The parallelism of high tides and low tides to life

Photo by FJ

High tide and low tide are natural phenomena characteristic of the movement of the sea and is parallel to the status of human existence. "Mahubsan man gani ang dagat, ang dato pa kaha!" (If the sea had such lowest point as low tide, how much more are the rich!) Without a second thought, a neighbor carpenter blurted the maxim out to the rich pediatric Chinese-Filipino physician who asked on how the second family of his father-in-law fares in life economically as they happened to be the carpenter's neighbors living and renting on a house. The affluent M.D., who lives with his wife and daughters in an spacious house surrounded by still large lawn in a posh village over and above being a stockholder of a thriving agribusiness, could not refute the lowly man's straightforwardness but chuckled and said, "Sakto jud ka, "Noy!" (You said it right, Sir!) I know both of them and my neighbor shared this story with me from the conversation they both once had. "Ang tinood nga dato dili nagapaila nga sila dato!" (The real wealthy people camouflage the fact they are wealthy!) is another maxim expressing reality. Why not? Trumpeting and showing off your wealth is an invitation for burglars to eye you and family as prospects for kidnap for ransom and robberies. In the high tide of life, it is wisdom to keep a low profile and save money so that in the imminent low tide of life, we have savings to spend with. Remember Joseph The Dreamer's interpretation of the Pharaoh's dream of "seven years of plenty and seven years of famine"? Egypt was spared from hunger and famine by application of this God-given wisdom in the instrumentality of Joseph, the Hebrew slave-turned government official whose rank was second only to the Pharaoh. "Seven years of plenty and seven years of famine" is same expression as "high tide and low tide," contradictory yet inseparable realities in human lives, thus are inclusive to the rule or law of opposites. Similarly, investing in gold jewelries is wise investment concept to engage in as gold increases value over time; wearing the jewelries, however, is both naivety and pedestal-placing on one's part but the esteem one gains is pretension. More often than not, the "esteem" most give is drawn out of the bucket of self-interest: either in exchange for job, business, or debt opportunities. In the low tide of life, people laugh at you when jewelries are no longer dangling around your neck and banding around your wrists, fingers, ankles and what-have-you (piercings, perhaps). Once this scenario takes place, the general impression is: you have just placed your jewelries for safekeeping and ventilation of air-conditioned pawnshops and protection of security guards! Just live a static, economical life and be safe from the evil eye and scrutiny of the surroundings. Even so, the lure of keeping (and wearing) gold jewelries did not spare women pastors of a particular Christian denomination church, thus tempted a church worker-relative looting almost the whole bunch along with several 100 USD bills! Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 lists 14 passage "opposites" of life that express general truth and in verse 5 is written thus, "A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them" -- but let not the opportune time of "scattering" be by means of falling victims to thievery. In like manner, the law of opposites is expressed in the song "Gulong Ng Palad" (Wheel Of Fate), a Filipino immortal classic, in the polarity of "ups and downs" and "nights and days." Almost three decades ago, Charlene Gonzales, the Philippine representative to the home-court 1994 Miss Universe pageant that eventually wrapped her up the third spot, was known for her "high tide or low tide" remark in the pageant's interview portion. Asked how many islands make the Philippines, she asked back, "High tide or low tide?" which gathered applause and laughter among the crowds. The host guffawed and replied: "Give me both!" Gonzales, now married to actor Aga Muhlach, responded: "Well, in high tide, we have 7,107 (islands) and in low tide, we have 7,108 (islands)." The difference is only one island! Was she referring to the "Vanishing Island" off the coast of Island Garden City of Samal in Mindanao? The United Nations convention on the law of the sea defines an island as "a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide." According to an Inquirer columnist, the one-time P.I. figure was due to lack of "expert knowledge" to determine the actual numbers of and which qualify as official islands that make the Philippines as the experts have discovered to date -- viz. 7,641 total Philippine Islands, a difference of 534 islands from the former branding of 7,107 islands that the Philippines and the world grew up with and formerly knew for a long time. Allegorically, high tide hides diverse islands and islets of material jewels and treasures of the Philippines and low tide reveals its hidden, non-material treasures. Is it no wonder RP had braved the colonization of Spain, Japan and America through years of its history? And now PRC is inching its way via the contested West Philippine Sea, slowly giving credence to the veracity of the 1948 Lipa, Batangas Marian prophecy: "China's dream of invading the Philippines and the whole world." Nevertheless, the Francis papacy-led Vatican quashed the apparition's supernatural origin in 2016. Regardless, Filipinos can learn from the wisdom of round-the-clock shifting of the sea surrounding our archipelagic state: the law of the opposites or the parallelism of the high tides and low tides to life.

Photo by fjacinto