A RECENT incident has taken the mask off another di kanais-nais person, but my initial reaction to that, though, was, Oh my gosh, she’s so…the only word I could think of is the one that starts with the letter “e.”
Even? Epic? Edgy?
The unmasking was provoked by her reaction to a certain situation that was not even about the person whom she started to harass. But I guess that person was the easier target since she’s seemingly without defenses. Operative word: seemingly.
People are afraid of people who have a battalion behind their backs. Generals and military people are rarely attacked by ordinary mortals because it’s assumed they’re trained to defend themselves.
The rich and famous are also rarely attacked by ordinary mortals because the former are presumed to have a battalion, too, to support them—their own businesses, powerful families and friends, the whole country, or even the whole world. But ordinary mortals who have no connections can be easy targets by other people. No fear. And this is unfortunate because, in the end, we are all equal but people don’t realize that until the end.
So, for now, they’re feeling powerful. Feeling lang. So above it all. The Kingmaker. The queen with no crown and throne. The madam who owns fake luxury bags. They’re nobodies outside of their own circle. Ask anyone at random if they know so-and-so, and the reply is always, Who’s he?
It’s only within their circle that they’re known as the kingmaker, the queen, the madam, where they can behave like royalty. That’s why they’re afraid to let go, they stick to it the way leeches stick to you. Because it would be difficult for them to restart, reboot, and refresh anywhere else. They can’t live as unknowns anymore.
Burt Bacharach’s “The World Is a Circle,” from the 1973 movie “Lost Horizon,” could be the best Realization 101 for this: “The world is a circle without a beginning/And nobody knows where it really ends/Everything depends on where you/Are in the circle that never begins/Nobody knows where the circle ends.”
Which may sound like you’re driving around Cagayan de Oro’s Rotonda. Or the Arc de Triomphe Roundabout in Paris much like in “John Wick: Chapter 4” where Wick (Keanu Reeves) was fighting enemies while avoiding cars. Or the way Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Grace (Hayley Atwell) were driving around the La Barcaccia in Rome after driving down the Spanish Steps in “Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One.”
Roundabouts are supposed to ease the traffic but it’s at CDO’s Rotonda that you can get stuck during the evening rush hour when the uptowner who works downtown is rushing to go home, and it’s best to avoid the area if it’s raining which may cause some flooding there.
CDO’s uptown villages are now the preferred address of those who want to avoid the floods and the noise as the city proper continues to attract both. If houses in commercial areas, and stores and bars in residential areas are signs of progress, where does the Cagayanon go from there? Oh. To the Rotonda where he can mull over the thought if he’s going uptown because he lives there, or because he’s craving for the rib eye steak at Vamoose A Comer at SM CDO Uptown Northwing.
