Will Lightning Strike?

Several months back, I got a text from a friend. When I asked him if he was with someone, he said “No, still waiting for her. Who knows, lightning could strike”, or something to that effect. I honestly did not know what he was talking about. Was he going nuts, and wanted thousands of volts of electricity to pass through his body? Did he really want to get burned in the process? Did he want to experience the excruciating pain? Did he want to die?

A few days ago, Meet Joe Black was on cable tv. I’ve always wanted to watch this movie since last year. Aside from hunky Brad, my interest to watch this film was because my friend told me that his line (“Who knows, lightning could strike”), was from that movie.

Turned out the line was from Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins), the father of the lead actress, Joe’s (Pitt) love interest in the movie. Dad was giving her daughter some pointers about love and life. He said that love should be something really special, that she should fall in love with someone who she can love like crazy. He said that she should be swept away and levitate, to sing with rapture and be deliriously happy. She should run the risk. He was advising his daughter not to settle – for less, for crumbs, for just the ordinary. Then he said that line, “Stay open. Who knows, lightning could strike.”

Now I fully understand what my friend was talking about. There is wisdom in the father’s advice. Waiting for lightning to strike takes a lot of patience and maturity. Sometimes, it’s too tempting to just settle for what we see, not knowing that there is something really special which is intended for us. We go into a panic just because we don’t see any sign of lighting in the horizon. Sometimes, we get too preoccupied brooding over the dark clouds, that we immediately seek shelter, expecting strong rains or a storm. Sometimes, I think it’d better if we bravely face the dark clouds and wait patiently… for the lighting to strike. And if it doesn’t on the first try, we wait for it again the following day.

Lighting, like any other emotion, should not be something we should be afraid of. If it strikes, we should embrace it and be thankful that we experienced it. If it doesn’t, we patiently wait for it to come. If it struck the first time and got us really burned, we take it as one of life’s lessons and hope that it strikes again. Because this time, we know better.

But what if it doesn’t strike at all?



02:07 pm
17 Nov
Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya
(mobile)