It came on the morning on the 7th of the same month. The blistering early-morning attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan ignited the Pacific region where the US had a very commanding presence, the Philippines being one of them.
Thus, without delay Philippine residents all the way down to the island of Mindanao went on "evacuation" mode, fearing similar surprise attacks by Japan against US forces. In a week or so, my family and the rest of my father's family had quickly hied to their well-hidden haven in the hills, in the place called Taguanao.
Three weeks after Pearl Harbor I would be born under such trying conditions. It is related that the family had to send people to the town, maybe including even my father, by horseback to engage the services of the family doctor, in the cover of dawn. To stealthily ride into a city that had now largely been shuttered and deserted.
Now we know that conflagration raged like wild fire for many years, at great sacrifices of men and material.
Thus, 80 years ago, I came into this world very inauspiciously, with everybody else focused on and mindful of the ongoing war.
Four score is a long time to reckon and take account.
But we all try our best to justify our continued existence, and assess our relative worth as stewards to this blessed land of God. And hope that our continued living is justified.
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My own thought for the day lent to the written word:
A LESSON IN LIFE
The greatest gifts we can give are neither touched nor fondled.
Neither wrapped nor bundled.
Because of their very nature, neither get tarnished nor soiled.
Neither diminished nor roiled.
Beyond the grasp of ashen being, they endure time and space.
And the vagaries of petty human caprice.
Transcending puny aspirations, rising to eventual rapture.
Which bring nods of assent of our Creator.
They are the unnoticed deeds we churn out daily in solitude.
Hoping for a change in our attitude.
Attempting to leave the world a little godly than we entered it.
A consummation, we devoutly wish it.
