By DELFIN MERCADO
How does it feel to end decades-long searches? How does it feel to finally, after an eternity, find what you have been looking for?
Fascination? Catching a glimpse of that elusive “God particle”–the Higgs boson–may mean the end of a 50-year search, and the beginning of new advancements in physics. Pinpointing the theoretical particle may spell the end of speculation on a lot of other theories, and the beginning of new explorations in the realm of the unknown. Finding the Higgs boson will usher a milestone in human discovery, and possibly change the way we look at all things forever.
Hope? Finding a cure for cancer or AIDS may well fuel a revolution in the pharmaceutical industry and bring new hope to patients who are ever waiting for miracles. Lives will be extended, and a whole new chapter on health and human longevity will be opened. No longer will we dread mankind’s incapacity to treat these deadly diseases. At least one less family, one less person in every corner of the world will regain hope and will be able to live as normal as ever.
Wonder? To finally find the person we would like to be with, in sickness and in health. To end that search that all of us embark into, to finally meet the guy or girl to whom we would dedicate our lives. Searching for love is an arduous task, and yet when we finally end this search, we may find actual fulfillment.
Redress? Bringing perpetrators of human rights violations to justice may, in some way, compensate for the loss of a loved one. Happiest of all would be the return of a long-lost desaparecido, after long years of searching and waiting. Reuniting with a friend, a sister, a child, brings more than just compensation, but a promise of catching up with lost time.
Redemption? Succeeding in the protracted struggle, having the workers and peasants take over and build a just government, winning over the dominant order and restructuring society–it is a promise of redemption that is as elusive as the Higgs boson, an undertaking that is as comforting as a cure for cancer, a search made out of love. For indeed, we, or some of us still do believe, that the time for societal change will come, however distant, however elusive. We yearn for it; we strive for it. And in our dreams, we already know how we would greet that glorious day. ●
Published in print in the Collegian’s January 10, 2012 issue.
