The substance of a two century-old items

There are five-weekend concepts to choose from this week, and I chose the first one on the list, which is the Time Capsule, and states the following question,

You have the opportunity to leave three of your personal items in a time capsule to be buried and dug up two hundred years from today. What do you put in there and why? How do you feel people in the future will interpret your items? Answer in at least 300 words and use photos you personally took if possible.

The honor of leaving your own personal items to be buried and later dug up after two hundred years is somewhat glorious for us. When we say personal items, it doesn’t matter whether you bought them cheap, expensive, or were gifted by someone else. The weight of an item is truly determined by how sentimental it is and the memories you’ve associated with it. I can say that I’m a sentimental person, either toward a person or a certain thing.

As I was saying, the first personal item I will leave is my personal diary/devotion notebook. I’ve been keeping my personal diary for so many years that it contains the most epic, adventurous, and wild days of my life. Thus, I wrote about some of the societal issues that I personally address in those journals. I still recall vividly how upset I was when a flash flood rushed through our barangay a few years ago, causing some of my diaries to turn into a mess.

I believe that if people in the future find my diaries, it can give them an idea of what a normal Filipino young man’s life looks like. I think, although it has not much significance, at the very least, it contains honest, raw, and factual events that happened, which eventually will be different in the next two centuries.

Next, the second item will be my old phone. I have these old phones that I used several years ago. Some of them are no longer functional, but the days I’ve spent on these phones are epic. Some Filipinos can relate to the old times when the internet and social media did not flourish yet. We had this so-called "text group clan," wherein you could message several people and set your own nickname. It was so prevalent that even in today’s time, it is still classic.

I think in the near future, old phones like keypad phones will be so antique. I can imagine the value it has for the next two hundred years, as some people like antiquarian treasures the most. It will be a recognition and a mark that such technology really exists in this era. Mobile phones are like gems today, aren’t they?

The last personal item would be the coins. I have this kind of urge to collect foreign money because it feels unique and is also a token of remembrance from someone who gave it to me. There have been several times our country has changed the design of coins, and whenever a new coin is released, people go insane to get one. Coins are not just money for me because I believe they convey a sense of liberation and freedom.

However, how I wish there was a certain local food I could leave behind enough to last for two hundred years. Surely, fermentation is the key, which is why I think coconut wine is the best. Whatever items I pick to leave behind, I know for a fact that they will impart a sense of history and culture to the future generation. Its value today must not be taken into consideration as long as you see a great benefit once it is discovered.