Isang hapon, galing ako sa bahay ng isang matalik kong kaibigan. Medyo lasing pa ako konti noon dahil sa sapilitang pagpapalaklak sa aking ng isang bote ng red horse stallion. Medyo yucky nga, kaya lang, pinipilit talaga ako eh. Sabi ko naman sa sarili, “okay lang. Maraming mga buwan pa naman bago kami ulit magkita nitong kaibigan kong ito.” Pagsakay sa jeep, tiningnan ko yung mga mukha ng mga pasahero. Nakakatawa nga, minsan sa pagtingin ko, bigla nalang nagiging kambal o tatluhan ang mga ito. Siguro, epekto ito ng pagkalaklak ko ng red horse. Yucky talaga, naiwan pa yung lasa ng mapaklang beer na yun.
Kumuha agad ako ng barya para makapagbayad na at maiwasan ang pagkalimot ng pag bayad. Kasi naman, maraming beses at pagkakataon na’ng nakakalimutan kong mag-abot ng abuloy sa nagsusumikap na tsuper ng dyip. Maya’t maya, may mga bagong pasahero’ng sumasakay. Tinitingnan ko na naman isa-isa yung mga mukha nila, malay natin, may kakilala pala ako. At aba! Meron nga! Siya si Hero, isang kaklase ko sa major subject ko sa UP. Presko tingnan, mabango, at guwapo pa rin siya. Hinding-hindi ko makakalimutan ang mga magaganda naming samahan sa kanyang boarding house at sa eskwela. Lagi ko syang ka-groupmate, kakopyahan, at ka-asaran. Masaya sya kasama. At sa haba ng tatlong taon pagkatapos kong lisanin ang UP, ngayon ko lang sya nakita ulit. Nakita nya rin ako at hindi ko makakalimutan ang hanggang-tengang ngiti nya nang makita nya nga ako. Kung sya ay hanggang-tenga, ako naman kay hanggang batok ang ngiti..halos nga siguro mapunit ang bibig ko sa pag-ngiti eh. “Keep your cool” ang sabi ko sa sarili. Baka anong isipin ng taong yun. Nagkakwentuhan kami, at nalaman kong umalis na rin pala sya ng UP pagkaraan ng isang sem na umalis ako. Napansin kong 7×7 ang buhok nya, yun pala, nag PNPA na sya. Natawa ako kasi sa pagkakaalam ko, napaka-matatakutin nitong tao na ‘to. Maraming beses nga nyang niyaya ako na samahan sya sa boarding house nya kasi natatakot sya sa multo at aswang kasi nga may malaking balete na nakaharap sa boarding house nya. Masaya ang aming kwentuhan. Nawala nga sa isip ko na lasing ako. Anyway, napansin kong malapit na pala ako sa bahay…sayang..baka hindi ko na sya makita, pero kelangan ko ng bumababa eh. Nagdecide ako na itetext nalang namin ang isat-isa. Nung nakababa ako, sumigaw sya ng “Hoy! Cellphone number mo??”.. kinuha ko agad ang wallet ko para makuha ang calling card ko, pero sa pagkaabot ko, sabay namang tumakbo ang jeep, papalayo. Sayang talaga.
Having friends that are loyal, honest, and caring.
Having friends that give you joy
Ice cream and Peanut-butter sandwiches
Slippery roads during rain
Getting wet during a storm
Experiencing the fun of walking barefooted under the heat of the sun
Spelling your name in the sand
Swallowing ounces of sea water while swimming
Getting wounded and bruised while riding the bike for the first time
Crying because of your mother’s belting
Knocking-out your bully classmate
Getting yourself on detention
Jaywalking
Eating popcorns until you choke
Spending time alone
Having a movie marathon with friends
Taking time to develop piano skills
Drumming and playing to the beat
Making faces in front of children
Giving food to the street kids
Memorizing notes from class
Backbiting the professor
Making huge projects and presentations
Eating rice and rice alone in breakfast
Laughing your lungs out while in the dinner table ’til some of the food comes out of your nose
Drinking coffee and hot chocolate
Walking with a friend in the park
Texting your crush
Patting a dog’s head
Hugging your pet dog
Hugging pillows and rolling yourself in the bed
Laughing with friends and family
Going from one place to another
Counting the stars
Looking for constellations
Analyzing an Algebraic expression
Answering the telephone
Sitting with legs crossed
Drinking Ethyll alcohol
Thinking aloud
Forgiving the enemies
Loving the foes
Keeping secrets
Hearing the rushing of the river
Listening to the sounds of crickets
Keeping friends
Working hard
Loving one’s self
Accepting your strengths
Accepting your weaknesses
Developing your character
Schooling
Listening to the advices of others
Respecting neighbors
Giving thanks to the Lord always
Being happy.
The definition below was taken from wikipedia.org
Schizophrenia (from the Greek word σχιζοφρένεια, “split mind”) is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by impairments in the perception or expression of reality and by significant social or occupational dysfunction. A person experiencing schizophrenia is typically characterized as demonstrating disorganized thinking, and as experiencing delusions or hallucinations, in particular auditory hallucinations.
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Three weeks ago, my friend Jofe and the rest of her class have gone to Davao Mental Hospital for a two-week exposure around patients who have mental disorders. She says that the mental hospital is complete of different cases. Cases such as Mood disorders, Anxiety disorders, Paranoia, Schizophrenia and other psychological-related disorders are present in the said Mental Hospital. Jofe and each of her classmates has one particular patient to handle for the whole two weeks. Jofe is handling, FunnymanFunnyman silently. Hahaha.. Of course–there’s no truth in that. I just love teasing her. Hahahaha.. Jofe and the rest of her classmates were all handling schizophrenic patients. Hallucinations/delusions are expected from them. That’s why, I find it hard to imagine how bad a schizophrenic’s world is. Having to separate the rational from the irrational. Having to dissect reality from fictitious thoughts. Having to believe that they’re mentally-ill. which she is so fond of. I even tease Jofe to be liking
Currently schizophrenia has not been cured although many psychiatrists and psychologists believe that it can be managed.
(wikipedia.org) Schizophrenia is said to be irreversible, but as it is said, it can be managed. Through the use of medications and other treatments, schizophrenia can be managed by any patient. As long as they have the medicines, they are quite alright.
Last 2004, my classmates from UP, our SocSci3 Prof, and I had the chance to visit the Davao Mental Hospital. I had the chance to talk to these mentally-ill patients, observe and have fun with them. There are some patients who like to socialize and have fun. There are also some who are short-tempered and who doesn’t want to continue on what they were doing (something for occupational therapy). There were also some who neglected us even to the last minute of the visit. Those were the ones who chose to isolate their selves from the crowd that we were making. I also have observed that most of the patients have this uncontrollable mannerisms that makes them look either funny or weird. Some are doing the same things over and over again. Like walking right here and there, more than a hundred times. I have experienced only around three hours being with these kind of people, but, it was a helluva ride. Sometimes, you forget that these people are mentally-ill and start to trust and believe that what they were saying is true. In the long process of the conversation, you enjoy her company and her stories, but later, you realize that what she was trying to drive at is not possible, and that it is a mere imagination only. So, here you are now, trying to dissect everything that you’ve heard, process it so that you will be able to understand, separate the truth from the untrue, and finding yourself in the middle of being lied to and the belief that what you have heard was the truth. You catch yourself again, bringing with you the fact that whom you’re talking with is mentally-ill and just convince yourself that everything you’ve heard is pure imagination so that you’ll not suffer from extreme headache or worse, migraine. After the visit, we went to the nearest Mall to relax and cool ourselves down.
As what I have learned from my 2004 Mental Hospital visit and backed up recently from Jofe, this institution is having a minimal support from the government and also from the the families of the patients. As Jofe and I were sharing our insights, she told me something that made me think too. She said that a possible reason behind the low-funding of the government towards public mental institutions is that the Philippine government, considering its economic status, would not give a high priority towards mentally insane people because most of these people have cases that are irreversible, and thus, at the moment is not curable. Why would the government invest or spend such huge amount on them that many lives in some Public General Hospital needs this money more than these mentally ill people do? There are a lot of children in hospitals that needs more medical attention, which of course involves money. Children can be saved and they still have future..but for schizophrenics like Funnyman, future is as unreal as their delusions. I would just like to commend Jofe of having the heart to serve the mentally-ill, which she says, if she’s going to be rich, she will start a foundation on the mentally-ill group. I know that she learned a lot during her Mental Hospital exposure–a lot that could last for a lifetime.
A week ago, I came to understand better about schizophrenia when Jofe and I watched a documentary film, courtesy of Discovery Channel, about Schizophrenia. Since it is a documentary, interviews from schizo patients, their families, doctors, and scientists were done. I learned that most of the schizophrenia patients have genetically acquired the said illness. Environment and Lifestyle, of course, triggers the illness. What’s interesting is, schizophrenia patients mostly are aware that they have the illness. This leads me to the thought of how great and wide the capacity of our brain is.
Yesterday, I bought my own original copy of the movie A BEAUTIFUL MIND starring Russel Crowe. It was such a very wonderful movie. It tells the life story of John Nash, only emphasizing the brilliance of his mind, love, and his sickness, schizophrenia. I’d like to end this entry by quoting from one of the movie’s lines (This line was said by Russel Crowe (John Nash) while giving his acceptance speech on his Nobel Prize) Here it is:
“What truly is logic, who decides reason? My quest has taken me through the physical, the metaphysical, the delusional, and back. And I have made the most important discovery of my career, the most important discovery of my life. It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logical reasons can be found. I am only here tonight because of you. You are all I am. You are all my reasons.”
**the “You” in the line is referred to Alicia, John Nash’s wife.
