Faith in Fate

By Tirso H Gamba

"What if, all your life, you find yourself in the deep ocean of adversity? Are you willing to swim in the ocean of pain to find more value or life's meaning until you reach the seashore of relief, or are you willing to surrender easily and be drowned in the abyss of nothingness?

Tirso H. Gamba, author of Dust Beneath the Ocean,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ukiyoto Publishing
• Release date: Aug 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9789361723131

Book preview

FAITH

IN

FATE

Tirso H Gamba

Ukiyoto Publishing

All global publishing rights are held by

Ukiyoto Publishing

Published in 2023

Content Copyright © Tirso H Gamba

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

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For my father, Santos Gaon Gamba,† thank you for the love and care you gave me.

In pain, there is glory.

Preface

My sense of curiosity since I was a child has led me to embrace the beauty of nature and unknowingly lead my feet down the road of one of the hard sciences—physics. I found this discipline more challenging when I was in high school because in this subject I received the lowest grade, next to mathematics. I was a student before, and that put the idea in my mind that I could use my grades to uplift my family from the claws of devastating poverty. As a student who aimed to graduate with honors, I tried my best not to have a grade lower than eighty-five. It was the standard at my school that a candidate for honors should not have a grade lower than eighty-five in any subject in the four-grading period. As I started to study physics, it opened my mind’s eye to see the hidden reality of the world that I live in. Although it wasn’t my first choice as my future career when I was young, its magnetic force of attraction enveloped my entire psyche and designed my life to be in a state of balance. It made me understand the fascinating, alluring, magnificent, and grandiose phenomena that nature can show humanity. 

Since I began teaching, however, I have seldom been given a chance to teach in my field of expertise. When I applied to be a senior high school teacher, fortunately, my fate changed, which led me to my dream school in my hometown. I thought I would be given a break. But something always goes beyond my expectations for one of the subjects I always handle, Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person.

Philosophy?

Yes, you read it right. The mother of all sciences. I did accept it and perform my job wholeheartedly without complaining. I considered philosophy a great opportunity to be given a chance to explore other disciplines. I felt challenged and inspired. As a flexible 21st-century teacher with love and dedication to work, for me, nothing is impossible to learn and teach, especially if it is all about the future of the youth, the future leaders of my country. Moreover, the said subject opened my mind to a wider perspective that made me not only understand the different phenomena that govern the world and humanity but also define life and fully understand its nature. Furthermore, the Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person enhanced my eagerness to question everything in this world, even my old beliefs, as my soul tried to search for the truth. Since the time I was teaching philosophy, I felt that my desire for the subject intensified every single day of my life. I felt that I had fallen in love with philosophy. Like a lover who is deeply in love, I can’t take it away from my mind. Every single moment, every single motion, every single situation, or even a simple word, always makes me think deeply.

One day, in the month of September 2022, a question like lightning from above struck abruptly in my mind. It was more than a fortnight after the opening of the classes—the one I called post-pandemic time. I called it a post-pandemic because it was the time of the circulating booster shots and most of the people had finished the second dose of the vaccine. It was the time when my country was moving forward toward recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. I was going home that afternoon when the most frequent question I asked my students popped up unexpectedly in my mind. My lips whispered the question, and my small voice echoed loudly in my ears as each word was pronounced clearly. It absorbed deeply into the deepest trench of my mind as it illuminated every single nerve of my central nervous system. 

What is my philosophy in life? 

While I was pedaling slowly on my bike on a clean road with a few vehicles moving quite fast as they passed me, in the blink of my eyes, the synopsis of my journey in life flashed back in an instant in my mind. It started when I was an innocent child, dancing in the meadow in fair weather while following the will of the wind, swimming in the river of life as the current carried me anywhere the river of life desired to go. It followed my high school life, where the prickly, heavy rain touched my delicate skin. The monsoons of my life began as I started to peer at the dim path of my journey. My rough journey on the stormy (both literally and figuratively) and catastrophic road of college life. It was the darkest moment of my journey when I felt I was almost in the mouth of the black hole, ready to swallow me into the pit of nothingness. Eventually, the tiniest flame of a candle sparked as I looked for a job a week after I graduated from college. It was drizzling with the slight rays of the sun, and the rainbow was above my head like a crown. Like a video in fast-forward motion, I saw myself in an unfamiliar place. It followed my first night in Cavite away from my family. Every night, a blanket of loneliness enveloped my entire body as I felt longing for my family. As my head touched the pillow, I always felt the shadow of fear, thinking of what would happen to my life in this unfamiliar place far away from home. The time passed quickly. I was in my hometown again. In my mind’s eye, I saw myself walking inside the school, teaching as a substitute teacher in Bulusan. My days in Jupi as a volunteer teacher combating the rocky and muddy road. The most unforgettable experience of mine was the time when I went home at three o’clock in the afternoon and was dropped off at the junction of the Gubat-Prieto-Diaz road carrying my shoes while my trousers were rolled up to my knees because of the flood due to heavy rains. My memorable, challenging, and appealing journey in Burias as a permanent teacher. I felt my heart beat again as it thudded loudly in my chest on February 14, 2017, when I received a text message from the Assistant SDS of Sorsogon on my way back to my province. After my strenuous effort in updating my endorsement letters, as I traveled the winding road and combated a million waves so many times, I was transferred to my province to one of the biggest schools in Magallanes. Then, as the film in my mind was about to come to an end, in slow motion, I finally saw myself walking down the path where I had once slid and stumbled, toward the principal’s office, on my first day at Gubat National High School as a senior high teacher. Atlas in my dream school!

When I'm by myself, it's hard for me to comprehend how I made it through all of my impossible journeys. I ponder how I handled so many difficult circumstances and stormy seas, especially the difficulties, struggles, and hardships. Before I could grab the opportunities that were waiting for me, I had to overcome many obstacles. I don't even know how I managed to survive when a wave of suffering, grief, disappointment, and despair swept over my soul, but I tried my best. I particularly found it difficult to comprehend how I had been able to overcome the numerous impossibilities I ran into while playing the game of life. It sparked a question in my head that I posed to myself: What gave me the strength to endure through it? 

It gave me the clear realization that philosophy plays a vital role in my journey. My philosophy in life helps me overcome the difficulties and challenges that I faced in my journey to reach my goals. Moreover, this philosophy always acts like a lighthouse that enlightens my mind in advance, as it illuminates my vision to go beyond the horizon that I had never reached in my entire life before. Furthermore, this philosophy molded my personality, designed my mind, and guided my soul while I walked the stormy path toward a life of excellence with ease and tranquility.

Although we have different destinies in life and roads to travel, all human beings, regardless of status, race, culture, or ethnicity, have experienced challenges, trials, pains, and sufferings.