Uncurling the Warp

He could be inflexible but still malleable. An incurvature just clamors for a forcible thump to flatten its length.

Paulo Camino, 16, could not be the elected president of his class having not pounded the obliquity inhabiting his mentality. Without the life-changing experience that he had undergone, he may not be rectified, he may not have change, and he may not have grown.

The Curvature

It was just a mediocre day for Bachelor of Arts in Journalism 1-1D of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ College of Communication. There is no something extraordinaire in that bright, sunny morning of January 29 in the eyes of Paulo.

For him, it is just one of the unimportant, indifferent and tolerable days having no professor inside that dusty room, with his classmates chit-chattering, busy on everything.

This 16-year-old journalism student may have not already escaped the meadows of childhood. Like a giggling toddler, he is still frisky, playful that out of nowhere, an idea of going berserk, running amuck with friends alike sprung in his naughty and childish mind.

The Forcible Thump

The springy student from Antipolo lead his colleagues as they stroll their feet with frisk along the floor. Together, their appendages glided toward the corridor, plunging on every corner. They dash as far as they could until their soles reach the streets.

Their straddles gone wild… until they gone halted.

They stopped because they are not exhausted. They rest their feet, gasping every breath escaping out from theirs, not because they are tired.

Their jaws dropped. Their senses go numb. The clock stopped tickling. Their eyes widened as they stare on the fall of one of their colleagues.

Bystanders from the near tricycle terminal, a mob of passersby, and vendors from the nearby canteen were stunned on Paulo’s infamous fall. The busy pavement of Anonas St. paused for a while after the lively teen turn into a helpless kid as he lied back in the middle of the street after a tricycle bumped him instantaneously.

Uncurling the Warp

He fell unconsciously. It just happened.

Felix Cabahug, 40, though believes not guilty of reckless driving, know his responsibility for the welfare of this child. He fast awakened after the street paused for a couple of seconds. He carries the teen toward his three-wheeled vehicle and drives him all along the nearest hospital.

He broke his hand from the accident.

Because of the pity the driver had felt to the stranger he had struck, with kindred heart, he paid all the bills.

The student woke up finding his left hand crashed.

The Warp Erected

The news about the accident sporadically spread out the campus. It had been a lesson learned for every student in PUP to take an extra care so as to avoid alike accidents.

It had been a week before Paulo came back to school for his recovery. Though having the sling hanging in his left arm, he never let the incident to completely stop him from believing. It is not yet over for him.

“Magiging matino na ako,” Paulo vowed in front of his peers as he came back.

Days had passed and these four emblematic words reflected on Paulo. As soon as he full-recovered, his experience and his life became a living testimony of change.

He was elected as the new president of their class, a position he may not have attained without the transformation that had happened to him.

It is true, change must happen in life, for to live is to grow and to grow is to change.

For every incurvature, there will always be a blacksmith that has the tool to unravel it, to straighten our immaturities, to refine us like gold, and to be a better person. Paulo’s transformation may have just required a great scolding, a full-blown beating to occur.