Aphrodite's Best Shot

by: Jayson Ruales

         “I want to use the last shot of my camera to my family and to the people I love,” she answered my question with hope and a little bit sadness on her face. “Why you are fond of taking pictures?” I asked. She answered, “because I find it fun and it makes everything in this world possible.” This woman arose my emotion and spirit as the interview went on.

Her personality

         Charlotte Jalon is very family devotee. She’s dying to see her family suffers. She cannot able to see them in pain, if she can; she will shoulder their pain for it is better for her to suffer than her love ones. In short, she loves her parents more than her life. There’s nothing she will not do for them. She can even move the Mt. Everest just to make sure they are secured and happy. She will give everything to her family though nothing will be left for her. Her father, Mr. Claudio Jalon, is working as Civil Security Unit Personnel (CSUP) at Davao del Sur. His hardship is for his family, to send his children to school and to provide their needs. Her mother, Elsa Jalon, is her model as a woman because she can reach the stars for her children. Charlotte treasured all the hardships of her parents, thus, she promised when she left home for study that she will be back with a key to the door of prosperity. Because of it, I named her Aphrodite of USEP because of her priceless and genuine love to her family and love ones that no one can measure.

         Intelligence? Beauty? Humor? Affection? Well, she got these all. She has a magnet that attracts every Hercules that she meets. Her eyes are like a fire that can burn every man’s heart. She has an angelic face that no one would wish to take off their eyes from it. Who can tell that Aphrodite is currently studying in USEP taking up Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education? And take note, she is my classmate, well, just my seatmate. Yeah! She is sitting beside me EVERYDAY.

Charlotte and I

         All you know that Aphrodite is just a goddess of love and quite beautiful but don’t you, let me tell you something. This goddess has hidden face personality. Guess what? Ask her something like how many people died and survived in the Titanic tragedy and she will probably answer, “Ning uban unta ka para naihap nimo.” Yes! She has sense of humor, a beautiful philosopher. She can destroy your jaw through her antics and “havey” jokes like “Mahal ka niya. Mahal mo siya pero mas mahal ang tuition fee kaya mag-aral ka muna.”

Aphrodite as Photography Lover

         “Wow! Nice picture-ran oh!” and she took her camera and captured the fascinating light blue reflection of the crystal-like ocean of Dahikan beach at Dahikan, Mati City. She cannot help herself to take a picture of amazing nature sightings wherever she goes. Nature is part of her life, thus, she loves to capture its beauty. Wow! Aphrodite is a nature lover. The day is not complete without even a single shot of her camera. She loves to capture the people who are significant to her. The funny trips done by her classmates as well as their up and down moments are not exempted by the lens of her camera. I have been a victim of her trip as well. As a humorous and mischievous woman, she loves to do it. It was first year college when she started to take pictures. No one influenced her to do it but it’s an innate urge. She feels heaven with overflowing grace pours down her spirit everytime she takes picture. Excited with pleasure in her heart everytime she presses the button of the camera for a shot because she knows there’s something she can look back after ten years. She wants to see the changes of her life through the pictures.

At Dahikan beach

Happenings in Her Life that She Want To Capture

         Crying in the rain while the song “Somewhere down the road” instrumental version played , that was her drama when she left home to move in Tagum City for study. She wants to capture that event because it was her first time to be away from her family that long.

         When she was 17 years old, her mother left them for no reason that made her world trembled. If she will be given a chance to talk with her mother, she wants to ask her why she left them. She wants to know the story behind it.

        If she can grab back the birthday celebration of her father and younger brother last November 22, 2011, she will because it was the first time since she moved in Tagum City that they gathered all together. They talked a lot, laughed together, throwing jokes, and what she liked the most that time was she could see how happy her father was. She’s hoping to make the gathering happen again.

During her father's birthday celebration

         Who can tell that a beautiful, goddess, smart, brave, and loving Aphrodite has imperfect life despite of her perfect appearance? She is living that has ups and downs as what we all have. All we know she’s brave and loving woman but now, we knew how she became that one, I’m happy to tell the untold story of Aphrodite’s life. I’m proud that I was given a chance to look at her inner beauty that no one abled to do.