KCAT CAN: I have a pen that writes

...Life is the greatest chance that has been given to all of us. So how do you choose to live your life? You’ve got a pen. Write it down.

I Have A Pen That Writes
by Maria Kathrina Lopez Yarza
September 20, 2010


I am the author of my life. Unfortunately, I am writing with a pen with permanent ink; therefore, I cannot erase my mistakes. It leaves me with no other choice except to use the lessons I learned from my past and use them to create my beautiful present.

I look at my life as a book with many pages and chapters. Each page tells of who I am and what I had gone through — the stupid mistakes, the laughter, the tears, and the small accomplishments that come with them.

We all start out writing our own books of life using a pencil. During our young and immature years, our parents were the erasers of our mistakes, always been there to make things alright, picking us up and easing up the painful consequences of our errors.

As years add up, however, we become like young birds ready and able to fly on our own. We use our new freedom to see the world and to experience the many things that it has to offer. We decide what we want to be, where we want to go, what we want to do, what will make us happy, and what will make us sad. Then again, there come times when we fall hard on our own.

The lessons that we get out of this ride of life is to remember the Third Law of Newton which states that “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.’’ Whatever decisions we make in life always have their respective consequences — good, better, best, or bad, worse, worst.

Life is a matter of chances and choices. Life offers many chances, but we always have a choice. It is up to us whether to take the chances that come our way. I believe that the choice not to have a choice is a choice in itself. So, since we have to make choices in life, why not choose the good ones?

“What is the biggest mistake you had made in your life and what did you do to make it right?” This question and the answer given by Venus Raj was the talk of the town a few weeks ago. I pondered on that question. It seemed like a difficult question for me when I gave it some serious thinking. I have done a lot of mistakes in my life, but it is difficult for me to pick out the biggest mistake of them all. I do not intend to appear virtuous and admirable, but rather, when I think about it, I have no regrets for the things that I have done in my life — be them good or bad. I learned lessons from them.

We often make mistakes and some of our actions end up in disappointments and failures, causing pain to ourselves and to others as well.I myself have done not a few mistakes in the past and felt devastated; but I hold no regrets or grudges. I let go, looking at the brighter side of things, and continue with life.

Doing this, there is no more space for regrets. Accept, forgive and forget. Forgive not only the people who hurt us, but also forgive ourselves, accepting whatever is the outcome, then forget the wrongs, learn from them and move on. Holding on to the guilt and pain would just make life miserable for us.

According to an article that I read somewhere before, research shows that allowing ourselves to forgive and forget can be healthy — it reduces pains, headaches, stress, and leads to a strong immune system. So I say: Why continue to hold grudges? We will just put our health in jeopardy, and lessen the number of pages and chapters that we still need to write in our book of life.

We are the authors of our lives. It is easier to write on paper with guidelines and margins. In life, these lines are God’s guiding hands. For as long as we follow His path, we are surely on the right track. We may not be able to erase the printed words and actions from our book, for what had been said was said, and what had been done was done; nevertheless, the beauty that comes from our many errors is that we learn how to rise above them, and continue to write a beautiful ending to our novel.

Life is the greatest chance that has been given to all of us. So how do you choose to live your life? You’ve got a pen. Write it down.