GOODBYE,IS IT TRULY A SWEET SORROW?

GOODBYE,IS IT TRULY A SWEET SORROW?

Br. Jon Sison, SSS

How many times have you said goodbye to someone? How did you feel every time you said goodbye? Why do they say that goodbye is such a sweet sorrow? Is goodbye synonymous with pain and sorrow? Is it heartbreaking and tormenting? Indeed, goodbyes seem to have the colors of sadness and pain. Yes, especially the pain of separation whether it is fleeting or forever. Everything which is left is emptiness and the only consolations are the tight hugs, teary eyes and the emotional breath brought about from the mere utterance of

The word Goodbye."

Gazing at the sight of parting is also accompanied by a deep desire to see each other again the soonest possible time. And the counting of days which turned into months and eventually bloomed into years slowly become unbearable.

When I left the house for the Postulancy Program in Davao, I still vividly recall how my father and I bid our goodbyes. It was very dramatic and an award winning episode. Even the Oscars could not beat it, kidding aside? We cried a river and we ended up with ” wet look" shirts and swollen eyes. We lost our poise, we’re so ugly! A couple of years later, came another goodbye and I had to leave again to enter the Novitiate Formation. Again, tears formed a pool between us , and I was overwhelmed with sadness once more because of the pain of separation. Thereafter, whenever I pay visit to him, expect that a river of Sweet Afton.

Long I have been contemplating why we are always like that. We are never tired of crying whenever we are parting ways. As if we are not capable of moving on, we are always caught by the drama of saying goodbye. Are there any other things goodbye brings to us aside from pains and hurts? Or we are just stuck up with our constantly recurring emotions? Is there anything good that comes from goodbye ?

I believe our goodbyes also surface the unexpressed love we have for each other. The love that missed a childhood chance to be intimately articulated as a growing boy. But alas, it found its way to be celebrated lately. It is in our separations that we best acknowledge how we love each other and that we cannot afford to lose the chance of expressing such noble emotions. It is in our absence that hearts go fonder for each other and that confirms there is more to our tears that go through our hearts, the power of love. Isn’t that so sweet that it leaves a soft spot in our hearts? A symbol which reminds both the father and the son of oneness and assurance. A safe refuge and an abode just in case the world decides to turn it back to us. We still have each other no matter what!

Truly, goodbyes do not only entail pains but also bring us to some hellos that will continually give us hope and inspiration. The several goodbyes my father and I have shared always remind us the love-bond that will forever be cherished. This will lead us to appreciate each other more and seize every moment every time we are together both physically and spiritually. And so, do we still cringe at the word goodbye? Or does goodbye give us a promise of saying Hello? I should know.