As the Weaver Unravels

 by Mariel Aquino

The weaver carefully holds the loom while unraveling. As if she's carrying a child, she moved slowly and tenderly. It wasn't easy because the threads had already begun to take shape, converging at each other and forming a cloth. As the weaver unravels, the twisted knots become more difficult to unravel. In the midst of the struggle, she cracked a smile. She sighed deeply as she twisted the knots that held them together. It is hers that she is unraveling. She realizes it was her life that she was unraveling.

The old ones glanced at her as she unraveled the almost finished cloth prepared for her. The weaver was taken aback as the old one grabbed the shuttle with a weft from her grasp. The old one keeps weaving what the weaver unraveled. She could feel the anguish spreading to her heart. It was her decision to untangle, but the old one decides for her. Weaving, according to the elders, is the process of making profound linkages evident between descendants present today as well as their far beyond forebears. The weaver did not believe what the elders asserted. For the weaver, we gain a greater grasp of the world and how we, as humans, are interwoven into everything. The delicate threads of the world bind us to ourselves. We create our own fate. It is our choice whether to continue or to begin a new one. And so, she does.

As the weaver looks at the ones continuing what she unravels, she decides to make her own cloth. A different one, not meant for an occasion to celebrate her unity with another individual, but a cloth made for her to rejoice for her freedom. She’s fearless as she weaves her life into a new one. Even there is a slight drawback that war may start her will, she will ignite a battle within herself if she avoids the struggle to protect the peace. She is most frightened of the fight within herself, the one that is silent but most destructive. The weaver wishes to unravel the universe's mysteries and explore as her life takes shape. And so, she does.