Forever is where we're meant to be

MANILA, Philippines - A vintage Olympia typewriter haunts my dreams. Actually, that typewriter belongs to a friend of mine and I never had the chance to ask her if she’d sell it to me before she moved to the US. I miss the rapid clickety-clack sound of the keys, the smell of a new typewriter ribbon, and even the smudges it left on my fingers. Those who never had the chance to use a typewriter would probably never understand my sentiments.

Today, things have changed. Submitting a typewritten manuscript would only earn you the ire of whoever’s assigned to encode it into a computer. And yet, even though I’ve had to switch to using computers to do my writing, I find that my basic task has remained unchanged.

I am a storyteller. And storytellers are keepers of our collective memories — hopefully the memories that matter most.

One story that I actually enjoy watching on TV is the one presented in a TV commercial for a residential development. That Avida Land commercial just gets to me. It’s the story of our collective aspirations for forever.

I can only wish my wife and I would stay as happy, as radiant with love and companionship as the elderly couple in the commercial — who reminisce about how they built their life and their future together. 

According to Plato, there are four things a man must do before he dies: “build a house, father a son, write a book and plant a tree.”

These four essential goals are meant to continue the story of humanity: providing a safe, secure home for the family; producing and nurturing offspring; preserving the sum of human knowledge; and preparing an ecologically sound future.

Building a house, for instance, makes a home possible. And with a home, we begin a life-giving journey that launches us toward forever with our spouses and children, as shown in the Avida Land TVC.

There are also other things I wish we could have forever, as I plod through middle age in the 21st century, amid blissful domesticity. Music, for example, is one thing I definitely wish would stay around. We can all probably survive and stay sane without a television, without movies, and even without the Internet. But a life devoid of music isn’t worth living. Imagine watching a film like Titanic or Avatar or even The Ten Commandments and 300 without music. Imagine going to a KTV joint where people recited the words on the screen instead of singing them.

I also hope that greeting cards do not disappear completely. It’s the same case for handwritten letters that you send through mail. There’s just something special about greeting cards and letters — they actually freeze a moment in time.

Then there’s romance. When you’re middle aged, you might be slightly appalled at how youthful romance can happen through text messaging, chat, e-mail and social networking sites. Are there still hopeless romantics who would court the girl in her house and meet her parents?

I’m happy to note that I’ve followed most of Plato’s advice, except the one about planting trees. I’m glad that I’m just one goal short of contributing to humanity’s quest for forever.

If you ever get a chance to watch that Avida Land commercial, and feel a distinct, emotional tug — don’t ignore it. Maybe that’s the start of making your own journey to forever.