I Am Buraot

During the entire course of my life I have faced the most formidable things there can be: choices. I have had to face it, not once, not twice, but so many times I could hardly remember.

Why do we have to choose? Why do we have to ponder deeply, and waste so much time, effort and precious energy to such a lamentable task?

Why can’t we just be the fabled Filipino slacker and wait for the apple to fall off a tree and straight into our mouth? Why can’t we let things go on its natural course and wait? Continue Reading…

I tried to rearrange things. My fragmented thoughts, unsettled mind, unbalanced life. I still am trying to pick up the pieces. Shattered dreams, hopelessness, and the battle with pessimism.

Honestly, I do not know where to start…

Life itself is overrated. Hyped up and glorified like a wonder drug you often see on commercials. Death on the other hand is way way low. Like talking about it makes one feel such a loser, not worthy of what life has to offer.

The existing norm was to strive, pick up the pace, be more competitive, and get ahead of the pack. That was to be expected. Evolve or die. Continue Reading…

As usual, I was traveling alone, trying to discover the world with my very own eyes.

On one of my journeys, I passed by the combined desert lands of ancient Mesopotamia and Persia, the lands that brought the story of Genesis into life, the cradle of civilization, the land of the Pyramids and the Pharaohs, and the land of my father, Abraham.

I always wanted to go there. One clairvoyant Italian lady told me, years before, that I used to be an Arab prince on my previous life. Thought maybe I could live to be one in at least a couple of days.

But the truth is, I am in search of the mystical Arab trees…. Continue Reading…

February 25…. I was a tank.

With armored skin no bullet can ever pass through, I faced them. Them people I so loved. Them people who so loved me. Them people I so cherished and vowed to protect. Them people who were the reasons for my cold, pathetic and egotistical existence.

Yea, I faced them. But not in the usual way. Instead of facing the battlefield together, with them on my side, I now confront them. One by one.. piece by piece… body by body.. mind by mind… soul by soul… heart by heart.

I can’t dare move myself away from where I lie. Continue Reading…

The sea was calm, the wind was soft. Like a feather gently putting its lips on my weary brows, it slowly eases away the frown that was permanently etched on my face.

My world was quiet enough to let me savor my being alone. Like it knew that I had come from a far-away weary and dreaded place, giving me a chance to recuperate from my recent battle with the unknown.

For some reason, an unknown particle had collided with my war-torn self. And even the best team of doctors couldn’t quite figure out what it is. Leaving me no clue as to what it was, only the certainty of a whole load of bills to pay. Continue Reading…

I thought my I was done. My soul searching, my search for answers. I thought I was good enough. My experiences, my life skills. I thought I was wise enough. Been there, done that.

As always, I was wrong….

Years ago, I thought I have seen my soul. But now, poking through my own life, gazing through my very limited self, what I thought was my soul, to which I had seen countless times, was actually not the one I was hoping to see.

It was just the very shadow of  it. It was just a review of what I had become, and certainly not a glimpse of what would become of me. A shadow of my own self. Continue Reading…

In a world of gathering hate and intolerable differences, a world divided by race, culture, religions, dogmas and political beliefs, a world full of immeasurable wealth controlled by a few, a world full of industries with insatiable thirst for energy with utter disregard to its consequential effect, despite all these, we can never lose hope.

As I try to read over and over Martin Luther King’s famous speech, I can feel the pains of the struggle of the black people for racial equality and freedom. And despite this continuing struggle in a sea of hate and despair, people like MLK still managed to take the moral high ground and overcame hate. Continue Reading…