The people you meet and forgive

THIS WEEK’S WINNER

 MANILA, Philippines - Pamela Amistad is a single mother who works at a call center as a technical support representative. She had several years of experience as a freelance online writer. She earned her BS Biology degree from the University of San Carlos. Apart from reading, she also indulges in designing her own accessories and occasionally makes time to sew a dress or two.

Whenever people ask me about the kind of books I read, I always reply, “the light-hearted kind.” I have found books to be a ready and affordable way to briefly escape my mundane, pretty-much-ordinary life. With this inclination, I always read books about wizards, knights in shining armors, bumbling idiots turned heroes, champions off to epic quests, and (once in while) gorgeous male vampires on the throes of true, albeit teenage, love. With all the fantastic, amazing tales out there, I figured life is too short to spend on reading about reality.

Then came a day when I found myself bereft of my preferred reading materials. As any certified bookworm can attest, when none of the favorite books are at hand, any book will do. Little did I know that the decision made out of sheer boredom would lend me an eye-opening experience.

Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven is definitely the kind of book not normally found in my reading repertoire. But to my great surprise, I was hooked even before the first chapter ended. With less than a hundred pages total, it is the kind of material that one can easily read in a day. In fact, to someone whose passion is reading, I consider it more of a short story than a novel.

It revolves around a character named Eddie, a long-time maintenance man of an ocean-side amusement park called Ruby Pier. The story opens on the day Eddie dies trying to save a little girl from being crushed by a falling amusement ride cart that came undone. As the story gently unfolds, Eddie and the reader are kept wondering if the little girl was saved or not.

As the title suggests, Eddie begins his afterlife journey meeting five people who are waiting to meet and talk to him. First is The Blue Man, a freak-show attraction who died of a heart attack unknowingly caused by then seven-year-old Eddie. The second person he meets is The Captain, whom he served under during World War II. It is during this meeting that Eddie is forced to face all the bitter memories of the time he, The Captain, and two other American soldiers were captured by enemy soldiers in the Philippines. They managed to escape after several months of abuse and forced labor. But like any other veteran, the war took more than what Eddie was prepared to give and left with him with a heavy burden he had to bear all throughout his life. Apart from a permanent leg disability, Eddie was haunted by the memory of a small figure trapped inside a burning hut. As the meeting ends, he learns that The Captain gave up his life to ensure that the rest of his companions would survive.

Eddie then meets Ruby, the woman who inspired the establishment of the amusement park. She tells him how her husband built it as a shrine for her and the emotional cost she and her family had to pay in the end. More importantly, Ruby shows Eddie a side of his father he never got to see. It is during this meeting that Eddie comes to accept how he hated his abusive father and how that hatred came to mold the person that he became in his adult years.

Then Eddie meets his wife, Marguerite, with whom he shared the truest kind of love. The story now focuses on the challenges they faced during their married life, how they managed to overcome disappointments and betrayals.

The last person he meets is the one he least expected to know. Her name was Tala and she was the Filipino child who was trapped in the hut that Eddie burned during their escape. Of all the five people, Tala was the one who shattered Eddie’s soul the most, forcing him to finally face the awful truth he had been running away from throughout his adult life.

It was also during this final meeting that Eddie comes to finally understand the true meaning of deliverance. Symbolically, Tala asks him to bathe her and scrape away all the burnt skin she died with. 

The scene embodies the central theme of the story — unconditional forgiveness. As Eddie forgave his abusive father, he in turn receives Tala’s forgiveness. Slowly and painfully, Eddie comes to understand how his actions had affected these people in life-altering ways. He also realizes the real purpose why all these people made sacrifices for him, undeserving he might be.

It was because Eddie would play a crucial part later on in keeping people safe at Ruby Pier, making sure that nobody would get hurt in the rides he maintained.

The book also magnifies the common frailties plaguing the human race. There’s anger that can cause people to turn their backs on the very ones they love. It’s also anger that makes people retreat into their shells and keeps the world at a distance. Then there’s pride — foolish, foolish pride that encourages silence when we should speak up to tell others how much we love and appreciate them. And what can beat selfishness, that inherent instinct to put ourselves first before others? Little do we know that every action and decision we make out of selfishness and self-preservation carries ripples that could echo through the whole world.

As I close the final page, I came to ask myself whom I would meet if I died then and there. Who would show me how one uncaring action on my part caused them the greatest pain and anguish? Who would I wait to meet in order to forgive and from whom would I ask forgiveness? It brought to mind all the people I have disappointed and hurt in big and small ways — my parents, my husband, my daughter, my siblings, my friends.

What would I say to them, what would they tell me? As scary as it may be, I was once again reminded of the concept of accountability, how life will always seek to balance itself in the end. Then I came to realize that there is also something the book focuses on — hope. It was hope that forced Eddie to get up every morning, despite seemingly having nothing but pain and sufferings most of his life. It was also hope that got him what he wished for in the end — his own version of heaven.

Oh, and yes, he did saved the little girl that fateful day he died.