An alarm clock is not meant to offend but as a reminder for something we might forget – anniversaries, birthdays, reunions, debts, bills payable, etc. May the sound of revelries and merriments of the new year serve as an alarm clock for all of us to remember our duties and obligations to our families and to society. Start the year right! Abandon bad habits! Avoid toxic people! Love yourself more! Pray without ceasing! Remember God is good all the time. Like the mythical Santa Claus, God “sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you are bad or good so be good for goodness’s sake.”
Some people, especially the elderlies tend to forget many things in their daily activities like keys, eyeglasses, maintenance medicines, even the names of their neighbors. That is part of growing old. The sad part is when progressive dementia sets in because no amount of alarm can bring back their memories. But I guess not all old people suffer from dementia. Many got old but not senile like my grandmother who died at the age of 100. My mother is turning 90 and can still go to the grocery store alone and unguarded. Perhaps senility is hereditary so I have to be thankful it doesn’t run in my blood.
The alarm clock I am talking about is not the literal clock you hang on your wall, or one you place on your bed’s side table, or one you carry on your pocket, but something that reminds you of someone or some events and it comes in many forms – music, photos, voice, scents of perfume, sound of the falling rain, flowers, etc. Believe me, all of these can bring back memories of yesteryears.
I have this penchant of remembering people by the song that I hear. When Luciano Pavarotti and Charlotte Church songs are being played, I remember my son Mike; when it’s hard rock, I can feel Jeff as if he is just beside me. All the people close to me have a particular song in my heart that reminds me of them like an alarm clock. Here are some of them: former Judge Amy Belulia – Monalisa; Palasig – Destiny; Joy Alvero – Are You Lonesome Tonight; Judge Loida Capuno – Knife; Preciosa Macapuso and late Judge Joselito de la Rosa – Saan Ka Man Naroroon; Mayor Vicente B. Amante – Sana’y Wala ng Wakas and Sandy Belarmino – Totoy Bibo.
It may sound crazy but it’s true. Try it. I’m sure you will remember a particular person or event in a particular song or when you are browsing a family photo album. Start with Auld Lang Syne and for sure you will suddenly reminisce about your graduation days in high school and in college and will soon find yourself traveling down memory lane with a smile on your face.
Life could still be hard even during this new year because the pandemic is not yet over and many parts of the country are devastated, but with kindness and hope in our hearts, we can take it as an alarm clock to remind us of our dwindling relationship with God so we can have a better life ahead. Let us all pray for peace and progress in our beloved country.
Have a prosperous New Year.
The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali. Photo Credits: Wikipedia
