Your mantra for the week:

 

“My attitude of gratitude brings me all forms of blessings.”

 

This week we feature a birthday message from former Sen. Jun Magsaysay which illustrates many of the IAMIST beliefs:

 

Be thankful for the journey

 

“Life is like a journey on a train with its stations, with changes of routes and with accidents!

 

“At birth we board the train and meet our parents, and we believe they will always travel by our side.

 

“However, at some station, our parents will step down from the train, leaving us on this journey alone.

 

“As time goes by, other people will board the train, and they will be significant i.e. our siblings, friends, children, and even the love of our life.

 

“Many will step down and leave a permanent vacuum.

 

Others will go so unnoticed that we won’t even realize that they vacated their seats!

 

“This train ride will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, goodbyes and farewells.

 

“Success consists of having a good relationship with all the passengers… requiring that we give the best of ourselves.

 

“The mystery to everyone is: We do not know at which stations we ourselves will step down. So, we must live in the best way—love, forgive and offer the best of who we are.

 

“It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to step down and leave our seat empty, we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel on the train of life without us.

 

“I wish you a joyful journey for the coming years on your train of life.

 

“Reap success, give lots of love and be happy. More importantly, be thankful for the journey!

 

“Lastly, I thank you for being one of the significant passengers on my train of life!

 

“Lots of love and good wishes, Jun.”

 

When Marilou Magsaysay calls to invite us to celebrate her husband Jun’s 80th birthday at Red Lantern, Solaire, all other appointments are dropped.

 

Finally, Jun has become a senior (yes, 80 is the new 60) and a most successful farmer who produces fresh milk, whole and low-fat, kesong puti, and yogurt with all its other by-products, not to mention Carmen’s Best ice cream which his son Paco makes from the milk.

 

His success, Jun says, is the answer to his little prayer, “Give us this day our dairy bread.”

 

The lunch at Red Lantern was organized by Marilou with some 150 guests led by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, who incidentally was my co-detainee at Camp Crame during martial law.

 

All guests were chosen on the basis of having been a significant co-passenger on Jun’s journey in his “Train of Life.”

Like a lauriat

 

Solaire F&B director Robbert Pupping prepared what felt like a 20-course lauriat.

 

After the noodles, we felt so full, only to find out that it was just the beginning of the main courses.

 

The first 10 were apparently considered the dim sum portion. There was so much food left that guests were allowed, for the first time, to “take home.”

 

Video

 

After the lunch, a video showed Jun’s friends greeting the birthday boy, with snippets of his childhood and significant moments in his life.

 

What the video didn’t include was his being the youngest congressman, at 27, to be elected to the Lower House. Later, as a private citizen, he ventured into garment manufacturing, producing semiconductors, promoting travel and tourism, and then becoming the country’s “Father of Cable Television,” having pioneered in the business.

 

In 1995, he ran for senator in the Lakas-Laban Party and made it to No. 3.

 

Golden years

 

Jun and I go back a long way because my father, Carlos Moran Sison, used to write speeches for his father, the late President Ramon Magsaysay.

 

At a recent party, Jun recalled that  he was still in school when his dad died. Fortunately, through the generosity of then President Carlos P. Garcia, the Magsaysay family was given a P2,000 monthly stipend as they moved back to live in the old home that his father owned.

 

During his term, President Magsaysay literally opened the gates of Malacañang to the people.

 

His administration was considered one of the cleanest and most corruption-free in modern Philippine history. That period is often referred to as the Philippines’ “golden years.”

 

Please note that the Marcoses want to steal even the term golden years after getting away with $34 billion (according to the Guinness Book of Records).

 

Plenty of time

 

The video ended with a question for Jun’s wife Marilou: “Is there anything you would like to tell the Filipino people about your husband?”

 

With a big smile, she emphatically said, “You should have made him president.”

 

The guests, who included Sen. Franklin Drilon, banker Ramon Sy, presidential adviser Ramon Jacinto, former Sen. Eddie Ilarde, William Go, Alex Wong, Jose Ong, Jose Mari Chan, my brother Louie, and Israeli Ambassador Effie Ben Matityau, agreed.

 

Jun, there is still plenty of time left in your journey. Mahathir Bin Mohamad is 93, and he’s back as Malaysian Prime Minister.

 

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