Soaring High

By Rolo B. Cena
Arabian Diaries
Dumaguete Star Informer
30 August 2009

Contrary to most beliefs, life is not that easy working overseas. Specifically, life of OFWs in Arab countries is as tough as fighting against the leftists in the secluded and treacherous island of Basilan; as perilous as trekking the mystical Mount Cristobal of Quezon Province; and as precarious as scuba-diving the shark infested underwater of Mindoro Strait.

Conversely, life of all migrantes is as uncertain as navigating the mysterious Bermuda Triangle or traversing the Black Hole in the Universe. It is as risky as doubt and fear we naturally face everyday.

But life in the Mid-East must perpetually go on as dynamically as the wheel in motion. And this means, perpetuating life creatively and innovatively by all means. We feel we must not stop otherwise all sort of life ends; we must in fact soar high under the Arabian skies no matter how humid it is.

Soar means to ascend. Yes, ascending is one great yet risky task to do. As migrantes alienated from loved ones, we have to ascend from the bottom of our conditions, whatever these may be, to be on top of the situation. The situations or conditions we are into now in this part of the globe are in our hands. We can either make it or we can’t. The thing is: the ball is in our hands and it has become ours to call the shots. In calling the shots, just consider the ill effect or the consequence of our courses of actions to our contractual obligation and life overseas.

I have one strong recommendation to make and for everybody to take note: we can never offset the whole universe without paying the price.

Soar means to fly. Without wings, we can. Our spirit to live life free of doubts and nuisances can lead us to fly. As migrantes, we can always fly. I believe we can fly as high as the birds up in the sky for as long as we are guided by the foundations we learned from daily life. Flying does not necessarily mean to put on wings or to take an air stride. Flying is relatively simple: take into your mind all things you want to do, let your mind and spirit focus, and fly along with it.

Just take note: make sure to land back to the same ground where you have taken off. In most cases, humans, after taking off and flying high, never come back. They are taken by the strong wind that has propelled their wings into flying and bring them to a different spot of uncontrollable destiny: pride.

Remember: one can never learn how to fly unless he does learn how to hop. Conversely, one can never learn how to run unless he does learn how to walk.

Soar means to wheel. We can always do wheeling even not in the circular motion. Wheeling can be done by moving forward without exerting too much effort. This means, as migrantes, we can prioritize where to put our energies and wheel off to good things.

In our places of works and residences, we can always wheel off to do good things like indulging ourselves into sports, creative and fruitful activities. Take note: how we spend our life depends on “how” we do things, not “why” we do things, sometimes.

Soar means to circle. We can do things in circular motion. This means, we have to look at the consequence for all of our actions. Karma does play: what goes around comes around. Conversely, love begets love; bad intentions never succeed.

Life is a cycle. In this circle of life, one never stops moving. One may end up on the top and sometimes at the bottom. No one can ever tell he or she is alienated from the loop. If one has gone out of the loop then it is the end of it; it is another story.

While attending to personal and official things overseas, take note that life is always a loop. If you go ahead of the other, remember that it is a privilege because it’s the way all throughout unless the loop turns counterclockwise.

Everyone you meet, friends or acquaintances, is part of the loop. Bad or good, he can influence you in one way or another. We are not sure of whom we meet: just be sincere and it gets good results.

Soar means to rise. However, it takes time to rise. As Amy Grant said, “it takes a little time sometimes to take the gigantic sea craft Titanic back around.” As migrantes, we are expected to rise no matter what happens. From whatever state of life we are in, with whatever contractual conditions we are into, rising is just as natural as taking a breath every day.

Most of us are burdened too heavily that sometimes we feel we are no longer capable of rising or even taking an inch to mount. Our salaries are delayed from two to three months, very often our salaries are cut for minute and immaterial offenses, our allowances are reduced, the contract we inked is not implemented - in short, we are deprived of normal life here. Take note that rising comes naturally; it does not come using undue influences or fraud.

Wrestle to rise! We need to be proactive; we need to be aggressive. People who do not aggress often lose the opportunity to win. We have already won over the atrocities of life: we still breathe. Sometimes, we just need to take two steps backward in order to take one step forward. But certainly, we will rise!

Occasionally, we also need to work out-of-the-box. Sometimes, our left mind works effectively and efficiently well than the right mind. Creativity and innovation play conduit roles here.

In soaring, just remember this: be humble. Always remember that even the strongest of aircrafts does fail in soaring high.

Under the ever humid Arabian skies, take time to soar with your honest best and certainly you will make it.