"I Have 27 Years"
Back in my Nursing student days, we had three classmates who
were second coursers, two of which were already married. The other one was
twenty-seven year old Meg. Back then, most of us were in our seventeenth year.
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| Waiting for our CHN bus, during the good old nursing student days! |
The age gap wasn't a problem for Meg because she easily got
along with us. She was happy-go-lucky and cheerful. As the saying goes
"familiarity breeds contempt", teasing and name-calling became the
norm for our class. Meg was taunted at as "Baynchiti[1]"
in reference to her age. I was one
of her daily teasers, taunting her about her age and like jokes. She was game
about it though and was never really angry at us. Sometimes, she would just say
back that one day we would turn twenty-seven, too. (But then of course, she
would always be “ahead” of us all the time!) But I never expected the day would
come that I would have a taste of my own medicine.
After I left the
Franciscans and transferred to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary for
budding diocesan seminarians, I found myself in the Pre-college program with
fellow brothers in their teenage years. I was twenty-six then. Most of them were
still sixteen. I suddenly realized how Meg had felt. Back in my old institute,
I was one of the younger friars. Now, in the diocesan seminary, I’ve been
labeled as one of the “oldies”.
My pre-college
seminary year has passed and I have recently turned twenty-seven. I now feel
the “ravages” that age puts upon you. My hair is thinning and I’m no longer as
active and fast as I used to be when I was seventeen. The lithesome movement of
youthfulness is gradually leaving me. My mind, my intellectual prowess, is no
longer “fast” as it was. Now, my brain has become slower and less receptive to
heavy loads of new information.
But besides all
that, a thought came to me: when one comes of age, one becomes wiser. This made
me realize how Italians say their age.
In English, one
would say “I am twenty-seven years old.” In Cebuano, one would say “Baynti
sete ko” (I am twenty-seven) or “Baynti sete ang akong edad” (My age
is twenty-seven.) But in Italian, it would be wrong to say “Sono ventisette”
(I am twenty-seven). One has to say “Ho ventisette anni” which literally
means “I have twenty-seven years”.
When I thought
about saying my age in English or Cebuano, it seemed as if I was frozen at that
certain age. It seems to say “I am what I am now”. Whereas, when I say “I have
twenty-seven years”, it seems to say that the accumulation of time, of the
years that I have lived, makes me who I am and what I am now.
Now that I have
twenty-seven years, I also have twenty-one years, I have sixteen years, I have
nine years, I have five years! All that I was from day one of my conception has
added up to all that I have become now. I am not frozen at a specific age. In
fact, I am all these ages!
Twenty-seven years
have passed since the day I was born. I have had a life wrought with experiences,
good and bad alike. There were highs and there were lows, sunny days and
tempests, too. As I am getting old and nowhere am I getting younger, I am
tempted to join the bandwagon of baby boomers who look upon time and age as a
blight of human existence. Age is something I have come to welcome, something I
have come to look forward to. I have come to look upon age, not as a continual decline
but as a chance to grow in wisdom and understanding.
A few days before
my birthday, I met Meg, her husband and her daughter lining up at a Jollibee
counter in the mall. I made a quick dash to her and told her, “Meg! I’m turning
twenty-seven!” She laughed and replied, “Carlo! I’m already in my thirties!”
She exclaimed cheerfully.
We both laughed,
reminiscing how we used to tease her about her age. Now it was our turn to be
twenty-seven! For her part, she looked as if she hadn’t aged at all. She has
led a very fruitful life and is now married to her long-time boyfriend and has
a beautiful daughter.
I have had
twenty-seven years. Will I have more? Only God can say and only time can tell. But
what matters most is that I will have years of a life well lived—a life gracefully
lived!
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