Riding a bicycle backward

I have always been amazed by people who can ride a bicycle backward. To ride a bicycle backward, one not only has to be physically in reverse of the normal riding position, but he will have to rearrange everything -- sense of vision, motion, balance and perspective -- in reverse.

I see Noynoy Aquino as one such man, already astride a bike, one leg on the ground for balance, the other poised to press on the pedal to begin his backward ride. And I am not talking about his presidency. I am talking about a moment in history.

There was a time not very long ago when a man named Ferdinand Marcos became president of the land. He was no ordinary president. He wanted to be president forever. When people opposed his desire, he went after them.

One such person who tried to frustrate his desire was a man named Benigno Aquino. He was a senator of the land. Marcos went after him not only because he was frustrating his desire, he was also a potential presidential rival.

Aquino was arrested and jailed. Then he was exiled. Eventually he went home, only to be killed on arriving at the airport. Most fingers pointed to Marcos as responsible for the killing. But nothing has been formally proven.

That was a time not very long ago. At present, there is another man who will pretty soon sit as president of the land. His name is Noynoy Aquino. He is the only son and namesake of that Benigno Aquino.

Still at present, there is at the Senate another man who will also pretty soon sit as senator of the land. His name is Bongbong Marcos, the only son and namesake of that Ferdinand Marcos.

The same names identify them as the sons of their fathers, only that their roles have been reversed -- where one name once attached to a president, it now attaches to a senator, while the other name that once attached to a senator, it now attaches to a president.

It is not clear how the sons of their fathers, Noynoy and Bongbong, will eventually regard and interact with each other beyond what we see now, which is a carefully choreographed slow dance.

But as things of this nature eventually must, the tempo will pick up and the beat will quicken. What started as a carefully choreographed slow dance can erupt into a frenzied wrestling match. The loose strings of history will someday always be strung together.

That is why I see Noynoy Aquino as a man about to ride a bicycle backward. He cannot ride the bicycle in the normal forward-looking position because that is not what the fates have in store for him. He cannot have a normal presidency with Bongbong Marcos around.

For it is not just an ordinary man named Aquino and an ordinary man named Marcos staring at each other across the great governmental divide between the executive and legislative. There is so much history to these two men than just their names.

Why it just had to happen that the two men would cross paths again, with great power in their hands just as their fathers had, in positions that now have been reversed, I do not know. But the answers, I am sure, will not be long in coming.

As I said at the beginning of this piece, I am always amazed by people who can ride a bicycle backward. So, do I expect to be amazed by Noynoy? I sure hope so. Because if a man riding a bicycle crashes, he usually crashes at the spectators. And that is us.