Friend, Like It or Not

I am your friend whether you like it or not
I'll be there beside you even if you're a snot
Should we be good or in fight, I am your friend
Count on this, I'll be there till the end

I made you my friend, my treasure to keep
You name on my palm, awake or asleep
So it doesn't matter if now you're a snob
Because you're a friend that I truly love

Should you be away, I can keep you near
Here in my memories, you need not fear
I have surrounded you with joy and laughter
From the days, weeks, and months together

I know that when you are silent you want to talk
It's your weird way of inviting me to walk
Along you boulevard of hopes and dreams
Of laughter, tears, of wishes and whims

So I cam your friend whether you like it or not
A friend without 'if' nor with a 'but'
A friend is a friend is a friend is a friend
That's how it is for me to the end

Reason, no Reason

The day I learned to love you
Is the day I learned to lose you
When you slipped into the nothingness
Fading into my forgetfulness

The day I learned to love you
Is the day when I finally knew
That to keep is to imprison
And to let go is of no reason

Reason in truth, reason in love
Reason, no reason from above
For the day I learned to love you
Is the day I learned to free you

Flow, flow

Carry on as you flow
Flow down, down, deep
Deep into the dark blue
As my hands cannot keep

Deep into the dark blue
Sail and slide away
Glide and glide away
Away flee as they flew

Across the dark blue
To where I do not know
But flow, flow as you go
As you wish, you will go

I wish you go and flow
To where I do not know
And down, down, deep
With you I flow and keep

Faithfulness

Will you be there beside me
When I won't be so loveable
When beauty has long faded
And the years long spent

Will you be there beside me
When the storm's blown full
And the wind beating and screeching
Should leave me pale and pall

Will you be there beside me
When I have lost all glory
And shadows loom in my eyes
Eyes of a sad, sad story

Will you be there beside me
As I breath my last
Alone and shivering as I gasp
Life slowly turning past

Will you be there beside me
When I'll have faded away
Not in mind and heart I stay
Dissolving, fading in the fray

And, yes, you are beside me
And, yes, I am happy
To have you just beside me
To share eternity

The Best Things In Life Are Free

If prices are soaring in the market, the best things in life are left for free. Thank God, they remain free, otherwise we would have to buy every ounce of air we breath, every glass of water we drink, every piece of earth we step on, and every sunlight that brightens the day. Yet how come I never stop in my day to day track to thank God for these things? Most of the time I just leave them for granted thinking they would be there forever, that I would enjoy them forever.

Relationships too are free. Our relationship with God is certainly free. Our relationship with others is also free, if we have the openness and honesty to enter into it. Our relationship with ourselves is very much free. Our relationships, while remaining free, needs to be nourished. We nourish it with companionship that shows you care, or with a simple smile that say's I'll always be there. But isn't it true that oftentimes we take relationships for granted too? We think that people will always be there forever, that we would keep them beside us forever.

Many things are free. All of them unmerited. Why not start to appreciate, take care, and treasure these gifts? Would it take a price tag for each gift before we can understand the value of the best things in life?

What's In A Name?

"Good afternoon, class. I am your religion teacher. You can call me Bro. Keith. Pero pag feeling close kayo, Kitoy na lang."

It's not the standard introduction for a teacher, but hey, I'm not an Education graduate. But this is how I introduced myself to my third year class in Majada In High School. Then recently, something triggered me to write this reflection. There is something special about names.

Its a mystery how our parents come to choose our names. Lucky for me, I have a single-word, five-letter name, so it wasn't so difficult during my elementary years writing my name or rushing things during my biology speed exam in high school. Some others are not as lucky, having more names, while others have weird names. Names are truly magical.

We ask our parents how'd they arrive at such a name. Growing up, we never mind at first, but sooner or later, you'll learn to ask. People call you by that name. Friends tease you by playing with that name. So what's in a name? Your name supposedly defines who you are as a person.

In Biblical times, I have learned, that names give you power over something. Only someone higher can give names. That's why Adam was given the chance to name all creation because he is the steward and that's also why God couldn't be named, just I AM, because no one's higher than Him. If we could choose our names at birth, we could have picked one that we really liked and one that would really define us but lucky us, we were powerless before the creativity of our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives. Manky Pacquiao (Manny-Jingky) are you there?

Most people know me by my name "Keith". My friends call me "Kitoy". But very few know me by a third name. I really hold it sacred and dear to me. Telling it to another person feels like handing over my total person. When I shared my name to another, it feels like a real communion of persons and not just a drive-by getting-to-know-you act.

Hearing that name or remembering being called by that name certainly gives me goosebumps. Only people who truly loved me called me that way. Googling the internet shows I am the only Keith Amodia in the whole world. Googling more, I find that there are also many Keith's whose nickname is Kitoy. But my sacred name, something secret to a circle of family and very close friends, wakes me from a deep slumber and reminds me of who I am.

How do they call you? And what's in your name?

If Today Were The Last

If today were the last of my days, how would I live it?

One very Salesian habit I have acquired is to anticipate the hour of my death. When everyone is lost living in the moment of pleasure blissfully placing aside the impending thought of mortality, death seems so far away it seems it doesn't exist in our paths. But we know that death has its own surprises. It comes and it goes. One day we just find ourselves missing someone, or we find someone missing us.

If today were the last of my days, how would I live it?


Indeed, if today were my last, how would I live it? I question how I have lived my twenty four years of life. Have I become a good person? Have I made many friends? Have I touched lives? How would people write my eulogy, or how would they write my biography?

If today were the last of my days, how would I live it?


In the face of death everything falls into place. What we think was important was nothing but vanity. What we took for granted is actually everything. People would matter more and loving would make more sense. As the clock ticks, time is running out. Each day is a day nearer to death. What really matters? Where should I place myself in?

If today were the last of my days, how would I live it?


When the time comes for me to see my lifeless body, I hope my only failures would be failures from my own immaturity and not failures that I willed to happen. I hope I would have less regrets or that I have made most of my things to do before I die. And I hope that I die smiling and in peace.

If today were the last of my days, how would I live it?


A simple question could change the way we think, act, and live. If today were the last, how would I spend it?

The In-between

There is a certain moment in our our growth, that subtle change, when we learn to stop wondering. Our sense of wonder fades as we enter into normalcy. Everything appears normal. Boringly normal.

It is good to stop a while and revisit my self. Just when did I learn to stop wondering about the world around me? When did I stop looking up the sky and look at the many shapes that the clouds form or ask what's beyond the stars? When did I stop to be amazed at how my feet firmly holds the earth and not float away into space? In the distant past, the world was full of wonders. It was full of magic. It was full of adventures.

I remember getting excited riding the jeep. Now, travel's become a bore and the sights that pass before my eyes remain but a passing blur. I remember the joy of being under the rain and drinking it. Now, the rain brings gloom and inconvenience. What happened in between?

The in-between, the mysterious in-between, tells me how easy it is to forget. It tells me how easily we grow up to become boring adults. It tells me how time can dull our sense of wonder simply because we begin to take things for granted. Now I wonder how'd I react if the sky were to disappear from the ceiling of earth, or that there'd be no rain under storm clouds.

I see it an invitation for me to always practice gratitude and to wonder again at the beauty and magic of the world. Seeing more than what we see can open our eyes to the treasure that had long sat in front of us.