Intro: My Inspiration behind writing

That was 1991 at age eleven I got the glimpse of the life of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino through a book which I found in one of the book shelves of my uncle- the former Associate Justice Leonardo A. Quisumbing.  From what I’ve learned about Ninoy’s life and his fight for freedom against Marcos dictatorship (Philippines) transcends a social awareness within me on how radical was the fight of Ninoy for freedom and how freedom should be fought, that all started the consciousness within  me to become a radical person.  There I go again after six years, as a college freshman I come across a saying “Love is a precious gift. Love is like a plant. You just can’t leave it and put it in a cupboard. You have to water it and nurture it” and only to found that it was written by John Lennon. Oh I told myself at age seventeen then, this British rocker make sense, little did I know about John Lennon-  a Beatles band member, so I got interested in knowing John and found out that He also engaged in a fight but his fight was against war and advocated PEACE. He took advantage of being a famous musician and revolted against the US government through his music and radical means.  John Lennon and his lover Yoko Ono is one in the fight against war particularly the Vietnam War and had some successful runs against the US government.  As I got acquainted with John’s life, I am reminded of Ninoy Aquino because I found some similarities with their personalities, the way they talk – the fighting spirit and intelligence was there and they both also have eyeglasses as their famous trademarks, but deeper than that, they both have a meaningful and worthy fight against their respective governments and they both died of assassination because of their socio-political idealism and cause.  John was assassinated when I was one year old in 1980 while Ninoy when I was 4 yrs old in 1983 but their spirit lives on.

John and Ninoy are the two people whom I admire and had been my inspiration while I was growing up. Just like John Lennon, I love expressing myself through writing and I love music which could have made me a musician like him, if only music runs in my blood but It wasn’t in my case.  I thought now that without a talent in music was a blessing for me, because I might have drown myself into something worst, knowing the local music trend and local influences are mostly into substance abuse and the absence of music in my blood made me stick to writing without a tune. I believe that God has designed me to be a writer and not to be a musician.  Aside from the two fellows who inspire me in writing, a classmate and friend in high school opens up my eye to be serious about writing as he continues to influence me and amaze me with his own writings.  He made me thought of “if he can do it, I can do it too and can be better than him if I want to.” Through his influence, I started writing poetries to girls I liked and started writing anything under the sun, from love to social issues and that started my writing interest in a different level.  Since then, writing has become my way of expressing my love and an outlet to my soul.

I admit that my affection towards a girl is my weakness, considering that when I do fall in love – I fall so deep and that’s always been the case for me.  That’s one reason why I am so prone to depression when I fail to be loved in return or when relationship has to end. Indeed, the way I love a girl has been my weakness, but I thank for all the bitterness and melancholies that I went through because it has deepen my understanding about love and life itself.  But now, all those tears, heartaches, emotional pain and depression only mean one thing – I deserve the best girl!  That is my fiancee, lover, partner and friend(my han), though we have to fight for our relationship from judgments against me.  We stood firm and fought for our relationship, so we’re getting there and winning in our fight and soon we will seal it with marriage, as a sign of victory!

I think God has sent me this girl to help me transform and put direction into my life. She is someone who satisfies my longing for love and care. She is someone who neutralizes my aggression. She is someone who gives me all out support and often spoils me.  She is someone whom I admire so much as a lover and became my great inspiration.  My source of inspiration has evolved, from Ninoy Aquino to John Lennon and now my one great Inspiration in writing is my Fiancee, because of the way she lives her life, the way she stood by me in the midst of my hopelessness, the way she showed her heroic love for me, the way she listens to me when I’m bursting of words and the way her fighting spirit emanates in me.  Even our religions didn’t matter to us, she is a Roman Catholic and I am a protestant (S.D.A.), but we still pray together and we didn’t allow that differences to put aside our love,  that alone assures how great this love we have.  But our journey wasn’t that easy and wouldn’t be possible without my ultimate mentor and inspiration, the God up above in heaven!  And of course, not to mention my parents and brother who taught me life the way I’ve learned it now. Thank God and to all who inspires me big time, I wouldn’t be the person that I am now without you all.