ONE HUNDRED-plus days into the year, and I still haven’t missed a single sunrise or sunset.
You can check out my Instagram account (@petersolisnery) for the pictorial proofs.
And in a way, that’s how rich my life is.
I’m so rich that I only care about catching the sunrises and sunsets.
Like I don’t care anymore where my next meal will come from, where money will come from.
***
Having retired myself at 45, I’m just living the life I want.
Prayers, coffee, sunsets, travel, writing, movies.
Occasionally, I have great sex.
I hook up with strangers for sex.
It’s not what I want, but it’s what I get; so I just roll with it.
I would have wanted a boyfriend.
But people think that I am out of their league.
And to be honest, I also feel that my crushes are way out of my league.
***
People think that I am super rich, highly intellectual, sexually insatiable.
Admittedly, I have contributed to the making of the myths and legend.
But here also is my truth: I am financially stable because my needs are not many.
I probably cannot afford fancy food all the time.
I definitely cannot afford to live in a hotel.
Unless, of course, it is my hotel.
***
On social media, I post a lot of travel photos.
Because I like traveling, and that’s what social media is for.
People see me in places, different cities, different countries.
They immediately decide that I must be loaded because I can afford to travel.
What they don’t see is how cheaply I travel.
How I stretch $7,000 over a period of three months in six or seven countries.
***
Of course, I am an intellectual.
I read a lot. I watch thought-provoking materials.
I assess and analyze the news and current events.
Even if I don’t readily share them, I form my opinions.
I process information, organize my ideas, and make them structurally sound.
So when the occasion calls for it, I can just be spontaneous, and smart-sounding.
My standards and values have long been formed.
They are modified as I evolve.
In a way, I am like the church.
Strong foundation, slow to change, but a real force when action is needed because I seldom compromise.
I do not easily compromise.
***
I don’t admire insta-celebrities.
I see them, I recognize them, I acknowledge them, but I have no great respect for them.
I believe in merit, in real talent, in originality.
I believe in hard work, in staying power, in lasting contribution to the better world.
If insta-celebrities are only there for the money, I look down on them.
Maybe I shouldn’t, but I just do.
I mean, that’s what my belief system tells me.
***
If you need to be a politician to be able to help the poor people, I can’t really admire you.
If you need to be a movie star to be a politician, you know what you got.
I mean, obviously, you got an understanding of your voters.
I have such an understanding, too.
But I refuse to use that for my advantage.
If I am to help, then I help on my own terms.
In the only ways I know, and want.
***
I have written politics out of my life.
I am not open to the idea.
But for the sake of argument, and with a little imagination, I’ll say this:
I will only become a government leader, if the people want me, and carry me on their shoulders.
I don’t know what really drove Cory Aquino or Leni Robredo to run for the presidency.
But I liked both their campaign.
Those campaigns transformed me.
If I see a movement like Cory’s Yellow and Leni’s Pink clamoring for me, I might consider running for political office.
***
However, I pray it doesn’t happen in my lifetime.
Because I am pretty happy now with what I got now.
I am so content attending to the needs of my age.
I am so happy admiring the sky at sunrise and sunset.
I am so happy talking occasional walks during the day, shooting clouds and roadside flowers, and just thinking about how the best things in life are free.
***
The church can be a simple 9-foot square, or even just a wall with an altar (like the ones I saw in Greece).
It can also be as majestic as the cathedrals all over the world, or the churches in Rome.
I identify more with the barest structures, and in that sense, I am also like the church—
Simple, solid, strong, and principled./PN
