Publisher's Note

Publisher’s Note
It was 22 years ago when I arrived in Canada and chose Calgary, Alberta to be my home. Leaving my family and friends behind, it was a new adventure for me to be in a new country without knowing anyone. That was the time I looked for a Filipino community paper and never found any, [...]
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Erwinism: Of Easter in an Endless Winter

By: Erwin D. Maramat

You have to wonder; did we forget to pay our season renewal because it’s taking time to download spring? The cold season has overstayed its welcome. Its long pale slithering fingers stretch over days with no end in sight. Our world is plunged into eternal winter, and that’s not even a hyperbole. Occasionally, we’d get a sense of the flickering rays of spring, but our hopes are dampened by the morning downpour of snow that seem to gleefully mock us as we shovel our driveways. I throw fits every night as I skim through weather updates that often ends up in disappointment and deep sighs the minute my consciousness leaps out of sleep. It’s not that I have anything against winter, but it’s like a bratty sibling that won’t let go of the game pad when it’s spring’s turn to play on Xbox One.

Winter goes beyond the physical world it extends as a phase in our very lives as we eagerly look forward to basking underneath the sun. All we can do is enjoy it, that is why winter activities were invented lest we are stuck in the living room wasting away as we stream reruns on Netflix. After a long weekend of reflection and prayers I was hoping warmer weather will step foot in the new week, but all I got were messages on Facebook about poultry day and Bugs Bunny’s birthday which I thought as strange because they coincide with Easter Sunday. But what exactly, can we take away from this? If we cling onto hope and faith long enough, we would find ourselves in the clear eventually.

The oil of hope makes life’s machinery run smoothly. ~James Lendall Basford (1845–1915), Sparks from the Philosopher’s Stone, 1882

The sooner we believe that there is more to life than the woes our present situation has held us, the sooner we’ll be on the path to less resistance. When we think of winter, many of us think of the bitter cold that bears no mercy. However, it’s a time of the year that does what it does best—be the best winter it can be, and we cannot ill-afford to curse it for its nature. We ought to embrace it with sincerity and live the moment accordingly. When life throws you lemons, you don’t throw the lemons back, you put up a lemonade stand and generate profit. In 1891, peach baskets turned winter in the most exciting times, a hundred years later LeBron James is destroying the breakaway rim, thanks to James Naismith. Life isn’t perfect otherwise it would be boring, it requires—you’ve guessed it right—you, me, them, and us to pitch in. If life were perfect it wouldn’t be here, but by faith, hope, and love; the way we put meaning in our lives would ultimately determine if we deserve a golden ticket to get there.

Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness. ~Floyd W. Tomkins

As hopelessness lay siege in our hearts; despair not, for nothing lasts forever, nothing, not even the pains of now. Most of the time, we get caught up in a situation we think would never end and we immediately dismiss the thought that things are bound to get better and for some they wade in the trap for comfort, no longer yearning to get better. An inspiration we can draw out from the holy week is persistence to overcome the impossible which is death in this case. It’s unforgivable to let hope wither away. Each of us were given respective gifts to help us out, but as always, we would rather see them in the hands of others because we are in love with the result and never the process. There are times we fall in pit with rungs and rope lying around, we fail to see the creation of ladder, and as we succumb to our circumstance, we curse everyone outside the hole. We would rather take the risk of stagnation than the risk of liberation. This is winter.

He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter…. In winter the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity. ~John Burroughs, “The Snow-Walkers,” 1866

We should never take our sight off the positive things even in times of trouble. It is when our maturity is tested, and our wisdom is needed. We can’t be exclusively strong in days that have no need for it, it is in times of drought that we must channel the storm in us for growth to have a fighting chance. In Greek mythology; Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave to mankind. In retaliation Zeus sent out Pandora who was carrying a jar (not a box) bearing the label, ‘Don’t open stupid. Contains evil and allergens. Seriously, take your hand off the lid!” Pandora, curious and all, opened the lid and unleashed despicable evil and bacon-flavored bacon into the world. In the end, hope leapt out of the jar, assuring Pandora that there is a chance for mankind, so we are taking that chance to make something of ourselves.

The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination. ~Marian Zimmer Bradley

Spring is upon us (with hope), and as the remains of the cold days thaw and flowers begin to bloom and the birds that flew south are back from a beautiful summer somewhere package vacation, we can’t help but be thankful, not because winter is over, but because it made sunny days ahead meaningful and worth enjoying every minute until winter comes back in full circle making the new sweater we bought in a summer sale worthwhile.

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, “An Easter Hymn”

Erwinism: Of Easter in an Endless Winter

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