SECRETS IN OUR LIVES
From The Unbearable Existence, a collection of prose and journal
By Danny C. Sillada
“I know what you did last summer…”
- From the movie of the same title
“What if I tell you my secret, would you still love me?” asked the Mandaya warrior, Magumo, a day before his betrothal to princess Kaome of Kala-an tribe.
“It all depends…!” responded Kaome in a very sad voice looking through the unfathomable eyes of her warrior.
All of a sudden, the daylight burst into darkness when the tambakunawa (giant scorpion) swallowed up the sun and left the villagers scampering in obscurity.
“The curse of the busaw is cast upon us!” shouted the gray-haired balyan (priestess) followed by the discordant sound of drumbeat and mang-mang (bamboo instrument) conjuring up the busaw (evil spirit) to bring back the sun from the mouth of tambakunawa.
Then, out of the jarring noise from the village, the giant scorpion disgorged out the sun from its colossal mouth, which eventually brought back the light into the sky. But there, in the middle of the Kala-an village, stood a hideous monster by the side of Kaome.
The natives were petrified with horror how the monster suddenly appeared in their midst. In an instant, the Mandaya warriors seized the monster by his neck, chopped off his head and stuck it on the bamboo pole.
Kaome helplessly wept in silence, she couldn’t bear to see the bleeding head of the monster; her heart was torn into pieces with immeasurable regret for not loving him that much…
Magumo’s secret had turned him into a monster when Kaome’s love was not strong enough to accept who he really was amid his concealed life.
*************
How do we handle our own secret and the secret of others? Is there such a thing as the ethical codes of secret to base our judgment on the secret of our lives and others'?
Everyone, even a child, has a secret!
In fact, we hold unto our own secret like a fragile egg at the palm of our hands. It is hidden in the dark alcove of our past and present lives, persistently haunting in the deep recesses of our soul. And there, in the darkest part of our memory, it keeps coming back like a ferocious monster in the night. A secret, that is, murky or sublime, is part of who we are and who we are not amid our revealed and hidden existence.
But why we continue carrying the burden of our secret instead of liberating ourselves by telling it to a dear friend or a loved one? Are we afraid that they might judge, turn against or stop loving us?
In essence, there are secrets that are better kept than told; secrets that would do more harm than liberate others and ourselves. But there are also sublime secrets that could deliver us from the burden of our existence when revealed. And these are secrets that define us who we are and how we can live in the midst of the secrets of others.
No matter what and how monstrous our secret is – we have to accept and embrace it as an indispensable element of our private lives because we are also part of what we hide from others.
What if I tell you my secret, would you still love me?
credits to:
writer:© Danny C. Sillada
Illustrator: “The Secret”, pen & ink on paper by Danny C. Sillada
I reposted this and copied it from Sir Danny Sillada (my online friend in multiply and a great writer to me and everyone else). When he writes I actually feel his heart. Every literary work of his touches my heart and my reason of posting this is because I just wanted to share this to bigger number of people coz' posting in multiply to share this for me isn't enough.For me I think more people should know and read this article. <3
