the gift of being tiny

My brother, Ellis, died because of dengue. I was "first-person afraid" when I had dengue late October 2007.

The "transcendental" thing about the whole episode, aside from a death, is the fact that you get dengue from a tiny and never, ever, older than 15-days mosquito. Why never ever older than 15-days? Because all mosquitoes has an an expiration date from hatch lings to disease-carrying version of 15 days. After 15 days, all mosquitoes die. Even if they ate, or sucked blood and lived a healthy lifestyle = )

Can you imagine, a tiny mosquito can be used to alter, even end, life?

And yet, in our world of trillion dollar debts, this truth is only "for sure!" embraced in a spiraling story of one's health to decay. And, almost always, never outside that context.

Lung cancer, always starts from the first smoke. Sorrier if it is 2nd hand smoke. Children of diabetic parents, is put in greater risk, from the day they start appreciating their first Classic Coke.

This "great things comes from small beginnings" is almost always, accepted with certainty, when it is a tragedy. We doubt it when it is a comedy. (By comedy, I mean, with a joyful ending.)

We almost always say that it is because they are lucky. That they were given a break, early in life. I mean, we almost attribute success and happy endings to something cosmic and stars were aligned or something. Never about the person that in a particular day found out why he was born. And when he found out that, he put in the hard work. Day in. Day out.

Have we ever wandered that when we put in the hard work, day in-day out, in doing something we are designed to do, the whole system works for us?

Going back to the dengue analogy, when a mosquito bites, we do not immediately get dengue. The virus will take time before it becomes a deadly threat. And if we look at it from the eyes of the mosquito, it may be dead before the victim gets sick. The mosquito will never "see" the fruits of its labor because it has only 15 days to live = )

What is a day compared to a life of 75 years? It is a quark. A nano second.

How much does the weight of the dengue virus from a tiny and never-older than 15 days mosquito compared to the weight of a full grown man? Negligible.

Yet, that single bite, has the potential to kill a person. Usher in a flood of tears. Change the life of a person. Change the outlook of a family.

Why can't we think of a day, fully lived, in that way? That a day has the potential to change our lives, too?

What do you think will happen if all of us went to a place where dengue-carrying mosquitoes abound? You think we'll go unscathed? I doubt it.

What do you think will happen if all of us fully lived a day? You think nothing will happen? Answer that. Do you doubt nothing will happen, too?

The difference in the way we answer those two questions, determines the quality of our hearts. It also tells us how we value our life. The lives of other people. Our dreams. The dreams of other people. Our desire. The desire of other people. Time.

It determines if we are actually alive or sleep walking through life!

If "great things comes from small beginnings," it must not only be true when it is a tragedy. It must also be true for a comedy = )

Which of the statement do you think is absolute truth: [a] The hemorrhagic dengue fever, that kills people, starts with a bite from a never older than 15 days mosquito or [b] The journey of a thousand miles start with the first step?

Serious. Answer that.

Do you think our great journey starts today? In this new year?

Serious. Answer that.

Father, though I am one, feeble and inconsistent, I am praying to an Almighty God and that's all I need to know.

The gift of being tiny...