Miriam: In Memoriam
Rest in peace, Madam Santiago. Rest well, because you have fought a really good fight.
Miriam died. I had no idea such a distant person could have a tremendous impact in my life, in our lives. I got to see her hometown this year, thanks to my brother. It was just like everything else: same people breathing the same air. But how could such a person achieve such stellar positions and garner honor, so much honor, that would make a random combination of letters M, D, and S, have a meaning at all?
I know how it feels like to lose someone I hold dear to death. I am not a stranger to bereavement. But it does not contribute to lessen the pain I feel whenever another one succumbs to Hades. Many are in pain right now; I feel for you. I also cried as soon as I heard the news.
But blessed are those who mourn, Jesus said. At first I find His words bewildering. How in the world would losing someone be a blessing? You lose someone special. Why can’t it be someone else? Why does a good person have to suffer and die? I find no easy answer to this.
Personally though, it helps me relocate my true north. It shatters my misconceptions about life and reminds me of the things that really matter in this world. Miriam was poor compared to the other senators, but heck, I would never mourn for the others the same way I did for her. They may have passed laws which benefited us in many ways, but Miriam did something else. She had her self, and it was the thing she gave to us, generously, if you ask me. Everyone dies, but will everyone be remembered? Will we all be loved for the lives we lived, honored for the sacrifices we’ve made; mourned for, for the void we’re going to leave on the hearts of our beloved?
If I were to be asked, I think Miriam loved the Philippines a lot. But she loved herself more to the point that she would not care if she offended anyone by standing up for her personal convictions. I think that’s one of the things that I learned from her. That if I want to fight for what I believe in, then I should be willing to offend a couple of others who believe otherwise. We will all die, and I have no time to spend on pleasing people for the sake of self-esteem. And that’s okay, because if I compromise my convictions just for the sake of appeasing people, then the world would have lost another principled soul.
I wonder how many times she was torn between giving up because our country is ruled by greedy people, and pressing forward because there is so much work to be done for this country. But she always chose the latter, didn’t she? I don’t know if she read any leadership books, but she struck me as a very good leader. I once read that the people believe in their leader because the leader believes in the people. I believe that in the last moments of her life, she still did. She did her part and more; now it’s our turn.
Cry, mourn, and let your throats get raw and your eyes become too swollen to shed another tear. But after this, we have to get up. Let us spurn one another to love wisdom so we could cure ignorance. Set the bar really high in your respective fields, so we might feel disgust for mediocrity and procrastination. Love this country, all its ugly facets included, because this is what’s been handed to you. And hopefully, when our time is up, we can say, like Miriam, that we will accept our lot and that we won’t fight anymore, because we did, and we did what we can in the best way that we think possible.
I will remember Miriam not for her wit nor for her accomplishments, but for her love and integrity. And even though tonight we are mourning, but morning will come, and we will be rejoicing. If it brings any solace, I believe she’s there in the Dawn, dancing, gazing at the perfect Judge and asking Him questions about why we humans are so stupid and how He gets to love us regardless. I’m sure her questions are finally being answered right now; and she must know by now who God really and wholly is. I envy her.
She is one of those whom we could never deserve to keep. We have to let her go, for her soul is too big and too great for this world to contain.
Rest in peace, Madam Santiago. Rest well, because you have fought a really good fight.
You can now leave the rest to us. — by Jesus L. Dawal, Jr.
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