By: Atty. Marlo T. Cristobal
(Following is actually a reproduction, with some interesting revisions, of what l sent sometime ago to my high school mates and a few other friends, to enable thus viewers of Banateros.com to share the same guidance and information for a San Franciso visit. These revisions are intended to make my instant write up keenly relevant to man of the present and future times, and not just be regarded as an old and stale story — much less dismissed as partaker of Shakespeare’s censure of “all sound and fury, signifying nothing.”)
From our sally out to attend the awarding ceremony of my son, Byron (Banat By) in Hollywood, LA, yesterday, (November 18, 2023, where U.S based Gawad Amerika bestowed on him the honor of outstanding vlogger) we galloped back today to San Francisco, through the masterful driving and navigating of a family friend, Randell Bunagan, to continue our vacation here.
As our Hop in Hop out bus continued to cruise over the different tourist spots of San Francisco, the general physical makeup of the city became pleasingly evident. “San Fran,” the term local residents use to name the city, is a medley of tall and low-storeyed buildings, but more of the high rise ones, either of modern buildings or of age-old or old design buildings. The modern buildings exhibit cutting-edge designs, for where can you find, for example, a building walled in one solid, continues (not piece by piece) glass from the ground floor to the fourth floor? Only in San Francisco. In fact the city has built its own skyscraper in the downtown area, reputedly the tallest in the entire city and they call it “The Leaning Tower of San Francisco,” for it is indeed incessantly leaning at a regular rate of three inches at certain intervals. We were told this leaning continues with the march of time, and with it the consequential losing of property values of the thousands of units of residential, commercial and office housed in this skyscraper.
What makes the buildings of San Fran, both commercial and residential, so attractive is their motley of medieval and modern architectural design. As if the buildings after erections bursted and landed in different places at random. The eye-catching result — a kaleidoscope of colors and designs.
As you pass by a brief parade of buildings of the Romanesque, Gothic or Colonial facade and design, you get the feeling of cavorting in a world depicted in fairy tales. When my sister-in-law in LA learned that we were in San Fran, she called us up to volunteer her personal experience saying, “San Francisco is beautiful and romantic.” It is easy to see it as beautiful, but to see it as romantic, it takes a poet imagination to understand that ascription. Certainly, amidst this kaleidoscope of buildings you get a gushing sensation of being transplanted to the mythical world of fairies where the environment palpably evokes romanticism — if you are not the stoic or “deadma” persona.
Accentuating the aesthetics of San Francisco is its patented ascending high, at times so high it puts strains on car engines, and descending roads, all throughout San Francisco, similar to our own but smaller scale Baguio roads, giving me an impression that San Fran was built on a-once-upon-a-time clusters of hills and mini mountains. Beautiful houses are also latched on and riveted to the sides of the mountains of San Fran ala Baguio. This topography seems to be unique in San Fran as l have not seen a similar physical configuration exuding and attention-drawing beauty, in many other states l have gone to; they were not even close enough. No wonder my sister-in-law, a long time resident of LA with my brother graphcally calls San Fran “romantic.” Our Uber driver called San Francisco “homey,” in comparing it to other cities in the U.S. he had lived once.
Above picturesqueness side by side with a body of sea water nestling the fabled Golden Gate, the historical and folkloric Alcatraz federal prison and the quaint bay and wharf, home to incessantly frolicking seagulls, doves and sea lions all venting a cacophony of shrills of their species, all which my ears welcomed as cacophony of lovely music, truly render San Francisco purely “romantic” and “homey,” which a poet, like John Keats, would definitely find irresistible to rhyme his own paean — a thing of beauty, a joy forever.
Indeed San Fran sceneries are a joy forever. It cannot be otherwise, because they all were creation of God. All these flourishing physical beauty and cavorting creatures of San Fran crearly scream the power and existence of God. This statement is not a myth, not a fable, not a mere legend. This is the truth categorically asserted in Romans 1:20. For your more enlightenment and deeper touch with God’s wisdom, please also read Psalms 104:24-25. While the statuesque and magnificent buildings of San Fran were executed by engineers and architects, God was the ultimate builder thereof. (Please receive a more enlightenment on this avowal from Hebrews 3:4).
It is no wonder then, that since this beauty in human life is God’s work, God had issued from eternity a statute for humanity to keep and preserve the beauty of nature and the rest of His works of beauty, and to those who mar this beauty, God had promised them a curse “to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth.” (Please read Revelation 11:18)
Those that pursue activities that defile the healthy environment God gave us, naturally degrade the earth’s climate, biodiversity and ecosystem thereby gradually and surely destroying the earth. Clearing of forests, logging, mining and pollution-dispersing operations solely or mainly in pursuit of unmitigated greed for money, destroy the earth. These perpetrators might have escaped the retribution of man’s imperfect, ineffective laws, but they will never be off the hook of God’s impending wrath. For God has promised to destroy them — in due time, their time to face God’s wrath (please read Romans 2:5, Romans 1:18, John3:36). Certainly, God tells them loudly, “Promise!”but deaf they are. Not even a veneer of wariness they bare to just even pretend the fear that God cannot lie, (please refer to Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18)
Be that as it may, hear me out, my incredulously romantic heart could only whine in nostalgia: I left my heart in San Francisco!
