HOW HONEST SHOULD WE BE?

My grade school classmate Edwin. has his Friendster shoutout like this: “Honesty does not always bring a response of love, but it is absolutely essential to it”This is very true , but how could love be expressed through honesty if we neglect our obligation to spare someone’s feelings? How could honesty express concern if we only think of ourselves? How someone could have the faith if somebody has raw honesty? I have heard a story about a man who admits to his loved one how he had wronged her. The man has been deceiving his wife all his life and decided one day to change his ways. The man seemed sincerely moved about his judgment and began to confess his unfaithfulness. His wife was aghast with his revelation and they started not to speak. A week after revealing to his wife that he has often committed adultery over the years, his wife went under the care of a psychoanalyst at a mental hospital. As a result of this tactless honesty everything about his life collapsed. What can we take from this? Disclosing the truth may be healthy and most often will not harm anyone, but there are times a thoughtless honesty can be very devastating to a relationship. We must always remember that true honesty should not be delayed. It is just like an icicle; once it thaws that is the end of it. It becomes an old sin. Confession of old sins may free the burden of guilty conscience and may bring a self-upright feeling but it is comparable to throwing up on someone. It may make the confessor feels good but it does not do much for the recipient, it hurts to the bone. It is often times like a painkiller that gives a temporary sedation than a solution. Sometimes honesty can be very self-centered thing, some people use honesty as a way to thump people under the outfit of a good person. I believe one should have to confess to God before anyone else and makes recompenses to the hurt party. A person has all the rights to be honest about his belief and intentions but he must not disregard his responsibilities not to offend anyone .It is not reasonable to liberate ones self just to get the load off the chest. Hardly ever ,people would think that lying is the best for any situation but clearly I realized that both telling a lie, and the truth has what it takes of causing harm. I also realized that honesty is not the highest value in the Christian life. It is not the best policy either. People may argue me about this but the highest values for me are love, faith, concern and the best policy is integrity. On my personal interpretation honesty and integrity have key distinctions. Look what is happening to our politics now, everyone seems to have a piece of truth to say because of self interest and greed. This could happen to any sort of situation or relationship. How can honesty be admirable and commendable if we are not willing to gamble harm to ourselves? Sometimes the reason why people want to tell what they know is exactly to loosen their pain and shift onto somebody else or to attain their selfish motives. Integrity saves the feelings of others by counseling our secrets. It is conviction of a true honest man of what is right and wrong. Integrity is an unselfish virtue... There is evidently always a time to keep silent and say nothing. Even Jesus Christ at one point did not say to his 12 disciples the truths that were beyond their comprehensions. Jesus could have answered the truth to all the charges against him but he kept still and to Pilate’s astonishment He just said . . .”no more”
The effort to say the unembellished truth sometimes boomerang and may lead to a rocky path to a weakened or worst scenario - broken relationship. Though I believe that honesty does not glorify sin nor justify it, it is sometimes the cruelest game. You hurt someone as you seem to feel self righteous about at the same time. How honest should we be?


Confess your sins to the Lord and you will be forgiven, confess them to man and you will be laughed at.

THE PRIVILEGE OF A MIRROR

In the gloomy and tranquil night when I am unable to slumber, I grasped a mirror and looked myself from it. A light spread and bounced into my face. I closed my eyes, and with clearness stimulated by relaxation my disappointments and faults tend to emerge before me like apparition from the past. I opened up my eyes and even more I find myself mirrored in almost every people I met.

With a kind of unreasonable persistence the mirror reflected thoughts and showed it off corner to corner from the screen of my mind. I see the faults I have seen in others are but reflections of my own. Their flaws, shortcomings and weaknesses, to certain extents are mine too. Perchance, some of my failures have not been as unpleasant or as evident as theirs but there were times I acted the way I should not supposed to.

Even though my letdowns seem less deliberate and I am not the same in some degrees or explicit ways for people who have not acted in total integrity and complete morality I am guilty too of my own imperfection. If I can always hold on to my mistakes I can see my own glory in the mirror and the clear ongoing process of my growth, renewal and transformation. I see myself reflected in a mirror and without speaking confesses the secrets of my soul...the truth that I am.

“The mirror will reflects back to the thinker what he thinks into it.”

TOUCH A HEART . . . CHANGE A LIFE

I have lain awake for several nights, I stood up and I pulled out a book from the ledge over my bed. It was an old book I haven’t read yet and I was clueless how it came up there. It has no covering for me to know its title and author. I flicked through each pages wanting to find something worthy of note to read. Then I traversed upon two highlighted words, pselaphao and eido .These are two thought-provoking Greek words which have something to do with touch, sight and feeling. Pselaphao as what the book defined it, means to intentionally feel, handle or touch. It is just like getting hold of and running one’s hands all over something just merely to look into for the purpose of learning its parts, make-up and substance. Pselaphao can be compared to people who get along with people for the purpose of only knowing them rather than molding, enlightening, uplifting them or helping them during tough times. Eido on the other hand means to see, but not as in a casual sight. Unlike the first, it goes much further, more to seeing with our minds in order to achieve an abysmal realization and understanding of something. Eido can be likened to those people who reach people to understand and learn them with empathy. It’s just like not physically seeing or feeling people, but in a very real denotation reaching out and touching their lives through other ways or medium. Sometimes we tend to figure out something by actually feeling its presence and looking at with it at close range. But can we understand something or somebody without actually seeing them? We can make connections to anybody without necessarily getting too close or feel their presence especially this high technology epoch, we can reach and make connections with people through different channels. What is important is that we are able to know the vital needs of others and encourage and influence them in good faith. People have the universal need to be important, to have someone who thinks well of them. Every last one of us longs for love and attention. To be significant. It is a stark reality that there are a lot of people who feels unforgotten and unloved or think that life is prickly trail so hard to struggle and too intricate to cope up with making them too engrossed with their setbacks and heartaches that they become unmindful and overlook so many of the small paradigms of how great life and love is. But the good thing is there are a lot of people out there too who set their own aspirations, outline their own course, spend time and energy not to only reach out these people but to carry others with them.. We can touch lives by insisting not to give hope for those who are in the threshold of their courage and faith or have lost their self worth, that life is beautiful and love is alive. We can change a life by a mere simple touch of kindness, courtesy and caring words..Life is to live to the fullest and love is not just to be taken but to be given too. These two most important things will goes on and on . . .Often times it is uncommon to show love, compassion and kindness because it is much easier to concentrate on ourselves and our own little world than to spare a little time of these things for others. Words may be forgotten, deeds may be put into oblivion but people will never forget how you made them feel. It only takes a moment of love, benevolence, and understanding to touch and feel a heart . . . and see a life change.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.

HAPPY HEART’S DAY TO ALL!!!

THE DREAMS COME TRUE, THE LEGENDS END

Rocky Marciano had looked up to Joe Louis. At a youthful age he would pin his ears back to the Brown Bomber's fights in the radio, daydreaming about someday boxing against him for the world championship. When that moment finally came on October 26, 1951, Louis was an out shaped boxer with worn-out legs. He was past his zenith. Marciano knocked Louis out in the 8th round of their celebrated fight. When asked what was his most threatening fight, astonishingly, he always said it was his confrontation with Joe Louis. The aging 'Brown Bomber' was his childhood hero. Marciano had to overpower a 'mountain' of unwillingness before he finally knocked Louis out of the ring. Marciano wept when he knocked out the person he idolized. Marciano was the only heavyweight boxing champion to retire undefeated.
Oscar Dela Hoya has won his first title before Manny Pacquiao ever set his feet in the ring. Pacquiao, who began his professional boxing profession at the young age of 16 fighting at 106 pounds, moved up two weight divisions from where he last fought, at lightweight just to make the "Dream Match" a reality. Unlike his previous fights where he was the top choice to win, it was the other way around. Boxing analysts for the most part of the promotion of this momentous fight favored the Golden Boy and branded it as a "mismatch duel". Jose Sulaiman, the WBC President said it would be a fight between a pachyderm and a hobbit horse. There was a total uncertainty and skepticism on Manny's capacity to subjugate the Olympic gold medalist and the ten times world champion in six different weight classes. When both fighters entered the ring last Sunday at MGM Hotel, Pacquiao seemed too self-assured and unperturbed in affixing his name in boxing history while Dela Hoya was sweating and tense because of the enormous pressure of being anticipated to win a fight against the much smaller man. As the bell rang to start the fight, the place was in pandemonium.15, 000 spectators roaring mostly in favor of the Golden Boy. Round after round Manny whip and fumed De la Hoya from pillar to post side stepping the Golden Boy's dreadful jabs and hooks frustrating the Golden Boy's game plan with his speed and footwork. Nobody believes that Manny would do the things he did in the ring in this fight. At the end of the eight round, Dela Hoya looked like a badly beaten man. What was publicized as "The Dream Match" quickly turned into "Oscar's Nightmare" as Manny Pacquiao gave the Golden Boy the beating and pounding of his lifetime after seven rounds. Just as the ninth stanza begins, Dela Hoya's trainer, Nacho Beristain flapped the white flag. Oscar then stood slowly from his pew, limped towards Pacquiao corner, gazed at his one time trainer Freddie Roach who masterminded the "can't pull the trigger affair", and quipped a straightforward declaration: "You're right. I do not have it any more."
When Rocky Marciano knocked Louis out in the eight rounds, everyone in the multitude seemed to turn against him. Louis' angry supporters were actually in tears; others were cursing at him. When Manny beat Dela Hoya into retirement in the opening of the ninth round boisterous euphoria rang in all corners the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Even Dela Hoya's admirers and Mexican crowd exalted the pound for pound king in jubilation.
During the post fight press conference Oscar was not around. The beating was so severe that he was taken to the hospital for "preventive measures". Many believe that Pacquiao switch off the shining stars that light Oscar's glorious boxing career. As what many and Dela Hoya himself thought would be a graceful exit to the sports he loves most, it turned out to be a bitter swan song for the legend Manny idolizes. Manny fulfilled his long time dream.When told that Dela Hoya was in the hospital, Pacquiao actually rub out a tear from his eye. And he said: "Oscar was my idol . . . he is still my idol".

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

WHAT WOMEN DON'T KNOW WILL NEVER HURT THEM

This doesn't have to be an obligatory action for husbands who go out like fire when unattended but rather an option to make up for oneself and save a relationship. I believe most women would rather prefer not to know the perfidy of their husbands than to know openly the agonizing truth. Women differ how to handle pain when offended. Some can easily forgive and forget, some can forgive but cant forget and others cannot both at all.So I would rather say this phrase is applicable on case to case basis. Revealing one's infidelity has its own setback. Truth, it can even leave a lasting scar in memory as well as in the heart of the one offended. One wrong just not justify by simply revealing it. It is a stark reality when us husbands cheated our wives and our conscience started to get up against us, we seem to unpack the burden of our guilty conscience by simply divulging our transgressions. Why cannot we keep it all by ourselves? Why us men did not think the consequences of our cheating in the first place? Is this fair for a betrayed wife the fact that she was the one done with injustice yet she ends up suffering all the pain of injustice? Our conscience means more than all the revelations we will make, my point is --- if we can lie to betray women why cannot we do the same not to hurt them but instead make an honest, sincere, silent atonement? Sometimes not everything that a man permitted to be told is an upright and heartfelt disclosure of mistakes because infidelity is just addictive. Some of us admit our sin because we fear our reputation more than our conscience and morality. Most often men obstinately regard their betrayal not as an unjustifiable, unpardonable self-centered choice, but rather as understandable mistakes. Once forgiven we are back on our business again. There are some of us who reveal too much, but prove nothing at all. Blessed are the men who have nothing to say and abstain from giving admission of his guilt but rather act in silent repentance. I strongly believe that he who honestly repents . . . repents no witness nor listener (God is more than enough) A true and honest remorse is just good enough to appease a guilty conscience. It is true that marriage is a relationship between two forgiving partners. Though forgiveness always come in an unbounded supply, but sometimes the pain we inflicted makes it hard to find while the wound of infidelity is still fresh. Women wont forgive unless they have believed. . unless they have understood. Husbands repent and sin no more examine the past, rebuild the present, plan the future. Wives, forgive to forget and pick up every shattered fragments of your life to start a new one. Husbands and wives , kill the sin and love the sinner.

"Repentance for silence is better than repentance for speaking"

MY HUSBAND'S WOMAN

After the day's frantic chores and routines Eva and I would savor and relish our bonding moment in the living room watching our favorite evening Koreanovela, My Husband's Woman. The story goes like this:

Cassandra Lee (Kim Hee Ae) returns to Korea after her Korean-American husband committed suicide due to business failure and deep depression. With the help of her bestfriend Jissele Kim (Bae Jung Ok) ,Cassandra starts her new life. She then meets Jerry Hong (Kim Sang Jung) Jissel's husband and falls deeply in love with him. Cassandra who has pragmatic, logical disposition even moves into the same community as the couple to be closer to him. Jissel, however did not know at first that her husband is having an affair with her best friend until only her sister Rosario (Ha Yoo Mi) discovered them kissing in the kitchen while everyone was outside in a barbecue party. Rosario told the two to keep the affair secret; for she was afraid her feeble sister will die once she gets wind of the affair. Cassandra decided to tell Jissel her illicit affair with her husband to stop Rosario's beating of her. Jissel who suffers from her own personal pressures to be a perfect wife and helps her husband become successful in his life and career turns her emotions into anger and hatred when she learns of the betrayal of her husband and good friend. The drama unfurls at this point in their lives…

This is a story of infidelity and repentance, hatred and forgiveness. Some men considered infidelity in women as a mannish attribute and some even believed that those men who love once or have a single affair in their lives are shallow people. It is a bare certainty when honeymoon has come to an end accompanying perhaps the commencement of restraints of parentage - the festival of love will grow sour and the love of wine will lose its bunch resulting in a less amorous and cold marriage. Sexually speaking, men and women respond differently in their sexual experience. Wives respond to sex more in terms of relationship, of affection and sharing than do men. Their sexual submission is far more directed precisely to their husbands, possibly at the hope for a child. A woman believes sexual union to bring her closer to her husband and to remain more intimate to him ever after. Most men respond to sex according to the craving of their sexual rhythms. Men are basically more artistic and experimental than women when it comes to love making. They have domineering behavior in bed. When wives unable to learn and respond to their husband's specific sexual rhythms men tend to look it to someone else who can satisfy his carnal desires and sexual tempos. Sex has its own heartbreak and 7th heaven. Realization of marriage may pivot on acceptance of our partner's total person. Husbands can make sex affectionate, tender and exciting by simply not doing sex for the sake of lust but for the purpose of their wives. Spouses should both learn how often, how intense, how slow, how fast, what gives delights and what offends. Husbands should learn to read the sexual languages of their wives' heart and soul, and in return wives should learn to read their husband's. When a man becomes an adulterer we obstinately regard our inter personal disappointments not as an unjustifiable, unpardonable self-centered choice, but rather as understandable mistakes. True remorse only needs confession to experience forgiveness that is always there in an unbounded supply. Show humility where life not only begins but also where joyful growth continues... True forgiveness is to forget in order to heal ourselves from pain and hatred we never should have felt in the first place. When a man leaves his wife without valid reasons for a union with another woman, he is not only breaking God's Commandments but at the same time he is making a decision that will only fuel and blow up his personal failures.


"Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
MAR 10:9

APOLOGY AND HUMILITY

Before anything else let me convey my apology to my grade school classmate Edwin Pillas and the rest of the people who were taken aback with my last two articles I wrote here. Although the contents of my last blog may sound too harsh and insensitive to my readers it was far way down subtle against the terms launched to me by my former workmate and I cannot just take a pew in one corner and take hold of myself. I think it is humanly and realistically predisposition to shield oneself or fight back when someone tries to threaten or disparage you. My only mistake was that I should not post it here. I have seven blogs in all I should have posted it somewhere else. But if I did that they would not know my side and judgment since I use fictitious names in my other blog sites. Pasensiya ka na Bro. . . . But it feels so nice to know that there is a lot of concerned people out there who reminds you what the best thing to do. Honestly, I just said my opinion and sometimes people are different in understanding and it is a natural reaction for someone to feedback on something she feels to be wrong. But with all uprightness my reply (to Shirley) meant not to cause slur or do I have any intention to offend or explode her feeling. I always make it a point to keep rather tacit or not jot down something to anyone because I am scared that I may utter something I will regret afterward, but sometimes you cannot just stay unspoken without people knowing your thoughts because I believe there is nothing to be scared of except the constant denial to find out the truth, the continuing repudiation to probe the reasons of certain incidents. Anyway, this issue is water under the bridge. I have expressed my apology and I leave it all up to her. I consider that apology does not necessarily stands for reception of guilt or fault or admission that leads to shame, or to a feeling of worthlessness and despair but rather one few ways to express self-effacement. It sometimes means giving up false security or turn back arguments which will protect us when we get pushed into a corner. Apology reminds me that I am human. A real man is not found in wealth, authority, status, intellect or fame, but in his meekness. Humility can makes a man into angel and creates within him a dimension for the nearest possible intimacy with God. Rest assured that I will not touch on this sort of issue again but rather hearten people through inspirational and motivating write-ups. You are absolutely right when you told me to stay on the positive plane. Sorry again to all my readers who were startled with the sudden turn of events and thanks Classmate Edwin for the aide-mémoire! God Bless you all!


He must become greater. I must become less
John 3:30

GOT THE WRONG END OF THE STICK . . .

Dear Shirley,

First and foremost I am not a "slasher" and I do not have the know-how to do so neither do I have it in my mind to be one. Perhaps you were slipshod in posting your critiques. Try to check your synopsis setting and alter it for your confidentiality. Take it easy, sorry if I spouted your bubble and I may seem as a demon advocate on your part. Honestly your blog is somewhat slapdash, sloppy and needs subtlety and well-defined amplifications. Blogging is not just all about writing, it needs brain and soul you cannot just criticize somebody or hurl hurting words to express your anger and disappointments. Or cite a bad model and make it as epitome for something. Because if you do that it will be just like what and old English idiom says " Birds of the same feathers , flock together". Blogging is a commitment for a specific purpose. I have explained my opinion, and opinion is just an opinion you can take it or you can leave it. Sabi mo nga di ba "Therefore, I urge them to write to me instead of making it incomprehensible. Friends can have different opinions, yet still be friends. I think it is exciting, if friends have different opinions and views on things and life and still respect one another" I think you misunderstood my blog's header (The Worst Example) . Granting the title is deceptive, with all uprightness I am not referring to you .Please try to read carefully, coherently and logically the entirety of the typescripts before you let go off your wrath. There are some points in our articles that are both obnoxious and deplorable to both of us and I can see that we are the same type of person that will not just swallow what is being fed into our mouth. I will never ever touch on names and why should I? I have been writing since I was 16 and a clever and proficient writer will not dip himself into the water to let somebody swamp him. I can make use of the splendor and virtuosity of euphemism yet recognize and absorb what I am trying to point out. I do not need to whack somebody's door. To illuminate and inform you, before I left the company I have said every word I have to utter and swiped and clouted it right before her face. I take pride and rectitude on this because I was the only one who was able to do it. Everybody knows that they saw it! I felt a gigantic load off my chest when I did that! I won my victory. . I sued her and she paid me. SSS/Pag-ibig contributions, 13th months pay, sick leaves, paid taxes on time and my salary what are these things? I do not have even the slightest indebtedness to be thankful with these ridiculous stuffs you mentioned. It's their compulsion and they have to go along with the rules as much as their employees adhere with theirs. They paid my salary because I worked for it. Yes I worked for quite a long time underpaid, under pressured and overworked. So you cannot just say I owed something to them. I did not nourished my kids with the salary they paid me. I have freelance jobs then that sufficed my family's need. I stayed too long in the company because I was dreaming I was happy but that dream turned into nightmare. Sack of rice??? . . . Installment yes pero may tubo, I should have seen you vaulted and screeched for joy if she gave it to you for free as what other more considerate companies normally do. Subdivision in Antipolo? It was a plan (or should I say strategy to fool somebody) that never came true. Yes they have tried to be benevolent by at least making promises. But as this famous adage says they are just made to be broken. You are all praises, admiration, commendations, approvals, acclaims, tributes, applause, compliments, recommendations, (what else?) because when you left the company it was on the apex of its grandeur and opulence of prosperity but when its steeliness gradually ebb year after the blames were pin pointed to the poor employees. Degrading each one of them by name calling them as morons, idiots and bullshits.Perhaps you do not know this because you are occupied savoring your Danish cook good life and the colleagues you left here still languishing with life's hardship but who cares? Why not ask the people ( specially your friends)left in there to know the truth? HIndi man ako naging mabuting empleyado . . . taas noo kong sasabihing hindi ako naging masamang kasama sa trabaho. I did not do something that caused sorrows and miseries to others.Harking back when you were just planning to go where you are now, you would pass into my art room trying to have a peek on the encyclopedia which was on the rear of my drawing table to ferret out where Denmark is, and at times asked for my unassuming artistic flair to work on some of the papers you need and your cousin's which was bound then for Faroe Islands. I was so euphoric then for you because I know you were setting out the right direction in quest for a better life. And now you have it and you are Shirley Allerup because of this company? I will respect you for that. But I can be what I am even if I did not have the chance to associate myself with this company. To tell you the truth my stay in that company was absolutely waste of time and talent. You are lucky because God gave you that opportunity and you acted with His will just at the right moment because if not you will meet the same fate. I admire your courage and strong will in chasing your rainbow. In fairness, honestly and without duplicity I have learned too a lot from this company … yes really . . . but not until I left . . . I have learned to be humane and help the less, to stand on my principle and not just swallow what is being fed to me, I have also learned to believe in myself and the importance of my family. Most importantly I have learned to forgive and have strengthened my belief in Him. I am blogging because I want to be a paragon to my readers especially to my friends and former workmates so I may awaken them and help eradicate stumbling blocks for them to gain access in new life. I know I cannot please everybody and that there will come a time somebody will get up against me. If I offended you, with all morality it was not the real intention. I have moved on and never have as wonderful and contented life than I have now. Dont you worry , I do not need to work with Bosses because I have bread and butter I call my own. PEACE!

"Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong."

THE WORST EXAMPLE ( A Reply To Shirley Allerup's Blog)

Yesterday, September 5, I read Shirley Francisco Allerup’s blog.Yesterday, September 5, I read Shirley Francisco Allerup's blog. With due regards to my former workmate, I absolutely disagree with her. Her observations and remarks may be true but does that mean that all 91 million Filipinos are like that? It is unreasonable to pigeonhole out of some slight and improbable circumstances because I believe that Filipinos are moral, respectable and God fearing people although there are some cases several Pinoys are entangled in different waywardness and illegalities because of poverty and search for the good life. As what her friend GNP mentioned in his reply our struggle for survival is the cause of all these but nonetheless it does not make us a lesser race. I did see many times on television taxi drivers turned over millions of cash in different currencies left by foreigners inside their transport, heard stories how Filipino sailors fed and gave refuge to their own African stow-away detainees instead of tossing them out into the shark- infested sea which most white seafarers normally do. A domestic helper in Taiwan killed defending and shielding her employer against burglars who passed into their dwelling. Most of the time Filipinos too are victims of abuses by other nations. How many OFW"s languish and deteriorate in jail for crimes they did not commit? How many DH's were raped by their employers? How many Filipinas were abused, maltreated and almost battered to death by their alien husbands and went home with shattered dreams and lives in shambles? No one is flawless, no race is impeccable not even Americans nor Europeans . . . not even one. She also mentioned our former employer's axiom about being chagrined to be a Filipino. I am very indubitable not only her knew what type of morality and character this person has and all the cruelties and exploitations that until now this lady is perpetrating with her employees. If she is humiliated to be a Filipino it is because she doesn't own the innate qualities, decency and ethics to be called one. " Alam naman ng karamihan kung gaano kawalanghiya itong tao na ito, Hindi talaga dapat maging Pilipino ito!" I think Shirley really made the worst paradigm out of this person. The problem with us is that we only find faults and tend to send to oblivion all the goodness done. It's like staring at a huge circle sketched on the wall over looking and ignoring the tiny blotch inside it. We have so many things to be honored and delighted as far as being Filipino is concerned. We are known as affectionate, tender and devoted people. We do not leave our parents in caregiver homes when they get feeble and seem to become appendage to us but rather we take care of them. We lavish our visitors with our warm treatment and hospitality. We always dress in smiles despite the humongous adversities in our lives. Let us not blemish our dignity but rather embolden our pride to other race. There are so many men of different nationalities who wish to seek marriage and relationship with Filipinas. Why? Because Pinays would be archetypes of a loving, compassionate and caring wife and an idyllic mother for their kids. To be mortified of one's ethnicity is synonymous to self regret and embarrassment. Let us gaze back where we came from because in the end no matter how outlying we have gone through . . .we will find ourselves going back from where we used to be. I guess Mr. Allerup and his kids will best tell what kind of Filipino is . . .in the person of his wife. My two cents worth and God Bless you, Shirley!

"Nationality is respectable when selfishness, distrusts and conceit are all put aside for the welfare of humankind."

MGA KOLEKTOR NAGING JANITOR AT KARGADOR, BISOR GINAWANG TAU-TAUHAN, MGA AMUYONG NAGING MGA ADMINISTRADOR (Isang Kwento Mula Sa Telepono)

Tikatik ang pawis ko, galugad ko ang Metro Manila, umaabot pa nga ako ng Cavite, Pampanga, Batangas at Laguna. Kung makapagsasalita lang ang bulok kong motorsiklo matagal na sana itong nagreklamo. Pero wala kami parehong magagawa , kailangan makapaningil sa mga tao sa produktong matagal ng inaayawan at isinusuka, dahil kung hindi baka magalit ang amo kong walanghiya. Sige lang kayod lang, ginagawa ko naman ito alang-alang sa aking mahal na pamilya . Minsan kinakapos, nagagamit ko ang perang ibinayad sa akin ng kliyente, kahit alam kong mali ang mahalaga makakaraos kami sa maghapon at bukas ko na lang iisipin kung kailan at paano maibabalik ang pera sa opisina. Ilan na bang kasamahan ko ang natanggal ng trabaho dahil sa ganitong sistema? Ganuon din naman kasi, gumawa ako ng masama o mabuti, masama pa rin ang iniisip nila dahil sadyang mapaghinala ang tao. Akala mo ba lagi kang nangdaraya? Huwag sana akong matulad sa aking mga kasama, dating kolektor aba’y ginawang janitor at kargador. Yung una kong kasama, dati-rati manibela ng motorsiklo ang hawak-hawak , ngayon maghapong walis at basahan ang tangan-tangan ng pobre. Kung malas-malas pa, haharapin ang masangsang na kasilya, luluhuran at animo’y dinadasalan mapawi lang ang dumi at baho nito. Nakainitan kasi dahil wala ng makolekta sa mga “account” na pinagsawaan ng mga naunang kolektor at matagal ng nilalangaw. Nakalulungkot kung iisipin mo. Sa hinaba-haba ng panahon ganito lang and sasapitin niya. Ito naming ikalawa, nahuling nandaraya sa oras, imbes na mangolekta ay umuuwi daw ng bahay upang mamasada ng tricycle. Hindi ko alam kung totoo o hindi basta ang alam ko ginawa na lang siyang kargador at itinapon at ikinulong sa madilim na bodega. Naging tagasalansan ba ng mga encyclopediang inaamag at nabubulok na? Ito namang dati naming Bisor, nahuling nang-uumit inalisan ng katungkulan at ginawang tau-tauhan. Pero nuong araw akala mo kung sino, laging mainit ang ulo at paangil kung kumausap ng tao.Pero kapag andiyan na ang amo , hindi alam ang gagawin isang sutsot lang akala mo ulol na aso. Nabababahag ang buntot at takot na takot dito. Nakalkal kasi ang gawang multo, pilit mang ikubli hindi na nagawang itago at inamin na lang ng tuluyan. Ayaw mang lisanin ang pwestong noon ay pinamayagpagan at pinagsasaan, pero ano pang magagawa kung pinagtatabuyan na at inaayawan? Ang sakit naman! Parang sasabog and dibdib niya, pakiramdan ko pati mundo niya gumuhong bigla. Wala na ang dati kong Bisor pero alam ko nakatatak na sa kanyang isip at puso ang mapait na alaala, na kahit sino man ay hindi na nanaising balikan pa. Dalangin ko lang huwag sana maulit ang nangyari sa mga taong humalili sa kanya dahil pakiwari ko tila isang sumpa ang pwestong nilisan niya. Kung kamalasan ang inabot ng mga nabanggit ko, aba'y may mga kasama rin naman akong tila jackpot sa lotto ang tinamaan. Utusan dati,tagatipa ng makinilya, taga timpla ng kape, tagasulat ng dikta at yung isa imbestigador ng mga bagay na walang kakwenta-kwenta . . .abay akalain mong naging mga administrador? Kung dati-rati hindi sila pinapansin ngayon sila na ang tinitingala at kinatatakutan ng marami. Sumbong dito, sumbong doon, memo dito at memo duon, ito ang kanilang sandata at sikreto kaya mahal na mahal nga naman ng amo, animo sila lang ang tao na gustong mabuhay sa mundo. Walang pakialam kung nakakasakit o nakapeperwisyo at tila nawala na ang habag sa puso at katinuan ng pagkatao. Eh, ano ba sa kanila kung magsabi sila ng kasinungalingan? Maniniwala ba sa katotohanan at katarungan ang kanilang pingsisilbihan? Pilit silang nilalayuan dahil pakiramdam ng karamihan sila ay dinadarang ng mga katawan nilang nagniningas. Hoy! Nakakaawa kayo! Kahit man lang sa mga anak ninyo mahiya kayo!Namnamin ninyo ang kasarapan dahil ngayon ay malapit na kayo sa tuktok at pag naabot nyo na ang tugatog may masusulingan pa kaya kayo? Paghandaan lang ang pagbulusok dahil kung ano ang ginawa sa kapwa ay siya rin ang aanihing tama at sabay ang galabog. Ito namang mga kasama ko tila mga pipi pa rin at mga bingi. Gumuguho na nga ang templo ng Diyablo ayaw pa ring kumaripas ng takbo.Ngayon pa ba tayo mahihintakutan? Matagal din tayong nagtiis. Inalila at inalipusta. Bakit hindi tayo magsama-sama at ipaglaban ang nararapat? Huwag nating daanin sa kapusukan at galit dahil lahat naman ng bagay ay may kaparaanan at maaaring makuha sa hinahon. Kung may katuwiran bakit hindi natin ipaglaban at panindigan ang prinsipyong ipagmamalaki ng ating mga anak? Huwag tayong panghinaan ng loob dahil humuhupa ang bawat unos na nagdaraan sa ating mga buhay. Patawarin natin ang sa atin ay mga nagkasala , bigyan sila ng mga aral at kalimutan ng ganap. Manalig lang tayo sa ating mga sarili at higit sa lahat sa ITAAS . . . at tinitiyak kong hindi-hindi NIYA tayo pababayaan.

BLOGS CAN CHANGE LIVES

Josie: kuya ad mo nman ako sa YM mo...josie_pretty17@yahoo.com, tnx
jessie landingin: o ano na?
josie: hi, kuya.
jessie landingin: hallow
jessie landingin: musta na?
josie: ok nman, wla na ko sa pesi.
jessie landingin: o bakit naman?
jessie landingin: natauhan ka na rin?
josie: natauhan na kaso medyo l8 na. nbasa ko yung blogs mo, tama ka nga, mas masuwerte ka kpg wla ka sa pesi.
josie: sobra gulo na don.
josie: ang yabang ni dagul.
jessie landingin: heheheh. . . . tama yang desisyon mo bata ka pa wag ka manghinayang
jessie landingin: huwag mo na intindihin yun. . . . dapat maawa pa nga tayo sa mga tao na nanduon pa at patuloy na nagpapabusabos at hindi makita ang tiwala sa sarili. . .
josie: kalo mo kung sino siya.
jessie landingin: heheheh. masama ata loob a?
josie: di ah... hapi ako nakaalis na don.
jessie landingin: right!
josie: im here now, Philippines Airlines my future d2...
jessie landingin: i think so. ano ang work mo jan
josie: bngyan mo kasi ng lakas ng loob.
jessie landingin: ganuon?
jessie landingin: in what way na man?
josie: circulation assistant / billing section.
jessie landingin: thats good! happy to hear that
josie: dhil s blogs mo.
jessie landingin: heheheh. salamat naman at binabasa nyo blogs ko
josie: ngkaron ako ng lkas ng loob....tama ka tlga kuya, thnks ha!
jessie landingin: lalo tuloy ako ginaganahang magsulat
jessie landingin: u deserve that
josie: oo nman.
jessie landingin: matagal na hindi lang sana ngayon
jessie landingin: basta learn the lessons
jessie landingin: patawarin mo kung sino man ang may mga kasalanan sayo sa pesi
jessie landingin: forgive , forget and start a new life . . .
josie: kya nga cnsbi ko sa knila wag cla mtakot mag start new life, ganun tlaga sa umpisa medyo mhirap pero yung result ok nman. my good things silang ma22nan.
jessie landingin: tama. .. .
josie: dhl s gnwa nila sa mga tao....my bad karma rin clang marrcvd....
jessie landingin: let them know to express ur concern to them
jessie landingin: hahahahah!
jessie landingin: pabayaan mo na sila heheheheh
josie: yes...nakaaawa lng sa mga tao up to now inaabuso pa rin cla....
jessie landingin: basta magwork ka. focus mo yung mga disappoinments mo sa bago mong work
josie: hapi n tlaga ko d2...e2 na ang new life ko.
jessie landingin: congrats! and I hope u'll succeed
josie: kuya...try to help them, para ma realize nila my magandang buhay pa.
jessie landingin: thats what im trying to do
jessie landingin: kahit man lang sa blogging
josie: tama ka....
jessie landingin: i can only say or write my opinion
jessie landingin: its up for them to act
josie: i know mrmi nakakbasa sa blogs mo. and i suggest them to read ur blogs.
jessie landingin: ty! ano ba sa blog ko ang nabasa mo at nainspire ka?
josie: mrmi...sympre ung about P-nix.
jessie landingin: salamat naman kahit man lang sa pmmagitan ng blogs ko I can change somebodys life . . .
josie: pwde nman tlga yun...if youre willing 2 do sumthing new in ur life....di ba! ka2lad ko, feeling ko nun ganun kaliit lng ang mundo ko. And start reading ur blogs, mali pla ako....
jessie landingin: salamat! Salamat! ok i really want to talk to u more. bago ka ngayon jan. pag wala ka sa work mo usap tayo. I wish you good luck n your new work. Strive hard for success. I know u can make it. Thanks for reading my articles and God Bless you!
josie: thank you very much. I do!
jessie landingin: . . . over n out

This was the actual transcript of my YM natter with Josie, I deliberately modified some of the typescripts to camouflage her real character for security concern .This is one of the best recompenses I received from my blogging. It feels like drifting on Cloud nine to know you have touched someone's heart and changed life. People blog for different reasons. Some people blog for commentaries and analysis, others for their personal online diaries. Others blog for media and business purposes .Many professional writers monetize their blogs. Blogs are even used by some people to express their bitterness, rancor and antipathies against somebody. I take pleasure and joy of my personal blog because it was a fruit of forgiveness. My very first blog post entitled FORGIVE was the tiny glint that started this all. After publishing this article I felt a tremendous load off my chest. My wish that one day all people that had transgressed against me will traverse on this publication of my personal thoughts for them to know that I have forgiven them and my hope that I could change them for better. Blogging is more than a habit to me, it is a commitment and calling for everyone to know the truth because the truth is the grasp that will set us unbound, to trigger off and embolden people and rise above stumbling blocks so they can live their hopes and dreams, to share fancies and share the goodness of life for its real positive reception and enjoyment and to express endlessly my faith, gratefulness, my love for my family and above all to My Creator who gave me this endowment. Now, I guess I cannot live my life . . . without blogging.

"DREAM AS BIG AS YOU CAN DREAM AND ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE”

When Mark Andrew Spitz won seven gold medals in swimming and setting word records in each seven events at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games no one ever envisioned it could be equated nor outshone by any Olympian. For nearly four decades, his incredible achievement stood as a benchmark. It was a humongous task for any athlete to break this iconic attainment in the field of sports. On August 17, 2008, Michael Fred Phelps outstripped Spitz's legacy and went for the historic eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympiad. His victories set an Olympic record and seven world records. Phelps also became the first person to win ten gold medals exceeding nine-gold-medal of Olympians Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi, Ukrainian gymnast Larysa Latynina, US swimmer Mark Spitz and sprinter Carl Lewis. Phelps 16 medals ranks second in total career Olympic medals, after Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won a total of 18 medals (nine gold) spanning three Olympic Games.
Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Phelps in his youth was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention- Deficit hyperactivity Disorder) He started swimming at an early age of seven. By the age of 10, his superiority in swimming climaxed his many feats in the sport. At the age of 15, Phelps contended at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, becoming the youngest American male swimmer at an Olympic Games in 68 years. He won six gold medals and two bronze in Athens Olympics. After the Beijing Olympics Phelps momentous feat will go down memory lane forever and what makes him the greatest Olympian of all time? Phelps - known as the Baltimore Bullet worked out hard at an early age and maintained his unbending focus in the pool to realize his dream. He was inspired what Mark Spitz has done 36 years ago. Phelps said "Dream as big as you can dream, and anything is possible". In Beijing, Phelps finally harvested the fruits of his adversities and hopes and concluded his enthronement not only to become the best swimmer and Olympian of all time, but the greatest athlete of all time.

"Practice means to perform over and over again in the face of all obstacle, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. It is a means of inviting the perfection desired. Dreams come true if you survive the hardest time"

LAUGH YOUR HEADS OFF

I am a little bit late about this. Last Thursday my daughters Days and Pau were yelping and giggling in front of the computer while watching a video from YouTube. “ Ano ba yan, ang iingay ninyo!” I screeched. “Pa, tignan mo ito!” said the two. I drew near them and see what stuff was making them crazy. Pau put on the headset above my head. “ Pa, pakinggan mo at panoorin mo iyan ha?!” said Days. When Pau rolled the video we laugh our hearts out as we watch two lip-synching guys do their acts.

I’m talking about Moymoy Palaboy. This two Pinoy lip-synching siblings is the latest YouTube marvel. Lip-synching isn’t new in Youtube, in fact the first time I saw one was several years ago when two Chinese teens made it first, doing a lip synch of Backstreet Boys’ “ I Want It That Way”. But honestly, Moymoy Palaboy do it better and funnier. Using a Sony Ericsson W810i cell phone with a 2-megapixel camera and an HP laptop, the innovative music video act of brothers Ronald and Rofil Obeso debuted on the Internet in 2007 last February. Their first lip-synch video was NSync’s “Dirty Pop “and the following videos were sensational. Their “Wannabe” by the Spicegirls is currently registered at 1.3 million views and their 22 uploaded videos so far have 7.12 million hits all in all! Although the “Wannabe” is the video to beat I find the Lion King’s “In the Jungle” and “Marimar” the funniest. The very simple dramaturgical parody of Moymoy Palaboy has earned them buffs here and around the world. Out of fancy, their hilarious clowning were shot in a stark environs, in the poky living room of their Pasay City apartment, with “Mama Auntie “, their Tita nonchalantly strolling in and out of the picture. Their videos have ordinary and basic allure to the millions of YouTube viewers. These guys are making fun out of themselves to give joy to others and lighten people’s problems. They say they enjoy it too while making it big now. Watch out for more rib-prickling videos of Moymoy Palaboy. But for now let’s just show samples of cool and stimulating revisions of lip-synching spoofs and laugh your heads off!

SACRIFICE OWN HAPPINESS AND SEE IT IN THE END

I had an unfathomable reflections last night about what Carlo Corpuz, my high school classmate posted in Batchof83 e-group days ago. He has the point when he uttered these words "ang pag isipan na lang nating lahat ay kung papaano natin matutulungan ang mga kabatch natin na walang- wala sa buhay" During the past years some of us has been very occupied getting off the ground for meetings, parties, outings, reunions and the likes but have we thought on what Carlo was trying to hint at? I do not see any wrong giving precious time starting up these concerns because our school somehow benefits from it and give us the chance to re-unify with one another but have we really achieved something out from it? Or we really just want to relish the sweet savor of gaiety and cheer of missing the good old days of our youth? Or kick around our triumphs and showcase our attainments to blow our own trumpets in front of the less successful? Or the zeal to see someone how he/she looks like after 25 years? Or to think that our batch is the best amongst MHS? Have we made endeavors to ferret out and uncover those less known names of Batch '83 and see how they are doing? Or we really did nothing for them and sealed them off to oblivion because we think they cannot be of help? Tama si Carlo, sometimes people act and talk out of duplicity and egocentrism. Last week I have the chance to talk with a female classmate and we talked a lot of things regarding our batch and some of the unattended problems arising from within us. It was open and poignant, I tried to mollify her. I have one important watchword I left her . . . . "REACH OUT" . . . Try to reach out everyone, because they are all apart of us. If there is one undertaking that will genuinely give us the real significance of accomplishment it is none other than helping our less fortunate batch mates as what Carlo said and making worthy projects for MHS, and all MHS Alumni as a whole. Batch 83 is not MHS, there is a lot of MHSians before us and even a lot more after us. Though first and foremost our trust is on our own peer let us not curb the boundaries of ourselves to our batch alone. REACH OUT and sacrifice our own happiness for the happiness of others and lighten our minds to give us the real sense of peace, joy and fulfillment. You can break a strand of broomstick easily but when you put each strands together it becomes stronger and resilient. Everyone has his own role and responsibility to make this a reality. If Christ died for us, then no sacrifice is too great for each one of us to make for Him. God Bless MHSians!!!!

GOLD . . . HOPEFULLY. . .

If Victoria Manalo Draves and Natalie Coughlin only decided to compete for the Philippines in the 1948 London and 2004 Athens Olympics or if only someone put forward this choice we would have won four Olympic gold medals in both diving and swimming. If only Arianne Cerden~a played bowling as regular event in 1988 in Barcelona or boxer Anthony Villanueva and Mansueto "Onyok Velasco were not pick pocketed of the decisions during the 1964 Tokyo and 1996 Atlanta Olympics, we would have counted our gold harvest to seven. These historical facts will always remain as probabilities for our ardent ambition to win the Olympic gold. Our dreams and hope of winning our first ever Olympic gold medal always turned out into frustrations. Since the Philippines joined the Olympics in 1924, Filipino athletes have only won a total of nine Olympic medals. Seven bronze medals and two silver. It is nearly nine decades our athletes went home empty handed of the sneaky mint. Yesterday, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the most spectacular, marvelous and extravagant in history unlocked the door for the entire Filipino to renew once again our united visions and optimisms in prayers to wind down the 84 long years of Olympic gold medal drought and defeats. The Philippines has produced some of the finest athletes in the arena of amateur and professional sports but yet has to ascertain our prowess in the Olympics. Jeff Fenech, International Boxing Hall of Famer said "An Olympic medal is the greatest achievement and honor that can be received by an athlete. I would swap any World Title to have won gold in the Olympics" Will our athletes this time bring home the gold? With a bit of luck . . .

LIHAM NI EGIE

Nais kong humiyaw ng pabulong at gisingin ang inyong mga mahimbing na antok. Nagbubulag-bulagan ang mga hindi makakita at ayaw makinig ang mga bingi sa akin. Ayaw n'yo ba akong pansinin at mga sarili lang ang inaatupag? Mga abala kasi kayo sa inyong mga katamaran habang binubusog ang katakawan. Lagi na lang akong nagsasasalita gamit ang pipi kong wika, pilit tinatatas ng utal kong dila ang kaligayahan ng aking kalungkutan. Ninanamnam ko ang tamis ng pait na dulot ng aking pagtitiis, gusto kong liparin ang dagat o languyin ang himpapawid, ipahihiram n'yo ba ang inyong damot sa bagay na nais kong ipaabot? Minsan ako ay nag-iisip kung mangyayari ba ang imposible? Kakayanin kaya ang mahirap? O mamatay na lang sa pagkabuhay? Gusto kong lumaban gamit ang aking karuwagan, ngunit akoy tinatakot ng sarili kong katapangan. Humihingi ako ng kaunting tanggi na sana ako ay tulungan. Samahan n'yo ako sa aking pag-iisa upang makabangon sa aking pagtumba. Natutuwa ako sa kalungkutan at kahit papaano hindi ako pinababayaan, nakakaraos sa kakapusan, at sa kayamanan ng kahirapan. May gagaling pa ba sa malala ? O matutuwa sa hinagpis? Piliin n'yo ang inyong mga ibig at itapon n'yo ang inyong itatabi. Ayun ! Nagkakagulo ang mga tahimik at nag-uunahan sa pagbibigayan. Mananalo ba ang talunan ,? O mabibigo ang magwawagi? Ito ang mga bagay na lagi kong iniisip habang ako ay nakaupo sa aking pagtayo, o himbing sa aking pagkagising sa araw man hanggang sa gabi. Naglalakad ako habang nakahintil, sa maliit na hawla na malawak ang sakop. Nakatingin habang mata ko ay pikit sa mga taong sa akin ay umuusig. Magagalit ba ako sa tuwa? At iiwanan ko sila upang samahan? O talikuran na lang ang aking harapan ng ganap akong maunawaan? Pinupuri nila ako ng kutya, pinag-uusapan sa pagbabalewala, nilalait ng pang-aaba, nililimot ng pag-aalala. Malayung-malayo ako sa malapit kahit isang dipa lang ang aming agwat. Tulungan n'yo akong makawala, ng maging malaya sa kasarinlan. Kailan aalis ang pagbabalik? At isasama ako sa kanilang pag-iwan, sapagkat ako ay nalulungkot sa kaligayahan at hanap ko ay kapayapaan sa kaguluhan. Hindi nila ako maunawaan dahil magulo daw ang malinaw kong sinasabi, binabaligtad ang matuwid, at inililiko ko raw ang deretso. Kahit malalim ang mababaw sa mga bagay na aking sinasabi, mauunawaan mo ang di mo maintindi samahan mo lang ako dito sa aking tabi. Diyos ko bakit mo ibinagay sa akin ito? Biyaya ba? Parusa o ganti ng kapalaran ? Lapatan n'yo muna ako ng lunas at ang isip ko ay kumakawala, ibalik n'yo at isauli sa akin kabaliwan ng aking katinuan. Hinahanap ko ang aking sarili naitago n'yo ba at naitabi? Ipahiram nyong muli sa akin at sa inyo ay isasauli rin.. Ayokong manatili sa silid na ito at bingihin ako ng katahimikan, iparamdam sa akin ang kaunting pagmamahal, palayain na ako at kalagan. Nanaisin ko pang mabuhay sa daigdig na magulo at malupit, kaysa mag-isa sa dilim ng katahimikan at maghintay ng matagal sa kawalan. Putulin n'yo na itong mga tali, buksan ang rehas na bakal at ako ay uuwi. Ibalik ako sa mahal kong tahanan at naghihintay sa akin si nanay . . . .

CLOSED FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

Last night I was listening in the news while trying to patch up something for tomorrow. Actually it was from the TV I was pinning my ears back for the late night reports because I was too occupied to only manage a peep on the boob tube. One news got my attentiveness. I broke off what I was doing for a moment and took a pew in front of the TV. Wyden King has ultimately closed down the last in the group of 14 of the Philippines largest short time sex motels - the Anito. King who had turned Born Again said the closure was not his but of God's will. King's business which many people thought to have caused despairs for countless marriages, inopportune pregnancies of minors, sanctuary for taboo love affairs have finally ceased venture after many generations. He said he cannot figure out how inexplicably the Lord ways are of letting go of his business. Some people considered King's act as a mere duplicity while most others extolled him for his courage and deed of repentance. Whatever it is the good thing is that . . . it is now closed. King gave up his millions of takings from Anitos for his new found true God who moved in the most bizarre way for him.

SI TATAY BEBANG AT "ANG PASKO AY SUMAPIT"

Magandang umaga sa inyo! Kanina ay napabalikwas ako at napabangon kaagad ng makita ko sa aking cell phone na July 23 na pala. Hindi naman sa nagmamadali ako kanina pero sadyang ganuon yata talaga kapag very busy ka hindi mo na namamalayan ang paglipas ng araw. Nuon naikwento ko sa inyo ang aking tatay at ang tungkol sa butas. Maraming nakabasa at natuwa at kahit papaano ay nakapagbigay ng magandang aral. Pinipilit kong alalahanin ang lahat ng mga nangyari ng nabubuhay pa si tatay ng maibahagi ko naman sa inyo. Ngayon ay may naalala ako at ikukuwento ko sa inyo.

Tuwing sasapit ang Pasko, lalung-lalo na kapag ako ay nakakakita ng mga batang paslit na ngangaroling at ang kanilang inaawit ay ang "PASKO AY SUMAPIT" hindi ko maiwasan na sumagi si tatay sa aking alaala. Minsan kasi ay may mga bata na nanapatan sa amin. Nanduruon ako nuong nangyari iyon . Umawit ang mga bata ng ANG PASKO AY SUMAPIT habang si tatay ay nagkamasid sa kanilang harapan at nakangisi. Ang pasko ay sumapit . . . tayo ay mangagsi-awit. . . Natapos ang awit ng mga bata at lahat sila ay nakatingin sa tangan-tangan na mga barya ni tatay na waring hinihintay na iabot sa kanila. "Ulitin ninyo ang inyong awit” sabi ng tatay. Sa pag-aakalang naibigan ng aking tatay ang kanilang awit ay walang tanung-tanong na inulit ang kanta at natapos. Umiling-iling si tatay habang hinithit ang sigarilyo at sinabi “ Ulitin ninyong muli". Inulit nilang muli . . . ang pasko ay sumapit . . tayo ay mangagsi-awit… at natapos. Nagtanong ang isa “ bakit n'yo po pinauulit-ulit ang aming awit? Nakikinig ako at waring interesado sa isasagot at ikakatuwiran ng aking tatay. " Kasi mali!" Sabi ng tatay ko. "Mali????" sabay-sabay nilang sagot "Oo Mali!!" "Saan po kami nagkamali sa tono? Sintunado po ba kami ? ang tanong ng isa . Hindi at sabay inawit ni tatay ang carol - - "Ang pasko ay SASAPIT, tayo ay mangagsi-awit . . .Ayan! dapat ganyan ang pagkanta ninyo! Sabi ni tatay. Bakit po??? Sabay-sabay na tanong ng mga paslit. "Bakit mga bata sumapit na ba ang pasko? ""Hindi pa po!" "O dapat SASAPIT hindi SUMAPIT"mabilis na sagot ni tatay. Sumagot ang isa, "Pero yun po ang turo sa amin at yun po ang naririnig namin kapag inaawit ng iba". "Alam ko" . . . sabi ni tatay . . . Nakangiting iniabot sa isang bata ang mga barya. "Ok ! Ok! sige na at mangaroling na kayo sa iba ng makarami kayo at maraming salamat sa inyong awit." Tumalikod na ang mga bata habang ang isa ay nakalingon sa amin papalayo at tumapat sa aming kapitbahay . . . umawit silang muli "Ang pasko ay sumapit . . .tayo ay mangagsi-awit . . . ."

Ano ang ibig ipakahulugan ni tatay sa kwentong ito.? Bilang pag respeto kay Mr. Levy Celerio na siyang may likha ng awit na ito, hindi ko sinasabing mali ang awit. Ngunit kung pagbabatayan mo tamang panuntunan sa "grammar" sa pagkakalikha sa awit na ito sasabihin mong may katwiran si Tatay Bebang. Huwag na tayong magpaikot-ikot pa at alam ko namang hindi talaga ang awit na ito ang nais niyang tumbukin. Marahil ay may mas malalim pa siyang mensahe na nais ipabatid. Sa buhay ng tao kasi ay mayroon tayong mga kinamulatan at kinagisnan na mga mali. Ito marahil ang nais ipakahulugan ni tatay. Maaring itong mga maling bagay na ito ay ipinamulat ng ating mga magulang o natutunan natin sa kapaligiran na atin ginagalawan. Ang ating daigdig na ginagalawan ay sumasalamin sa kabuuan ng ating pagkatao, sapagkat kung ano ang naririnig o nakikita natin dito ay siyang nagiging batayan ng ating prinsipyo at pangangatuwiran. May mga bagay na alam nating mali sa ating buhay ngunit patuloy nating ginagawa dahil iyon ang itinuro sa atin at tila napakasarap para sa atin na ulit-ulitin. Minsan sadyang matigas ang ulo ng iba kahit pa nga marami na sa kanilang nagsasabi na mali ang ginagawa nila ay patuloy pa rin sila sa ganitong uri ng sistema at ito ang nakikita sa kanila at ginagaya lalung-lao na ng mga kabataan. Marami sa atin ang hindi umuusad tungo sa tunay na pagpapayaman ng ating pagkatao dahil ayaw nating talikuran ang mga mali sa ating buhay at bigyan ng pagkakataon ang pagbabago. May kasabihan tayo na ang yantok raw ay mahirap ng tuwirin kapat naidarang na sa init. Kung bubuksan lamang nating ang ating mga puso at pang-unawa hindi malayong mababago natin sa ating mga sarili ang mga mali at talikuran ang mga ito ng panghabang buhay. Tulad ng isang awit na mali ang mga panitik, maari nating isulat muli ang ating mga buhay upang higit na maging tama at kaayaya sa makaririnig nito. Ang pagbabago tungo sa kabutihan at kagalingan para sa sarili at sa karamihan ay bukas para sa lahat. O ayan, naibahagi ko naman ang isang magandang kwento. Hayaan n'yo at pipilitin kong alalahanin ang lahat upang mai-share ko at kapulutan ng aral. Oo nga pala kaya pala ako napabalikwas ng gising kanina ay kaarawan ngayon ni tatay, Tay! Happy Bithday itong blog na ito ang gift ko sa iyo saan ka man naroroon. O giliw koho . . . miss na miss kita hahaha . . . BEBANG!

ANGER VS. UNDERSTANDING

Last Thursday, July 17, I received a message. It was actually a reply to my e-mail and the sender was enraged against me. I was dumbfounded when I read the message and the first thing I did is go over my sent messages to see if I have written something that burst someone's bubble. I did not see anything, the fact that our conversation was not of quarrelsome issue but was rather a seek- help- support tête-à-tête regarding an approaching project. I just thought I was slapdash with my writing and I realized people are different in comprehension and it is a natural feedback for someone to react on something he feels to be wrong. But with all honesty my reply meant not to cause offense to anybody nor do I have any intention to insult or explode somebody's feeling. I always make it a point to keep rather unspoken or not write something to anyone because I am scared that I may utter something I will regret afterward. I believe in the old Chinese proverb that never write a letter when you are angry.

Jesus Christ also got angry when He squeezed out His outburst in the temple. But His anger was more of a "righteous indignation". Although everybody knows that anger is a sin it is an innate behavior of human being to get indignant. We rage at different intensities and anybody can become mad. It's no hard, but to be angry without basis and justifications, that is not within everybody's control. That is not easy. When anger escalates reflect on its aftereffects. It's like grabbing a hot coal with the intent of tossing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned or booting a stone harming your own foot. When I was still in my corporate life, when my daily routine involves the everyday toil of pressures , anxieties and squabbles with workmates and bosses I used to be angry almost everyday. I have learned through bitter experience that sometimes anger should be delayed in almost every possible way and situation to uphold relationship and friendship and let understanding sets in to takes its own course. I thought I was certain I understand what I thought somebody said, but I realized that what I heard is not what essentially what they meant. Sometimes I feel I am so intelligent but every so often I get the wrong end of the stick on what people are saying. I just thought I have the knowledge a lot about something and not really understand it. How many friends have I lost because of anger? How many times I made myself smaller than the things that made me angry? Of course we need sometimes to be angry especially so not to allow evil to be victorious or inequality and brutality to thrive. These things happen because many believe the world is not angry enough. But more than anger love and understanding can take its place to vanquish them and leads everything that hurt us to a better awareness of ourselves. Anyone can find faults, disparage, and attack anybody when he is angry but it takes understanding to take somebody's self control. We do not need power to let go of something. Or entombs anger to our inside and stock pile tensions for later implosion or explosion to offend ourselves or the others. What we really need is to understand. Anger destroys thing. It's an external manifestation of pain, trepidation and disappointment and the termination of struggle for the truth. When someone is angry he talks articulately as if he makes the best oration of his life. Anger makes someone clever but it keeps him poor- poorer in happiness because for every minute we are angry we lose 60 seconds of it. It is the air which puffs out the lamp of the mind, how can you think unmistakably when your knuckles are clamped and your teeth are crushing? Things will indeed seem different to us if we can only say "I am hurt" and opted to keep quiet and calm down and escape many days of sorrow rather getting angry so sudden. Understanding is the first step towards recuperation from anger. It appeases hurt and enraged feelings.

When Jesus blew up with rage that day in the temple. His indignation was up front. He reacted to the situation swiftly, optimistically, and fittingly then went on his business. His anger is right and justifiable. It's not easy to be indignant with the right person, and to the right extent, and at the right time, and for the right intention, and in the right way just as Jesus did.

My bitter experience of anger, tantrums and poor temperament being a moody artist then urged me to explore the beautiful gift of understanding. I still get angry but I have learned to control it; and I still try to yearn not to feel it. Now I do not easily get angry when a person gets mad at me, I always thought I cannot please everybody nor can I make a day in the sun for all. Instead, I never forget what somebody says to me when he is angry. Somehow I will be able to learn from it to become a better person. It made me believe that he who is slow to anger has great understanding. Anger and narrow mindedness are the enemies of it. A person who holds on to hasty mood leaves him less than he had been before while the calmness of the person on whom he wish to expel his ill temper conquers him... Sometimes you become great when a person misunderstood you. The most splendid pleasure is the joy of understanding . . .

LIFE IS A RACE . . .

As life goes harder and harder for most of us, everyone seemed to race in chase for the good life. Some race for the elusive money, material possessions, some for blind pursuit of career success and others for personal fulfillment. Whatever it is money always stood alone as an issue. The way in which we quantify the echelon of our contentment or the norm of living we want to savor indicates the race we want to run. We race in pursuit of a good life, for our self and our dear ones. There were instances envy, conceit, and material lust compelled us to race or people tend to compare their lives with their neighbors. They leave their home and bear the agony of solitude counting the days and the nights away from what they called their comfort zone - home. Some wins and most not. The repercussion of running the race and failing take a heavy price. When we choose to race the breakage lines soon to come into sight on the path we take and collapsing is not far behind. It's like doing a balance sheet it has two sides and the other side of it is relationship. We may opt not to take the race, and not love this world of materialism and just walk with perseverance, hope and faith because all too frequently and regrettably, in pursuit of a good life most leave a footpath of a wrecked relationship. Uncurl perverted priorities. Guidance, concern and relationship every so often take second place to the material and financial emphasis of so many of us. People with broken relationship chatter with little indignity about their flops in home but in quick-witted contrast are quite self-justifying if they fail in their careers or business undertakings or blow their own trumpet about their material and financial attainment. Success and wealth are sometimes acquired at the expense of closeness with our family.

NO AMOUNT OF SUCCESS . .
Many believes by working away from home they can furnish more things or lavish their children with gifts to bring happiness to their homes but in real sense it doesn't satisfy and compensate for the real gift of personal association and the empty longing in the abyss of our soul, the longing for home and family - a true place where love grows well, verdant and fragrant. I have seen and watched some people cry their eyes out as they recounted to me their tales of being away from home. Some with personal life blown apart others with families in muddle . . . none of their financial accomplishments are of the slightest help. Others rose from rugs to riches then back to rugs again . . . They were the race's losers. I also respect the fact that the same thing can happen to me as to anyone. I thanked their stories somehow made me think what contentment is all about. Several times I was tempted to take this sort of race, but every time I dare I think of my family, then my will power seemed all to fade. This world is full of hazards how many young lives have gone extremely far wrong without the fatherly guidance at home. I cannot afford to lose even a single second without them. As said, no amount of success can compensates for failure in home. I am by no means neither perfect nor faultless father, in fact I always feel culpable to my family that I can only give as much and only just can offer the life we have now. But I always thought that my daughters and my wife want me to be the chief executive of the house so it can run efficiently and embrace up the family in the most paternal ways. I realized I am the most important man in their life and my children would be able to put up their lives according to what they see in me. Can I show these aspects of a good father even if I am not with them? Perhaps yes but not absolutely. I know a father's physical presence is invaluable to them as it is with other children. It is also priceless to my wife as it is too with other spouses. Problems and trials come in, but the happiness of being together fortifies my spirit and belief with God that I can deal with it. Love makes a family and a family in harmony will prosper in everything. Life is a race . . . we want the best for our family but sometimes the best turns out to be the worst. We make our own choice; the burden to make the wrong choice is tempting and powerful and should not be underrated. We can just walk . . . slowly and patiently through God's help, we shall reach our desired destination safe and successfully or we can choose to sprint but we cannot choose the aftermath. The reason and the consequence kind of our choice labels us.


Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Hebrew 12:1