People say “be nice to people you meet for they are fighting a battle you know nothing about,” but some people, even those you are close to, have a battle you know nothing about.
I have this attitude where in I never stop observing people and taking notes on how they react to certain circumstances. Because this, it gave me the idea to observe and document my friends for a time – freezing the moment, capturing their smiles, their excitements, and trying to immortalize it with my camera in hope that the hands of time could never bury it in the graveyards of memories. It was fun at first, until I started seeing flashes of their battle and the bruises and scars of each warrior, expertly camouflaged with their smile to save their loved ones from the guilt of their own misery.
I once asked a friend, about why she doesn’t want to let me know about what she is going through, “kasi alam ko na may sarili ka ring problema” (because I know you have your own personal problem..) she said. I insisted on offering my help but she she shook her head.
It made me wonder if are we really of help?
It came to me that people rely on their friends to escape their own war. Laughter became anesthetic to their agony. An anesthetic which numbs the wounds from their war – an anesthetic which eases the pain, but like anesthetic, it never last long.
Are we really of help? Humans react to other human problems like vases. They are willing to accept the responsibility of hearing and understanding at first until slowly, they become full. Once they are full they become numb, numb of sincerity towards your problem, and in worst case, numb of that person. Each battle has its own settings, terrains, and is different in every detail. Some being lost, some being damaged, and some of them had fallen but if the only way to help them is to be an anesthetic to their war, then its an honor to be there — until the battle ends.
ADLAO 