The October Effect- A theory in the financial market that stocks tend to fall or crash in value during the month of October. This belief emanated from the Panic of 1907, the Crash of 1929, the Crash of 1987 and the 2008 credit crisis which all happened/started in October.
Although my interest in the stock market started when the Crash of 1987 (I was only 12 at that time) was all over the news, the term October Effect is just another business phrase with no application in literature or in my personal instrospection. I only took notice and reflected on the significance of the month of October on myself when in 1994, I read an article about Tony Perez’s upcoming play, “Oktubre, Noong Tayo’y Nagmamahalan Pa”. This is the first play in the multi-awarded playwright’s thought provoking trilogy about love, friendship and companionship and its consequence into our lives. It’s sequel is titled “Nobyembre, Noong Akala Ko’y Mahal Kita” and its third and final installment, “Saan Ba Tayo Ihahatid ng Disyembre”. On that 10th month of 1994, when I read about Tony Perez’ play, I was then recuperating from a break up of a serious relationship. And I was seeking solace through poetry and literature, which lead me to that article. (This was also the time when Lord Byron’s poem When We Two Parted became my favorite and up until this day, I can recite this literary piece from memory)
On that October of 1994, I ruminated on the Octobers of previous years and indeed, the current month was the month where great personal challenges or tribulations occured. And fifteen years later, just this morning while driving on my way to work , I once again contemplated on the October Effect and the Octobers of recent years.
In October of last year, I learned very invaluable lessons about human behavior and office politics that Robert Greene forgot to write about in his classic “The 48 Laws of Power” (it was for this reason that I didn’t have any article written in October 2008). But thanks, in part, to the said book, I was able to maneuver my way and turned the tide against those who conspired against me, and ended up the victor.
October of 2007 was another difficult month, at that time, the pangs of guilt are slowly killing me because I wasn’t really there for my Mother during her last days (She died of leukemia in August of 2007). And I kept on wishing that I be given at least one more day with her, even if that will be limited in the realms of my dreams. It may sound amusing that a martial artist who’s not afraid of stepping onto the ring has an extremely soft side. But one night in October of 2007, while reading Mitch Albom’s For One More Day (a very beautiful story about a mother’s love for her son) HBO aired on cable TV Anna Chlumsky’s movie “My Girl”. In the said movie, Macaulay Culkin’s character died and at the unforgettable scene where Anna Chlumsky saw for the first time the lifeless body of her best friend, tears are swelling in my eyes and partly because of that emotional scene and partly because of the effects of alcohol, I dialed my mother’s mobile phone number countless times, hoping that somehow I will hear her voice. In the end, I sent a text message to her number saying sorry for everything and that I missed her so bad and I hope she knows that I love her.
Perhaps the October of this year is no different. It will be the end of an era as the global economic crisis and its inevitable effects has finally put my American company to its knees. Though I have plans of pursuing a path outside my present company within the first half of next year, the developments that happened this month, though expected, still brings concerns. But I have made my plans, well in advance though it will be a big leap of faith. I hope Paolo Coelho is correct about the whole world conspiring to help you attain your personal legend, because the big leap that I’ll be making is a step closer to what I think is my personal legend.
The musings I made this morning in the Octobers of my life, lead me to ponder on the song “Borrowed Heaven” by my favorite band of all time, The Corrs. Almost everything or everybody we hold dear in our life is just borrowed heaven and sooner or later, these must fade or we must bade our farewell. I just hope that I will not lose another “Borrowed Heaven” in this month of October.
The video below is the heartwrenching scene in the movie “My Girl” that I mentioned above
