GREENS AND SMOG CO-EXIST

GREENS AND SMOG CO-EXIST

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Calming on a famed bar-resto

In the equally famed Eagle’s Nest of Antipolo

Sippin’ a glass of iced tea to cool

My focals brooked no quarters to feast

On the verdance and panoramic vista

Spread around hills from where I seated

To my back a wall of rock nesting

Another famed restaurant in noble state

Twas a day so clear of clouds a-near

But there afar below the flatlands

O’ Marikina, Manila, Makati & metro spaces

Hover dark malignant shrouds of smog

Blanketing the big city as endowment from Hades

Foreboding deaths unto millions of folks

Whose lungs breath toxic air as free trade

Luck it is that lush surround is retained

Neutralizing Hades’ grave emissions a-clear

And great it is that this city I live anew

Perches Divine Mother as nature’s nurturer

A true shelter indeed from all maelstroms

[Philippines, 19 April 2010]

REFLECTION

Antipolo City is famous as a pilgrimage for the Our Lady of Antipolo, located on a shrine cum cathedral at the city center or downtown. The Divine Lady is therefore the inspirational guide of the city, while travelers adore Her as protector, benefactor, and guide. My Terran family’s home is here today, so I am here too, and I do go around with kins for some get-together or visitations to the Our Lady every now and then.

This once idyllic highland town has become a suburban area where Manilans transfer for residency. It has an area called the Eagle’s Nest at the Sumulong Highway, which is perfect for viewing Manila metropolis down below. The scenery down there is wonderful, with canopies of forests and vegetation rolling down your eyes, interspersed with buildings, homes, and so on. A bit farther down are the component cities of Manila.

However, on a clear day, you could see the smog down there on the Manila side. The sight of pollution is dreadful to behold. It can make your hair rise on all ends, if you are an artistic sensitive type or if you suffer from neurosis. An impeccable example of the ‘unity of opposites’, of ecological balance and pollution co-existing. It is like Reason and the Anti-Reason have gelled so well, they don’t seem to exhibit polarity at all.

In the Teaching, the green facet of life represents the Positive energies; those of smog and pollution, the Negative. Too many big cities across the world today that were once citadels of exquisite planning and greenery, have crossed over the threshold to the Negative. Crimes, traffic jams, pollution, overcrowding, slums all blend to take down the positive in a city and convert it to Hades. Sad, truly sad!

Incidentally, Gaia will ensure that such a situation will cease to exist on 2012 and beyond. That is surely very good news for everyone. Smog, slums, traffic jams, crimes, drugs, overcrowding, urban decay will be a thing of the past in the new cities arising thereafter. Such majesty of the future is a cause for grand celebration.

Ra

April 2011