FEATURED ESSAY: Life's Irony: A reality or choice? by Junie Marian Enriquez Lalic

Have you ever felt like life is just full of irony? For me life is ironic. It takes sadness to know what happiness is. Noise to appreciate silence. Absence to value presence. And ironically, life exists to perish.

According to Joni Mitchell, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” This ironic quotation serves as a warning to appreciate what we have now, as you’ll never know how long will you have it… health, wealth, friends, loved ones, whatever – it applies to everything.

There’s one person that comes to my mind instantly whenever I hear this quote. My Lolo. I have known to be the “Lolo’s girl” in our family. I remember when I was in Kindergarten, my Lolo has always been the one who's looking after me at school and then if I noticed that he's not there by the window, I sneak out of the classroom and go home. I never wanted to go to school if he’s not with me. They say I was the favorite "apo".

My achievements in school are one of the things I’ve always wanted to share with him. Yes, he was able to attend my graduation in elementary but he passed away when I was in 3rd year high school. He wasn’t able to attend my high school graduation. I wasn’t able to tell him personally that I have finally graduated. I wasn’t able to tell him that I passed the UPCAT. And most importantly, I will not be able to tell him the words: “Tatang, sasablay na po ako.”

Truly, there are things I wish I did when he was still with us. I wish I had the chance to pay back all the love and care he has given me when I was young. Ironically, you will truly appreciate one’s worth until you lose them. But of course, I am happy for he is with God now, and he will always be in my heart.

There are also other little things in my life which I think are ironic.

Like, taking Comm3, where in fact I’m not really into speaking in front of an audience. But of course I did not regret taking this course. After all, if I didn’t take it this semester, I will still take it next semester or next year or whenever I’d feel like taking it.

Also, sometimes, some of my younger friends, whom I consider as non-biological siblings, asks for advice about their problems with love, yet I’ve always screwed in this aspect even when just at the “dating” stage, actually I’ve never been in a relationship.

Another is that, I think one of my best quality is that I'll give everything of myself to someone I care about, which is, ironically, also my worst quality.

These past few days, I’ve been asking myself, why do we have to live a life full of irony? It's not a question of why do we have to live. I mean, why not just a simple life where we can have whatever we want? Why does someone have to let go of you if he or she truly loves you? Then my brother told me, “It’s still your choice if you want to live your life ironically. You don’t have to fool yourself.”