By Sherwin Gabrinez, Jr.
It was the most intense part. He failed to stop the second missile and it has now caused a massive earthquake in the west coast. Somewhere in California, the lady is trapped inside her car after it falls in a crack created by an aftershock. Dirt rushes into her car and inevitably suffocates her. Then she is no more.
The hero is enraged. He was unable to save his love. So he did the next logical thing: circle the globe backwards. With that, he reverses the Earth’s rotation and moves time backwards. After a few what would have been dizzying rounds, he is finally able to alter history and ultimately save her.
It was the most intense part not because of the love-conquers-all-even-time thing; it was the reverse-earth’s-rotation-so-you-can-bring-back-time thing. Bring. Back. Time. And with the week I had, that would be one awesome power.
I saw the movie when I was seven or eight. Young. No worries about the world. During elementary, I never had to worry about projects then because you know the teachers won’t be failing you anytime soon. You can always just do one a day before the deadline. Content and coherence be damned. You just submit and that is somehow it. I was sheltered then, very sheltered.
College, now that is a different world. Turns out, the world is indeed full of worry. Times like this, I wish I had some of the Kryptonian genetics and be able to go back in time and teach my old self the value of effective time management. Key word: effective.
Some of my classmates have organization and time management genes that are really defined. We are talking sticky notes in every notebook and small notebook handy for a to-do list. I don’t even have a pen half the time I go to school. Add to that the fact that procrastination is a constant paramour.
There’s this battle in my head if my parents are to blame. If they have been a bit stricter with following deadlines. If they had just pushed me harder like some of my classmates had been. Maybe, I’d fare better now. But, come to think of it, the lack of the abovementioned ifs gave me a freer childhood. I was never pushed to become number one, so I just performed in school by my rules with no pressure. Somehow, that method brought me here.
“Is this nature versus nurture?” I find myself getting philosophical. Or am I just finding another excuse?
My world right now is all hustle and bustle and deadlines and expectations. And it is hard to cope with its acceleration. It’s all too reminiscent of Koyaanisqatsi – an avant-garde film on the frenzied speed that life is taking. Interesting fact though, the film was done in 1982. The title of the film is from the Hopi people and it means “life out of balance.”
Jaded as it may be, but the people who told of the importance of time were on to something. Superman, the Christopher Reeve kind if you want to be specific, knows that first hand. I can’t afford to fly out in space and circle the Earth, time and space continuum be damned, so I’ll just try and float with all these requirements and maybe if I have enough strength, dog-paddle my way to some sort of vacation.
I don’t know if I am Lane or Kent in my story. Somehow, there is this nagging feeling at the back of my head that I won’t be solving my predicament anytime soon. So, it is decided, I’ll just be trying my best to breathe and make it out alive. How about my sanity? Let’s leave that to Heisenberg.
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