DOMINUS VOBISCUM!

The country with its first ever black president at the helm remains the dream land of a lot of people in my beloved “Pearl of the Orient” archipelago. Many of my countrymen longed not only to enter such “Land of Promise and Opportunities” but hoped to stay there the rest of their terrestrial life in fulfillment of the “American Dream”.

The alien entry requirements to the United States of America differs so much from the requirements necessary for permanent residency. Permanent residency requirements are harder to secure.  Also, a visa is harder to obtain than a passport. Likewise, entry is easier than permanent stay.

A passport and an attendant visa is a must for entry to the land of milk and honey. If there is no visa, there is no entry; if there is no passport, there is no visa. The passport is issued to the prospective entrant by an authority in the country of origin of the alien while the visa is rubber stamped and signed on a page on the passport by an authority from the country of destination.

The requisites for entry to the Garden of Eden or Paradise or heaven is identical with the entry requirements to the United States of America. If no visa is acquired, entry is denied; if no passport is acquired, visa is denied. The big difference is such that the entry to the “Home of the brave” is awaited with excitement, eager anticipation and enthusiasm while the entry to the “celestial abode” is not awaited with the same vigor, intensity and attitude. No human person wants to acquire the passport and the visa to heaven by their own volition and free will.

The passport and the visa to heaven are inevitable terrestrial realities on “Mother Earth”. They are not served in the form of documents. They are often not served by human authorities. They are heaven-sent and oftentimes unpredictable. Because they are heaven-sent, angelic and not human persons serve such passport and visa. It is often served without further notice. The visa to the Garden of Eden is none other than death.

The common types of passport to heaven comes in the form of either a life-threatening ailment or serious physical injuries. The acknowledged and dreaded types of fatal diseases include malignant tumors in all its varied forms, AIDS, severe heart attacks and strokes, severe fulminating infections among others. Likewise, serious physical injuries comes in diverse and varied ways. It may come as a freak accident as when a hurrying human person crossing the street slips and tumbles head first on the gutter or a civilian getting hit by a stray bullet on the head in a crossfire.