what this poster says:

“ It is false pride to register and to boast to the world about the importance of one’s work,

but it is false humility, and finally just as destructive, not to recognize     

– and recognize with gratitude –  that one’s work has a sense. 

Let us avoid the second fallacy as carefully as the first, 
and let us work in the conviction that our work has a meaning  beyond the narrow individual and has meant something for man.”  

- Dag Hammarskjöld

As I cross the street I took, perhaps my last picture, for the time being, with the UN Center as background and leisurely walked to Penn Station.  As I walked I was thinking of our agency & planning excitedly how I would impart the lessons I learned from the forum, from different people I met from different parts of the world, and the awesome, spiritual journey I went through on this often viewed as very materialistic country.

This time, with strong conviction & realization that our problems and successes, wherever we are on earth, are interrelated & interconnected! And, that the little we do as an agency for the least of our people in our own city of Davao, will be doing something for our country and consequently do something for the world!

"Life only demands from you the strength you possess.  Only one feat is possible -- not to have run away." - Dag Hammarskjold