"People of Substance"

Yesterday, November 2, the Catholic Church celebrated the commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. Yes, all the dead people! The day before that I found myself strolling in the Loyola Memorial Park with my little sister Mia. Several things struck my mind.

One of them was that I was surrounded by dead people buried six feet under the ground. The next thing that struck my mind was, to ask myself what significant things have these people done before they left this world. Many of them had titles before their names, inscribed on the tombstones. Some were 3rd lieutenants, engineers, architects, lawyers, judges or doctors. These titles never amazed me. In fact I find them haughty. At the back of my mind, and with all due respect to these dead people, they or their families surely wanted people to know who they were.

It's not in the title. I believe that living a significant life is not rooted in titles and accomplishments. I believe that living significantly entails how much you are able to give yourself to others; and, and once you are gone your legacy lives on and others will be able to carry on where you left off. In death, you may be buried six feet below the ground but your life continues to breathe on through others. Now that is significant. It is a perpetual milestone. Significance is no longer determined in what "I" have accomplished, but it is distinguished in how much that "I" was divided and shared so that others may also become significant.

"People of Substance" was one of the first things I heard from my rector in Don Bosco Technical College. This rector was Fr. Eli Cruz, SDB. Little to this priest's knowledge, his words continue to echo in my mind and actions both consciously and subconsciously. He has been the mentor I never had.

Through him I was subdued into a realm that was governed by results, actions and right attitude. I was enveloped in an environment that would allow me to believe that everything I do was part of a bigger picture. A picture that consists of making a difference for others. A picture that taught me see beyond myself and to find joy in working with others. A person of substance is someone who has learned to gain so that he can share what he gained with those who are in need. A person of substance is someone who knows how to make others a living legacy, not for himself but for the world that he has chosen to embrace and which is definitely bigger than his.

Every time that we experience the loss of a loved one, what we remember most from them is the living reflection of what we truly admire from them and how much we can imitate them or at least do something close to it. What about us? How do we wish the world to carry on where we've left off once we're buried six feet under?