Recently, my Facebook feeds have been barraged with posts about the demise of one of Philippine cinema’s finest actresses — Ms. Jacklyn Jose.
I am not a movie person, not a fan of the actress, nor do I follow any of her pages or accounts. Thus, I was a little bit annoyed when every time I scrolled my Facebook, I would always see photos of her, film clips, pictures of her wake, or people saying nice things about her.
The exasperation that I felt wasn’t exactly seeing her photos. It came from the fact that all of a sudden, people were praising her, saying how good of an actress she was, or how devoted a mother she has been. All of a sudden, people are coming out to say their pieces, to say how much she was loved, or how much they respected her as an artist.
My question is – why only now when she’s already dead? When she was alive, she was among the most underrated movie performers we had. While there were awards and verbal praises, these came in trickles and drips. But now that she’s no longer around, praises and recognition are overflowing.
Is it our nature to wait for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmases, or Valentine’s Day, or worse, the vigil of a loved one, for us to verbalize our affection and show our fondness to people we care about?
Waiting for the perfect moment
All too often, we find ourselves ensnared in the deceptive notion that love is best expressed on special occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, or perhaps in the wake of significant life events. This propensity to wait, to reserve our affection for designated moments, is a precarious gamble with time, and all too frequently, it exacts a toll far heavier than we could ever anticipate.
Picture this – a family gathers around a table adorned with flickering candles, celebrating a loved one’s birthday. There is laughter and embraces, heartfelt sentiments exchanged like treasured heirlooms. Yet, amidst this fleeting warmth, there lingers an unspoken truth – the rarity of such gatherings, the scarcity of these cherished moments.
It is a paradox of the human condition – our capacity to love is boundless, yet so often restrained by the shackles of routine and complacency. We wait for the perfect moment, the opportune occasion, to articulate our love, oblivious to the fragility of time, the uncertainty of tomorrow.
How many times have we silenced the whispers of our hearts, relegating expressions of love to a distant tomorrow? How many heartfelt words have been left unsaid, buried beneath layers of apprehension and procrastination?
Therein lies the tragedy – the epiphany that dawns too late, when the object of our affection has slipped beyond the veil of mortality, leaving behind a symphony of unspoken words and unfulfilled promises.
Defy the tyranny of waiting
In the annals of human history, there exist countless tales of love deferred, of souls burdened by the weight of regret. We mourn the passing of loved ones with aching hearts, haunted by the realization that we squandered precious opportunities to convey our love, to express our gratitude, while time stood still.
Amidst the shadows of remorse though, there glimmers a beacon of hope – a poignant reminder of the fragility of life, the urgency of seizing each moment with unwavering resolve. For love knows no boundaries, no constraints of time or circumstance. It is an ever-flowing river, nourishing the parched landscapes of our souls, transcending the confines of mortality.
Let us vow, then, to break free from the shackles of inertia, to defy the tyranny of waiting for special occasions to shower our loved ones with affection. Let us cultivate a culture of appreciation, where every moment is an opportunity to celebrate the beauty of human connection, to bask in the radiance of love’s eternal flame.
For in the final reckoning, it is not the grand gestures or lavish displays that define the essence of love, but rather the simple acts of kindness, the heartfelt words whispered in the quiet recesses of the heart. Let us not wait until it’s too late or when the cold embrace of mortality makes our words meaningless reverberations in the void.
Instead, let us embrace each moment as if it were our last. For in the end, it is love – pure, unadulterated, and unconditional – that transcends the boundaries of life and death, illuminating the darkest corners of our existence with its timeless brilliance.
Let us not wait, because it might just be too late.
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