The Fault is in the Stars

Recent findings of anthropologists point towards one of our cultural groups as carriers of an ancient form of mitochondrial DNA linking us to tens of thousands of years to the earliest humans on earth. That that strand of human genome originating from the navel of Africa towards our islands is in itself incomprehensible, given the lack of means to travel long distances of land and water to reach our shores, notably the Zambales area.  It could be possible that the islands were not yet separated by the seas, whether it be South China or West Philippine.

Given that no compass yet then existed, travelling during those times must have been only through the stars, and here lies the title of this iteration of this column. Astrologists were the science men or old, even the biggies like the Three Eastern Magi would be attributed to have travelled by way of the guides from the stars, notably Bethlehem’s.

And it is my thesis herein that our islands must be hospitable enough for the earliest humans to stay and reproduce in the jungles of Zambales on those starry nights, as van Gogh would have imagined.

But what do I really want to say? That it is our misfortune that the humans who came to our islands after the earliest humans settled here must have done so via these same stars that secondarily guide present-day mariners. And our maladies, a.k.a. conquerors, came a knocking at our pristine shores. Our inborn hospitable nature, which we carry to this day, made these peraigners decide to stay, and exploit our natural and human resources, especially the sirens of the sea that inhabit our islands. Thus, we experienced a succession of incursions from China, Taiwan, Borneo, Spain, America, Japan, and again our home-grown predators of lands and wealth. If we are underlings today, the fault indeed, must be in the stars, and in ourselves. Agree? Or Disagree.