SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Reality rocks. Reality sucks. Reality trends. Reality is now-here, is nowhere. Reality is Heaven. Heaven is reality. A crazy and never-ending merry-go-round that makes it paramount for everyone to have a reality check. Reality bites. Realities in human being and human doing–one in the state of grace, the other in disgrace.
Reality shocks when one is too engrossed in human doing. It rends. It sent shock waves across the nation the way Angie shook the entire Filipino nation.
Felt betrayed, he took matters into his own hands to throw the Filipinos into national catharsis. Very typical of a human doing. A decorated military officer and a gentleman from sole to crown, he walked in the corridors of power. Personally and financially successful, he was the envy of ordinary people. Until one day, in the middle of a Senate investigation (humiliation in aid of congressmen’s self-aggrandizement and holier-than-thou attitude), he did a Richard Cory. He put a bullet into his heart in front of his mother’s grave for family and the warrior’s code of honor.
Pomp and power proved insufficient to cleanse the Augean stable, the nation of the stinking corruption. It corrupts everyone to the core of one’s soul.
Reality rocks especially when you are a Sillimanian. It captivates. It excites the way Alice is enjoying it for being a Sillimanian as it does for all the Sillimanians now living here in Sydney. Being Sillimanian is to live life in the spirit of thanksgiving.
Through Alice’s eyes as presiding officer, thanksgiving gave a jump-start to the SU Sydney Chapter meeting on 12th of February at the Sauer family home in Wentworth Falls.
Wentworth Falls is a town in the Blue Mountains. It is 100 kms west of Sydney, and 867m above sea level. Wentworth is worth the tourists’ while for its lakeside picnics, bush-walking, and historic buildings. It is where Walter and Lucy Sauer’s home is nestled. The cozy home has the character of a mystic and an artist.
The meeting started with Ciel reading what “Silliman Spirit” means by Rev. Dr. Lourdino A. Yuzon. According to Reverend Yuzon, it is the intangible and defining mark of Sillimanian’s being and doing.
Silliman spirit is Sillimanian ethos of faith and truth imbibed at the the SU classrooms, courts, and halls before the student roam the world near and far. Sillimanian immerses into the world as a person of faith and truth.
This is the story of Outstanding Sillimanian Awardees. Lucy Sauer is one. During the gathering, she showed fellow Sillimanians a room full of her OSA memorabilias in last year’s SU Founders Day. Soaring on eagle’s wings. Sillimanians present broke and belted the Silliman Song.
During the meeting, Anxy proposed for the Sydney Chapter to bid for next year’s Sillimanian Tipon. Why not? Silliman spirit is border-less. Tipon is gathering. Tipon is quickening of the gathering of Sillimanians as One–anytime, anywhere — coming together to be the potent salt of the earth and light of the world.
Creation-oriented and self-centered, reality rends. Creator-oriented and Christ-centered, reality rocks.
