Jeepney Journey

by Phoebe Vernice Cheng

YOU WAKE up one morning hungover from the elixirs of the previous night, which you drank to keep your sanity most of the time. While still lucid, you prepare to go to school and rush to the door to catch a jeepney. You are physically ready but emotionally unprepared. In fact, you’re supposed to study for a quiz on a significant subject, but visions of surrendering come to mind.

Moments later, you’re inside the vehicle beside the driver’s seat. You look at the cerulean skies, and the golden sun rays shine upon your gaze, but the smoke-belching traffic enters the picture. Trying to gain a positive aura, you look at the side mirror, and your reflection is you either as a banker, a teacher, an entrepreneur, a lawyer, a flight attendant, a doctor, and many more. As you intently stare at your reflection, you see that you also live a fulfilled and successful life, both materially and spiritually. Some of you might even see your name hung on billboards, standing under the super trouper lights.

As the journey sails on, you see yourself paying bills without the hassle of thinking about where the money would be coming from. Aside from that, you travel to various destinations for both business and leisure. You get to sip mimosas and have brunches with those you hold dear in new facility while reminiscing the heydays of college life. Other times, you spend your weekends having picnics in the lush countryside to escape the exhilarating pace of your career. Ah, manifesting la dolce vita!

Suddenly, the bolt of reality strikes. Your mind is emblazoned with the premonition from the mirror that you are stunned when you see the lightning. You immediately ponder: what should I do to make the daydream tangible? The reflection feels like you’re in the celestial paradise; you cannot stay in it forever, but it’s embedded in your mind as something to be achieved, and the keys to achieving it are just there: study, pass, enjoy, and graduate.

The jeepney stops in front of the university gate, and you descend from the vehicle. You walk with your head held high, with the vision radiating on your heart and mind. Your soul feels renewed, and you are ready to conquer the world.