Entry #15 - Colors in the Light

Colors in the Light

By Elizabeth S. Tolosa Once, I held the world in my hands, and people looked at it. I asked them what they saw, and they told me. As different as their answers were, I noticed that all of them could be combined together to make a portrait of what the world was to everyone. From what I’ve been told, I can say that the world is like a stone of black lace onyx—solid black with white stripes. Many believe that life, like the world, is divided into black and white, with all the shades of gray in between.

One thing is for certain—I see the world mostly in white. I still believe in fairy tales, and the happiness that I’ve found in them. I believe that a life lived happily is a life lived fully. It’s been something I’ve believed in for so long, and I can attribute it to how my family raised me. I was taught to focus on the good in everything, instead of letting despair swallow me. It is because of my family that I am inspired to carry on with my life, despite all the bad things that happen now and again.

My childhood is another inspiration for me to believe in happiness. That comes mostly from the fairy tales I’ve read before, which I have carried with me till the present. “And they all lived happily ever after” is the most common—and at the same time—the most popular clause that ends a fairy tale. The fairy tales that are most known to man always end happily, yet in this day and age, most people don’t believe in happy endings anymore. These days, people tend to be more realistic. Some actually insist that the stories from my childhood are called fairy tales because that’s what they are, and there is barely any chance of them coming true. But of course, I

never said that whole plots of fairy tales happen in real life. Sometimes they may occur in one’s life, but I’m sure that these events are rare.

What I am focusing on is not the plots of the fairy tales that I have read in the past like Briar Rose or Rapunzel, who were both damsels in distress who were saved by their true love; Snow White who was brought back from death by true love’s kiss or, Cinderella who changed her whole life by means of a golden slipper.

What I’m highlighting is the part in fairy tales that I’m sure can be attained by anyone at anytime, if only they know where to look—overcoming obstacles and finding happiness.

Usually, those arrive at the end of each tale, but I believe that both are not attained only at the end of one’s story. We can overcome our obstacles as long as we have faith in the guiding presence of God and the people around us and hope that we can break free from our struggles and find our way to happiness and the other joys of life. Happiness can be attained anytime we wish—no matter our situation—as long as we know how and where to look. As Professor Albus Dumbledore from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series once said: “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times; if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

I’m not attempting to turn life into a fairy tale. I just believe that life, no matter how bad it seems, can still have a touch of happiness in it. All of us have seen and experienced things that we never see in fairy tales, and it is because of these experiences that I challenge everyone to find more than just black, gray, or white in life. I’m sure that life isn’t made of such a monochromatic scheme. I know that there’s more to life than muted hues and somber shades.

All I’ve said aren’t simply based on my feelings. My belief in happiness isn’t just because of my optimism; rather it is based on what has happened in my life.

The year was 2011; I was a junior in St. Theresa’s College, Quezon City. I’ve been a consistent Outstanding student and a member of the Theresian chorale since the sixth grade. But all of that changed when a new chapter began in my life in August of that year. It started when I was diagnosed with a heart disease, and was given cardiac medicine with the hopes of returning my health with the use of medicine only. When that didn’t work as well as we had expected, I dropped from school, and left everything behind and had a heart surgery in November. I had another heart operation in June 2012 to fix what they had repaired six months prior, back-to-back neurosurgeries in mid-July which was caused by a blood clot in my brain—a result of contradicting medications given to me after the surgery in June, and a final one last April 2013, which was a procedure that comprised of the return of part of my skull, which was removed nine months before, on the second neurosurgery in July. Despite all of these things that I have faced, I was able to finish my second take at third year in March 2011 and was promoted to fourth year.

Currently, I am almost at the eighth month of my senior year, and by God’s grace I find myself waiting for entrance exam results and counting the days till graduation. There are many details to the story that started in August 2011, but suffice it say that that journey that I have been through reopened my eyes to what happiness really meant. It is because of that chapter that I believe that life is a miracle. Even when I know that there are times when things can seem bleak for everyone, I do my best to keep happy because I believe that every day is a miracle. Like what Griffin from Men in Black III said, “A miracle is what seems impossible, but happens anyway.”

I believe that what happens in our life is dependent on our choices and our abilities—that’s why life is so different for every one of us. But I believe that each one of us deserves happiness, and has the ability to find it. The only challenge that we face is the choice for our happiness, or against it. Those who shake their heads at the idea of mixing reality with fairy tale happiness

must realize that it is through the combination of the two that life becomes more than the monochromatic scheme described before. All of us just need to look at the world from a different perspective. We need to realize that both the world and life are nothing like the stone of black lace onyx with its black and white pattern; but rather is like moonstone, which may seem a simple luminescent white gem at first, but dances with numerous colors in the light.