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Old Days Gone

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Submitted By jmfernandez3
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Old Days Gone “Everybody froze. Everything made no movements at all. It seemed that the world was put in slow motion as another beautiful life was welcomed to the world. Silence continued until everyone heard of the baby’s first cry which as they would say, sounded great. Then, in just a snap, everything became lively again and everyone was grateful for the great news. “It’s a baby girl!” said the doctor. “Thank God” said the family members. The whole family was so thankful for the blessing but who could be more grateful than the baby’s own parents? Who could be happier than Mr. and Mrs. Jose Fernandez Jr.?” In some parts of the world, it is custom to give a child a name that is full of meaning. The name chosen may reflect the parent’s beliefs and values or their hopes and dreams for the child’s future. As for my name, Joanna actually means “God is gracious.” Joanna Lynne was taken from a combination of 3 names, my Dad’s, my Mom’s and my Aunt’s. Dad’s name is Jose. Mom is Erlinda. Aunt is Juanita. My last name, Fernandez was from my great great grandfathers in Pangasinan. When the Spaniards ruled over the country, surnames were also changed. One of the most common used surname at that time was Fernandez and based from my grandmother, those having Fernandez as their surname at that time were entitled to great position in our barangay. Today, I am holding the name Joanna Lynne Fernandez and I am proud of it. With this name is the combined love and effort of my parents to give and assure me a brighter future. Fifteen years, nine months, and twenty-two days – this exactly is how long I have been staying on Earth. It is also exactly how many days have passed since the eventful event I told at the start of this essay. Being groomed as a 21st century teen and being exposed to all kinds of technologies, I sometimes wonder how life was at the time that I was born. Was the world more beautiful? Were there any problems concerning humanity? Were the people of yesterday happier? To satisfy my deficiency of knowledge regarding this particular issue, I asked my Mom a lot of questions – some were kind stupid but most were of course significant ones. After throwing thousands of questions, I finally have been enlightened to how life was back in the 1990s or the Nineties. Often, when one says 90s, what comes to my mind are those boybands ruling the entire world. Backstreet Boys, NSync, New Kids on the Block, and Westlife are among those bands. But, it turns out that I was wrong. Nineties isn’t just about fangirling over those overrated boybands. There were lots of many other things that existed at that time – not just whatever-they-are things but really big things. 1990s, often quoted as the Information Age, did not just remain silent. Instead it boomed and proved itself to be one of the most eventful decades ever. With the cloning of the first mammal (Dolly), releasing of Hubble telescope, creating of Pokemon and Nintendo games and first public appearance of World Wide Web, 1990s really made new improvements and affected many lives. On the other hand, unfortunate events also surfaced at that time. Princess Diana of Wales died in a car accident. Gulf War surfaced. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake was experienced in the Philippines. Mt. Pinatubo erupted killing 800 people and causing billion dollars damage in property. Though the decade didn’t start good for the Filipinos, through their strong faith in God and their courage to face whatever struggles life may bring them, they were able to get up and face life again. In fact, on January 11-21, 1995, Pope John Paul II visited the Philippines. The famous singer Michael Jackson also set foot the Philippines in December 1996. Nineteen nineties was such an eventful decade. Scientific discoveries were made, new leaderships were created, and thousands of lives were taken away by Mother Earth – all these, no matter how good or ill-fated they may seem contribute to what we have now. If not for these things, life today won’t be the same. As what my Mom always tells me, life in the Nineties was very different. It is different not in a way that it’s over barbarian or out of date. It was different mainly because of the people that make it. Living at that time is not complicated. Life is simple. Simplicity is beauty. Life is beautiful.

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