From the Director's Desk: All is Well, All is Well
Dr. Divina T. Tormon-Pasumbal, PUP News, Volume 8 Issue No. 16 November 1-30, 2011For those who have seen the film, the title above will definitely ring a bell.
An Indian film which focuses on the academic life and as well as the personal struggles of three engineering students, 3 Idiots talks about breaking conventions, turning threats into opportunities, and pronouncing with conviction that whatever happens, in the end everything will turn out to be just fine.
Those who have not seen it may: first, be scandalized about how it was titled; and second, choose not to read on and just wish that all will be well especially these coming days when many among us worry about what to give our loved ones for Christmas, considering the fact that there is either not much money to spend or there is actually nothing to spend at all.
Some people may wonder how the statement “All is well” becomes possible when everything appears and feels to be not well: you flunked the examination; you were not hired; she broke your heart; you were humiliated to death by your boss; he found another woman; your salary is delayed and there are bills to pay, etc.
Most of the time however, as in the film, hearing the words ‘all is well’ somehow makes us feel good especially in the midst of heartaches, frustrations, disappointments and pains.
Well for one, maybe because indeed, everything happens for a reason.
Consider this: when a colleague told me about her friends’ betrayal, I couldn’t help but cry with her for I myself have experienced being betrayed by one. I could very well relate to the pains she has been going through, and I could feel how her heart is being pierced every time she recalls the words they uttered the last time they met. But then I told her, “We always have to try to fathom the reason why all these had to happen” because, as Rancho in the film says, “All is well.”
All is well because behind that pain is God’s way of telling her that no matter how close one could be to a friend, that friend is, just like you and me, human. He will never be able to give the unconditional love that only God can give. It is His way of telling her too, that she will only get frustrated if she will continuously rely on the kind of love and affection that humans like us have to offer. Because it is only in making her feel so abandoned that she might come to learn about His unfaltering love and presence.
In the same way that when you learn to value the presence of someone when he’s not there anymore, all is still well because you realize how much better that person is, as compared to that one whom you have at the moment—thing is that, you still have time to change your mind. And, if upon giving it up you can’t anymore have the one that you lost, then you may still try to find someone else, relationship with whom could at least come close to the lost one. If not, then you tell yourself one famous line that says: “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” That which is worst may in the end be the best. We sometimes learn that the most unwanted situations in life are those which we would need the most if only to open our eyes on things which were invisible before us. A loved one getting seriously ill, for instance, may bring estranged familial relations to its closest for it is during these moments that family members pull strength from each other, therefore realizing how much they actually need each other for comfort and assurance that everything will turn out to be just fine. All is well when the loved one gets well; if not, all is still well for it was in losing someone that something else was gained—with the realization that they could actually be there for each other when the hurt of seeing a loved one in so much pain is so immense.
All is well, all is well: we may not be certain about what is to come; but we are most certain that whatever we do about the situation and whatever other people do to us are all part of the grand plan for each and everyone of us. We may not retaliate when others gravely wronged us, but as the song “From A Distance” says, “God is watching us.” Bottomline is that, all is well because again, everything happens for a reason. If you don’t get the money due you today, consider it a fraction of your savings. This may just be part of grand design in preparation for your 50th wedding anniversary. Long way to go, but, as an old cliché says, ‘patience is a virtue’.
And in the end, as Rancho says, ‘All is well’ .