Four Score and Counting

The milieu was World War II, another conflict to be noted as one to end all wars.   It was December of 1941, and already the threatening dark clouds of global war  were wafting through the Pacific.  What was needed was an incendiary spark  to light up the entire planet.

It came on the morning on the 7th of the same month.  The blistering early-morning attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan ignited the Pacific region where the US had a very commanding presence, the Philippines being one of them.

Thus, without delay Philippine residents all the way down to the island of Mindanao went on "evacuation" mode, fearing  similar surprise attacks by Japan against US forces. In a week or so, my family and the rest of my father's family had quickly hied to their well-hidden haven in the hills, in the place called Taguanao.

Three weeks after Pearl Harbor I would be born under such trying conditions.  It is related that the family had to send people to the town, maybe including even my father, by horseback to engage the services of the family doctor, in the cover of dawn. To stealthily ride into a city that had now largely been shuttered and deserted.

Now we know that conflagration raged like wild fire for many years, at great sacrifices of men and material.

Thus, 80 years ago, I came into this world very inauspiciously, with everybody else focused on and mindful of the ongoing war.

Four score is a long time to reckon and take account.  

But we all try our best to justify our continued existence, and assess our relative worth as stewards to this blessed land of God.  And hope that our continued living is justified.

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My own thought for the day lent to the written word:

                                

                                     A LESSON IN LIFE

The greatest gifts we can give are neither touched nor fondled.  

Neither wrapped nor bundled.

Because of their very nature, neither get tarnished nor soiled.

Neither diminished nor roiled.

Beyond the grasp of ashen being, they endure time and space.

And the vagaries of petty human caprice.

Transcending puny aspirations, rising to eventual rapture.

Which bring nods of assent of our Creator.

They are the unnoticed deeds we churn out daily in solitude.

Hoping for a change in our attitude.

Attempting to leave the world a little godly than we entered it.

A consummation, we devoutly wish it.

Memoirs of a High School Instructor

 

           Frs. Campbell, Quirke, and O'Donnell  (Taken from FB timeline of  Ramoncito Cruz)

                                                    

The year was 1965, and I was just completing  the academic requirements for my 2nd undergraduate degree.  BTW, the old pictures attached would be about the same year, 1965.

Time to look for a permanent job, I said to myself chomping at the bit to challenge what I had learned so far.  And at 24 years of age, the time was more than ripe.

Alignment came easily.  I broached the idea to my then regular  counselor, Fr. Paul D. Campbell, who found the idea feasible.  He was of course, a very a close ally of the HS principal, Fr. James O'Donnell, being the HS Student Counsellor.  In no time, I was sent to the office of Fr. O'Donnell for the possible job of an instructor and class moderator.

But a little flashback.

Returning back to the old hometown with an undergraduate degree after an absence of over 3 years, I had decided to go back to school tormented by the uneasy feeling that my preparation then had been inadequate.  And this was starting to be a maturing phase of my existence when I begun to realize not only the gravity but also the profundity of life, my life, which at that time was characterized with mercurial aimlessness.

Time to get serious, I told myself.  And indeed the following years blossomed into a life of purpose and a pervading feeling of a  deep sense of mission.  And looking back my academic accomplishments appeared to echo that.

I had developed the habit of not only of going into intense daily prayers and devotionals, but also of going to daily Mass early in the morning.  I went typically to the XU chapel which was quite close to our house, and whose ambience was a good fit for my purposes.  These I did with almost single-minded devotion, almost unaware of the things happening around me.

Till one morning as I was leaving the chapel lost in my religious fervor, I heard a salutation coming from the entrance of the chapel.  Coming from a white-frocked man with a very deep voice.  After the good mornings, he asked about me and my name which he easily connected to a younger brother who was in high school and thus under him.

I did not know then, but he was Fr. Campbell and thus would start our association until I left the school completely years later.  I treasure memories of many visits to his office, with riveting conversations at times getting deep into the evenings, like when the school lights had already been turned off.  I could say that those unforgettable times were most helpful to me during my perilous journey through life.  Many thanks to Fr. Campbell for that.

Anyway, my initial interview with Fr. O'Donnell  was short and sweet, and when I left his office I was already preparing myself to be an instructor of several unrelated subjects, to a fresh bunch of 1st-year highschoolers. And that I would be moderator for the assigned class.

Our next immediate step was for me and a close friend, Berchmans Abejuela, to be sent to Ateneo de Manila to attend some orientation classes for teachers like us, and to spend a couple of days during the weekend.  And this we both did without any hitch or complaint.  For me that would be the only formal  orientation I would get to begin the arduous task of teaching.

I did not then really know much about Fr. O'Donnell and his stint as principal.  Of course, certain unavoidable elements preceded him.  His huge physical presence, a very deep cadenced manner of speaking.  And more importantly, as a strict disciplinarian and a devoted stickler to rules and regulations.  And lastly, as quite frugal with idle conversations.

Knowing and keeping that in mind, our relationship pretty much was my trying to avoid as much contact with him as possible, though making sure I crossed all the Ts and dotted all the Is when it came to school work.  I pretty much followed that religiously since I do not recall any incident when I had to bring up with him  any school problem involving my kids, or the other way around.

And Fr. O'Donnell was quite true to the reputation that preceded him.   I had thought that he was as packaged by people. Except it was coming only from people I knew then.  Because much later I would hear from others a quite different side of him.  Almost a completely new portrayal of the man I had known and left then.

When the school year begun, the heady honeymoon period that usually goes  with new endeavors quickly wore off for me, finding for myself the growing difficulties of teaching  inscrutable adolescents, who were just starting to flex their unsteady wings every which way at the world that they have just woke up to.  This would show in my physical appearance which would be  aggravated by my problematic thyroids.  By the time the school year had ended I had lost over 20 pounds and was reduced to a haggard and ragged figure.  I felt I needed  time to myself to recover and refocus.

Thus  my short stint as high school instructor ended as quickly as it started.  But coming out enriched by one abiding lesson.  Teaching is no easy job, one that not only required  tons of knowledge but more importantly tons of dedication and patience.  Thus, found a new sense of admiration and value for those who spend long years in the profession of teaching.  A profession for the selected few.

Seeking Truth

  

No doubt many are confounded why during these times getting at the truth and sticking to it is hard.  Amidst these times of pervasive misinformation and disinformation, all labeled loosely under the term, fake news, getting at the truth is one challenging task.  Many would argue that it could boil  down to who to trust.

But many of sources and institutions who were traditionally trusted have now been exposed as abandoning their time-cherished ideals, in exchange for exigencies demanded by their ideology and/or politics.

This is what we always have to keep in mind when seeking truth.

First, we have to eliminate what the pursuit of truth is not.

Truth is not difficult because of its obscurity or difficulty in discovery.

Truth is not difficult because these are confusing or chaotic times.

And lastly, truth is not difficult because of the steep challenges of the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Truth is difficult to accept and stick to because of one simple fact.

Many people are found to not want to arrive at truth and to accept it.  Many are too  invested in their own notions and versions of truth, they have allowed their minds to burying the real truth.  And would thus, maliciously propagate warped versions of truth.

Under this  thicket of  briars, we find the world we are inhabiting .  Prickly.  Uncomfortable, and damning.

Of Elections Past and Days of the Dead

THE JUDGMENT OF THE PEOPLE

These past months, judgments have been passed all around.  From the “high priests” of our times, the media, the rich and ruling elites, academia, etc. to the lesser-lite “potentates” in the administrative state and traditionally-revered government agencies, and including those kibitzing galleries of the world at large.

And with almost one collective voice, they have declared Trump unfit and unworthy to continue to sit as President of the most powerful country in the world.  Off with his head, they appear to declare.

But in one day, November 3rd, the only judgment that counts will be rendered by the people, the governed.

How shall it stand?

The crowd of a prior though similar time had also been ambivalent.  At first, it too marveled at the man on the hustings.  They adored his awe-inspiring miracles, his simple but profound teachings, the reverential promises of salvation and good will he had declared, his cool and calculating demeanor. But in the end, they too wanted no part of him.  So mesmerized, enamored, and subdued by the enticing rhetoric of their betters, the people who were supposed to know better and were trusted.

So history came to be as written.

Will it be repeated?

Note:  Yes, it was repeated.   But the road ahead could not be as rocky and dismal.

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In these days of the dead, it serves us well to remember how we regard life.

If one perceives life as having value unto itself then it is most important that everybody lives and nobody dies.

 But we have been taught that earthly life is not that significant. Christ taught by example about sacrificing a life so a greater good can be attained. Earthly life then has value when it has purpose, not because it is life and has to be lived to its natural end.

Thus, when we think about the dead, rather than think of the life itself, we memorialize instead the greater good accomplished.

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Living in an imperfect world with imperfect people, one can still practice some kind of perfection in our elections, given the supposedly democratic way they are done.

Thus, if one must have to choose from a slate of candidates, so that the overall choice would truly represent and typify the people being governed, at the very least please select candidates to represent the different defined sectors of that society.  Sectors to be prioritized as to number significance and importance.  One to represent big business, small business, the vulnerable and underprivileged, the world of academia and students.  One for Women?  I would say no, else in fairness we would also need one for Men.   Etc.    BTW, let us stay away from the whys and wherefores of the PartyList system.  It sucks.

 Also, we ought to forget about family relationships, friendship, or acquaintances in arriving at our choices.

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Written 8 years ago but still relevant and apt for today.

But maybe with a bit of qualification, for in this current electoral exercise, I have witnessed so much unwarranted anger and hateful rhetoric thrown against an incumbent that many do not support coming from out of the woodwork.

Thus, instead of expressing thoughts and ideas why a certain candidate should be chosen over another, many instead unceremoniously unload on the person on the other side, detailing his many flaws and failings, plus various deleterious commentaries collected from a host of sources, as from other pundits and disgruntled relatives.

Personally, such method reeks of a heavy smell of self-righteousness that clearly is misplaced. For after all, we are all ourselves flawed and are all answerable to another authority.  And may also thus be guilty of such unwanted blemishes.  We ought rather to focus on pertinent misconducts rather than ad hominem assaults.

On why I believe that we ought to be active and partisan in our politics, with regard to issues and policies we find objectionable:

And I take a quite divergent view about our free will and how it operates in our reality.  I subscribe deeply to the attitude of Ignatius with regard to prayer for it rationalizes how free will and a whole host of paradoxes like God being all-knowing are justified.

Ignatius compartmentalizes prayer, the first part being the actual prayer say for assistance on the eradication of evil; and here we ought to pray like EVERYTHING depended on God’s will and Providence.  But the corollary part which is the actual doing of actually attempting to eradicate that evil, we ought to maintain the attitude that EVERYTHING depended on us.  So we work our butts to try and realize it.

If what we wish for does not happen, it is then less attributable to God than to ourselves.  That maybe we did not exert sufficient efforts and determination to try to eliminate that evil. Or also that with this tribulation some good will be born from it, to bring us closer to our eternal goal.  This due to the almighty and at times incomprehensible wisdom of God.

Therefore, regardless of which side we have hitched our chariot on, we ought to exert maximum efforts in bringing out that change.  Leaving no stone unturned.  And I say it should be less about whether the outcome would personally affect our own lives or not, but more because it is the right thing to do!

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A Heavy Dose of Humility: In These Troubled Times

As I trudge along daily in the confines of the virtual worlds I visit in silence but ever alert, places which have now become familiar sights, I find one common thread.  Made more compelling under the intense heat of hotly-contested  politics and elections.

 And it is that like the pandemic scourge that has inflamed and disrupted our worlds, evil or its traces can find residence even in the best places and people that we hold dear.  Quite unlikely locales, but like COVID 19 its infiltration easily takes roots.

And like the scourge, we do find it insidiously in residence, whether knowingly or unknowingly, in places and people we think unlikely to be infected.

But then that is the nature of evil, it is smart, persistent, and definitely more resourceful than many of us, even the good-hearted among us.

How does it manifest itself in our words and actions?  In multitude of ways and means.

One typical manifestation.  How easily we treat as gospel truths snippets of facts we have acquired and clung to tenaciously, informing and hard-casting our profound beliefs, and then like the seers of old, imposing them on the rest with haughty authority and command.  Yet in truth, people may find what we know as scant, sparing, or even only a warped version of the truth.

What is it about wealth and power that when formerly ordinary folks acquire them, they start acting like gods? Like Imposing their will on others in certain ways, and anointing themselves as our moral and ethical guardians.

 What could be an antidote?  Unlike the pandemic, we do have the “vaccine” to assist us mitigate it.

Humility is one such answer, a ready tonic for arrogant pride.  It opens the path to knowledge and understanding.  It opens the doors of our minds to possibilities closeminded-ness, or even just pigheaded-ness, could never attain.

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Speaking of the 2020 US Presidential Elections 

When we were living there which had started forty years ago, the US electoral system was the envy of the world, not only for its process but its ease in handling and counting millions of votes expeditiously in a huge and widely-dispersed country. Even then, manual counting was the preferred method. And unquestioned results were known and broadcast quickly. By midnight of the same day, typically even partial results were already such that presumptive winners were already known.

But over time, it started to show its inherent weaknesses or time-borne shortcomings which were left largely unattended to and unmitigated. We know that any system is just as good as the people using it. In this instance, there is little doubt, it is the people responsible for its fall from transparency and integrity to one similar to lesser developed countries.

How ever this particular election is resolved, henceforth the US will have lost the vaunted transparency and integrity of its electoral system. It will be likened to like any in less developed countries.

 No doubt the US system has weaknesses or shortcomings exacerbated over time. When voter rolls are left not updated, then we have many dead people vote. It is reported that in California alone about 3 million names in the rolls ought to be expunged. But no such action.

 The massive mail-in ballots sent or other early voting schemes suddenly promulgated under cover of the pandemic, also contributed greatly to the chaos and exposed the system to possible massive voter fraud. Was it an unintended possible consequence or was it willful?

The latter is where the focus of the current and pending legal challenges will be centered. BTW, it is common knowledge that there are no electronic systems that cannot be hacked, one way or the other.

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Some Observations, collected over time.

The US as a country has always been center-right (essentially conservative in its values) likely as far back in history to its very founding. Any poll even today will show that. It is for this reason that the left has always been frustrated in the ballot and in legislation, though it is possessed of arsenal that the conservative right cannot match (power and influence coming from media, big tech and big money, etc.) No doubt because of this, the left has had to resort to other means. Like putting unelected judges who instead of interpreting laws, will try to legislate from the bench and thus move forward leftist agenda.

This premise may explain and validate the results of the last 2020 presidential election. In spite of the formidable concerted efforts arrayed against outlier and much-maligned Trump he still was able to garner over 73 million votes, which one could easily surmise were earnest and legitimate voters who not only favored Trump and his agenda, but also loved him since their vow of support included prayers offered to him. This is the most that any sitting president has ever received. Thus we have people of faith who find Trump promoting and elevating their values and faith practices.

This election also brought to the fore an added issue that has not been addressed before in any serious manner. Voting Fraud. Which we believe did not just happen now, but had started to creep into the system over time. Though there is yet no verified and confirmed claims of fraud that could overturn the initial count, no doubt fraud has been committed on a large enough scale, as we are finding more and more daily. The forced exposure to sunlight on this issue could bring about reforms to protect its transparency and sanctity, so a frustrated people could restore back its trust and confidence in the system.

Standards of Beauty

 

Saw an image  (not the ones featured here) in FaceBook and its obvious intent was for people to notice that a black child was also beautiful and very good to look at.  It had hoped to dispel the current prevalent notions that one has to have fair skin and Western features to look desirable or beautiful.

 But the  common almost compulsive drive to look more Western I find is not uniquely Filipino.  Many other darker ethnicities also have it, like even among the African Americans in the US.

If so, then we could not attribute it solely as an unintended aftermath of prior colonization or coming from other recently acquired traits.

It would appear to reside deeper in the psyche of modern man, where we might hope to find his current notions and concepts of what would be considered beautiful, or desirable, or even good to look at.  As an example, maybe as elemental or ingrained as that the color white stands for good, while black for bad or evil.  As light versus darkness?

Or it could be what is innately perceived as symmetry of parts that exudes an observation of visual pleasantness or conformity to certain standards.  Like the almost universal preference for taller people rather than shorter ones?  More deep-set eyes and high-bridge noses?  Women looking more feminine with defined curves?  Etc.

A more honest conversation could lead to a better understanding or acceptance of what could be considered as today’s standards.

The lady featured is of mixed parentage, with a Romanian father and a Chinese mother.  She was born in Canada but is now a British subject and resident. This young 18-year-old is the current rage in women's tennis.  Her looks no doubt add to the mystique of her almost unexplainable popularity.

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Introducing the Cagayan de Oro City Hall Building

When we think CDO City Hall the image conjured is that of an imposing white-washed building standing sentinel beside the western approach of the oldest bridge of the city, Ysalina Bridge.

In reality it is now a complex of several high-rise modern-looking buildings adjoined to the side of the old structure and occupying a space many times bigger than the original.

At some point all of us ordinary residents will have to get acquainted with the maze of buildings and offices that now make up City Hall.

We all have to queue up for our annual residence certificates, payments of real property taxes, business permits, a multitude of clearances like police, health, fire, what have you, and a litany of chores and duties to confound the hardiest citizen.  We know we need to register with City Hall for every birth, but not many think that we also have to go through onerous routines when somebody dies.

Thus, in one of those trips, I found time to snap some scenes as I waited for my turn.  And one new detail learned:  Know that when you get your police clearance a 3rd party organization processes your clearance for which you are charged a fee, over and above the regular fee that goes to City Hall.  Part of public service outsourced to the private sector?

  Imagine also that all prospective employees have to have this, aside from the host of requirements and clearances that definitely would raise the hackles of the most patient individual.  And all of them with a considerable fee attached to each one.  Another sample of the burgeoning costs of government!

No wonder even the government’s physical structures have become so large, so expensive and so complicated.

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A Mortified Life:  An Oxymoron?

Because mortified comes from Latin, it could mean to kill or subdue.  But life is about living!

At first glance then, the term could be an oxymoron, which could translate as a killed life.

But over the ages, the noble and profound concept of mortification has taken on more significant meanings to our living of life.   Simply, it means living a life which is characterized by subjugation or “killing” of the human desires and inclinations which drive us away from our divine purposes.   Shorter still, it means controlling our concupiscence which is the innate legacy of our fallen nature.

A very pregnant thought with multi-faceted angles to ponder.

A Mother's Instinct

 

How one timely and prudent move of my late mother may have helped shape my future.  And more than giving it form and shape, may have saved it.

One clear manifestation of a mother's trove of virtues she critically needs in creating and growing her own family, to match the task's multitude of responsibilities.

For many adults the events of youth may be subjects of either happy reminiscences or rueful regrets, but in most instances we consign them to a remote segment of our minds after we attain maturity.  We are too preoccupied with adult life, we do not want to be bothered much by such puerile gestures like trying to  make sense of events in our reckless youth.

But at certain advanced stages, we cannot help but be prodded to recall early events to try and understand why certain things in our adulthood transpired as they did. Or were allowed to happen, or that one was lucky enough to be offered them.

Given such a listless and a bit chaotic childhood for me, I welcome this rehashing of my youth if only to understand my life better.  And better still, such revelation may assist my next generation in their own living of life.

So for these reasons, this little exercise in history is being undertaken.

In my own life in high school, one stark detail that sticks out is the growing aimlessness and listlessness I was experiencing not only at home but more pronouncedly, in school.

I was immersed practically in my own little world, though surrounded by many people composed not only  of many siblings but companies I kept away from home.  Found himself drifting to a less real and more fanciful world.  A world of carefree living, with reduced responsibilities and complete freedom to roam and idle. And of course, with no serious thought of the future.

And this I was experiencing as I was approaching the end of high school.  Though I may not have been aware of it, or maybe was not capable to comprehend situations that I had no prior knowledge, I now think that maybe some people around where I lived may have noticed it.  From telltale signs that taken together could spell disaster.  Like little missteps in school that could be signs of graver issues.  Or the school administrators may have gone above me and reported it to my mother who was the guardian at home.

In hindsight I now  judge that had there been no intervention my downward slide could have gotten worse, who knows to what nadir.  To a point of no return?

Anyway, after a year of college in the same school I did high school, I was suddenly whisked off to Manila to live with my father and a couple of elder brothers who were not only living there but also studying.  And the trip somehow jibed with another issue that needed immediate attention in Manila.  Our youngest sister needed medical attention for a skin problem on her neck that she was born with.  So what better opportunity for me to accompany her on a long and slow boat trip to Manila.  As I understand it, it was my mother who had insisted that I be sent to study in Manila.

That change in scenery and environment I now believe was the turning point of my young life.  The 3 years spent there had given me valuable insights and accommodating knowledge that allowed me to change my outlook and attain the maturity that would later on me serve me creditably in life.  Because after 3 years and graduation from an undergraduate degree, I would be sent back to the old hometown and to start a new life.  Or really to pick up from where I left off.  The changes were mostly inside, with few visible changes in the outside.  Save for such petty stuff as beaming that I could afford to dress with the latest trends brought from Manila, which would be quite an improvement from the local fashion. 

And from henceforward my life had completely taken a different turn.  This time a serious and expectant one.  I had become quite serious with my further studies and was actually thinking about my future and its prospects.

So one wonders what would have happened had my mother not taken the action that she did.  God only knows.  But it would not be farfetched to surmise that that was the rightful decision during that time. And it was not because Manila offered a better place to live or continue school.  Just that the change itself was the trigger that sparked the transformation to maturity.

In life sometimes earlier blessings we received are not known and acknowledged until we are almost through with life. But we get to it before it is too late.

Just A Potpourri Of Thoughts and Opinions

 Just A Potpourri Of Thoughts and Opinions

Those in the business of parsing every Duterte rhetoric and its delivery are having a field day.

He has provided them with the perfect storm, everyone being literally inundated with a phalanx of seemingly incoherent statements and out of this world ideas on how to govern amidst an overly-sensitized world. And the presses are grinding with dizzying speed, laying out ink on the whys and wherefores of all those “unacceptable” statements.

It would appear that he is singularly attempting to “upset” the world order, both locally and globally, with his unexpected pronouncements.  I daresay the world order that has been thrust at us and grudgingly accepted or tolerated as normal in our own lives.

  And just as solicitous are the multitudes of defenders, a number of them could be adjudged overly aggressive and blindingly partial, but dominated IMO by those who are earnestly trying to understand this man who has over time shown in the past all the way back to his stints in Davao City, his genuine paternal concern for the people and his single-minded tack to bring good governance to his constituency.  Which to this day has now become the entire country.

And last time I checked we are still holding up and in one piece.  Maneuvering rudder every which way to right the ship and keep all of us afloat.  Except for the hurts and bruises, sadly inflicted by a number of our own fellow shipmates.

 Helmsmen and mates, to the masts and ballasts with eyes peeled and muscles taut for the continued rough ride ahead!

We shall overcome!

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This local movie has garnered so much attention and following lately.  The reviews are largely and inspiringly positive, though a number are casting doubts on the complete authenticity of events depicted in the movie.  Like it was a history book, or something.

But I take a much different tack on this subject movie.  Because, yes, it is just a movie, though about historical events.

Movies are meant to entertain and be interesting to the audience.  Thus, it will of necessity have to avail of romanticism and other cinematic tools to make them so.  One emphasis for example could be how emotions as expressed are magnified in each role to bring out loud and lasting impressions on and consequently lasting connections with the viewers.

Thus, all things considered, if we want to learn more and give due respect and honor to our heroes, I suggest we be encouraged to use more traditional methods of doing so.  Like reading serious, historically accurate, and unvarnished accounts of them.

   And let movies about them take side roles that simply play as catchy introduction, especially for the younger generations reeling in wanton dearth of relevant models to emulate and follow.   Apart from the youthful and nubile movie celebrities who crowd our interminable sessions with the TV and Internet.

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RIP - Steve Jobs.  I was quite fortunate to have resided in the very same vortex that created the tech boom of the late 80's up to late 20th century.  And was thus only a short ride away from the valley where many of the big companies like Apple and Intel got their starts.  Today Steve Jobs name is synonymous with the name of Apple, but we know that there were others just as significant in making Apple what it is today.  Names like partner Steve Wozniak who is credited for making the early Apple computers realities, or even less known Ronald Gerald Wayne, or a Mike Markkula who provided needed financing early on.

But today it is Steve Jobs day and Apple is Steve Jobs.

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At this time we recall the death anniversary of Apple’s Steve Jobs.

Many post quotes he made while living.  This one attached is a popular one.

The premise is undeniable.  Life is indeed short.

But the succeeding resolutions differ in form and meaning.

Jobs said not to waste it living somebody else’s life.  But more popularly, people will reflexively say:  to enjoy and make the most of it.

Thus, many cramp as much pleasurable activities in their lives while still able – taking travels, vacations, visits to relatives and friends, attending gatherings, etc.

Clearly  as revealed by their actions what the saying specifically means for them.

You think Jobs shared this interpretation?  As reflected in his own life, which was cut short so abruptly?

Did he mean that because life is short, he would spend his few remaining years or months, dropping everything he was doing for Apple, and attending to his personal life and family?

Rather than continuing his life’s activities that could influence or benefit more people?

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Philippine Politics 

Certain developments challenge my admittedly limited understanding of local party politics.

This Philippine president coming into the presidential fray was thought of and considered the most outlier of all the perfumed and scripted candidates who cavorted around the political stage.  Assumed generally as not adept in politics, he never toed political party lines, and though allied never really needed anything from the party, not even publicly pretending to need anything.  Was never part of any cabal nuanced to both the clandestine nature and the shallow niceties of politics, instead speaking and acting his mind without any filters of even feigned courtesies. And a quite dirty and pedestrian mind and mouth he has, alarming and shaming both the high and mighty of society, and the lowly masa.  The powerful RC clergy especially is in a tizzy, practically condemning his every utterance.

 But more people obviously wanted him since he got elected, warts and all.

How come this?

So now his political detractors have considered him an accomplished masterful tactician and manipulator of other branches of government.  He now has pocketed as his rubberstamp the twin houses of Congress.  Many sow fear broadcasting in obtuse ways that the uniformed sectors of government now kowtow to his whims and caprices.  Has he also captured and mesmerized the vaunted judiciary?

So how come one solitary non-politician, one almost without ideological partners, getting only a handful of votes as many claimed, and not really considered knowledgeable to the intricacies of big and bloated government, now being touted as wielding so much power and influence over such entrenched bureaucratic segments of government? 

Hands are flailing away in confusion and surrender.

A Brief Autobiographical Sketch

 

 

When the new decade of 1980 rolled in, our family plans had already been firmed up, ready for execution.

The entire family had decided that our migration to the US, to unite with the rest of the family of the wife would go into full swing. And so as the new year commenced, everybody immersed themselves in the preparations for the long, arduous and historic trip away from the old homeland.  Away from the familiarities, expectations, and standards we had all been used to since birth.  Away from the security and comforts accorded by the old homeland.

Since the move had already been decided much earlier, there is then no need to delve into the whys and wherefores for the migration.  After a long and thorough thinking and weighing of all possible implications, it was the decision to migrate that finally came out.

The initial step taken would be securing our passports and visas for the trip.  And so photos were taken and the one above was precisely the one used in my initial passport.  It showed  a rather pensive guy, obviously burdened by the manifold ramifications of such a move. The attendant fears and insecurities  weighing  heavily on my shoulders as we embarked as a family of six, with 4 minor children with ages ranging from 11 to 6 years, in a long journey of thousands of miles

Like a well-prepared soldier, I looked neat, fit, and in the pink of health even though already past my 30's.  I had reasonably managed and controlled my prevailing physical health issues,  from my pared-down thyroids to the congenital heart condition that I had been carrying since childhood.  So here I was ready for the expected rigors, and this shared by the rest of the family.  Visits to the doctors and dentists already done early on.  Financial affairs marked and winded down to the last t.  Proper clothing for the changing environment noted and secured.  Etc.

And so after countless preparatory moves, the actual dates came into view with the trip being divided into 2 phases.  In June of the same year, the wife and the 2 elder children were first to go.  And they would then stay with my mother-in-law in San Francisco.  A few months later, I with the twins left behind would follow suit.  And as planned, by the end of August, the entire family was reunited, now in the cool environment of the famous city of San Francisco.

As expected, the initial months and years would be periods of great challenges, sacrifices,  and some frustration and regrets.  Many of our unresolved fears would come into fruition and my innate timidity would offer more obstacles to our eventual assimilation into the local community.  But we did all persist and were able to survive all the impediments thrown at us.

And this allowed us also to be creative in our approaches to the goals that we had wanted to attain.  For one we threw aside a number of perceived impediments that migrants like us were said to be subjected and thus would not be able to surmount easily or expeditiously.  And because of this, many in turn were amazed and surprised at the early achievements that we had garnered.  One big one was our ability to own our own house barely going 3 years into our stay there.  This ability opened a lot of doors for us to improve our economic and financial status.  As more doors for profitable investments were opened for us.  This in spite of having 4 minor kids to also care for.

To make a story short, that migration took a lifespan of  over a quarter of century before it was decided to relocate back to the old homeland.  And that we did, except all the kids and their new families are still there, all gathered together in the great state of California.

More Musings

 Way before his death, savant Carl Sagan wrote this eerie prediction.

“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time—when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness."

The US today as forecasted by Carl Sagan above.

1. "Becomes a service and information economy." 

(Google, Instagram, Facebook, etc. are now the biggest and most powerful entities.)

2. "Nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries."  

(Steel, shipbuilding, consumer appliances, vehicles, etc. are now essentially manufactured abroad, like in China.)

3. "Awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few." 

(Like Google, Facebook, Instagram, they now are able to manipulate and sway elections and laws in manners not witnessed before.)

4. "No one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues." 

(Listen to the politicians, the biased media, the deep state operatives from the different bureaucracies, the military top brass, etc., they could not be seen  as divorced from their assigned goals as they are today.)

5. "The people losing the ability to set their own agendas, or knowledgeably question those in authority."  

(Watch how from the president down they have completely forgotten why they are holding their exalted positions and who put them there. All this aided by media and academia. thus, we have mandates galore and an administration essentially avoiding dialogue with its constituents.)

6. Many people unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true.  

(Wokeness and cancel culture persist and gain grounds, again aided and assisted by media, academia, big business, etc.)

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Marking a milestone!

Time is a Man-made Construct

God is eternal.  Man is immortal.  And yes, a regular year is 365 days, a day of 24 hours, the hour of 60 minutes.

All part of accepted conventional wisdom, which upon closer scrutiny cannot rest on the bedrock of credibility.  This is so because our narrative of time is anchored on a false premise.  For us, temporal time is our own construct of measurement.  It is nothing more than a marking of the movements of heavenly bodies against the vastness and inky darkness of an unknown universe.  Thus, a day is nothing more than the measurement of the earth making a complete turn on its axis; while the year of the earth’s travel around our sun.

It appears logical until we run head on against the concept of our Creator, who exists apart and separate from time, our concept of time.  He is not just simply eternal, He simply is!

Being such, everything He does or touches also exists apart and separate from any temporary constructs man has initiated and implemented.

When sentient man enters into an act, a promise, or a commitment that transcends the temporal, it is timeless!

Our earth-bound measurement of time becomes meaningless.

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Here is a thoughtful topic on elections in general. If you ask the “experts” they would undoubtedly come up with these premises and rationale.

If the contest is between an incumbent and a newcomer, typically the contest will be a referendum of the incumbent and his record of accomplishments. So votes cast will be either for or against the incumbent, based on his record. The against votes would be popularly referred to as protest votes.

However, if the contest is between two newcomers to the position, meaning neither one is incumbent, then the contest will be decided on who voters believe can better serve or is a better fit for the position being vied for.

If one turns to the experts again, they would readily qualify that those above-described premises are not always so. There will be times when both contestants having been so exposed publicly whether in public service or in the private sector, that both their records of accomplishments could become critical measures to determine their viability and electability. Thus the election would not necessarily be a referendum of the incumbent but a contest of electability based on records of both.

Thus in prognosticating, we assume (to a degree) voters decide like text-book voters, that is, they base their decisions on which candidate is a better fit for the position, which we would agree is for public service and the pursuit of the common good. Rather than based on personalities, level of erudition and/or eloquence, or even likability, etc.

But all could agree that it is doubtful in reality that voters are beyond not consulting and/or relying on the latter criteria. Man is such an emotional creature that it is difficult for him to thoroughly divest himself of those when making choices.

Still, it is good to know not only where candidates are coming from, but also the voters who decide on who wins.

I myself will put on my thinking cap and start the mental exercise on the real election events unfolding.

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Just discovered another ugly wrinkle that surfaced in today’s chaotic world.

Unless it is self-evident or previously expressed, it is not right to impugn the character of another person because of probable or possible motives/intentions that that person may have against another.

It is not only outright baseless but irrational to do so.  It could then also possibly mean that there is some projection involved in making that judgment.

Judge a person on what he has actually done and what he has expressly said as his motive for doing so.  If not, it is considered prudent to withhold judgment.

But the following is an example where motives/intentions are not just express but written and thus not imprudent to cast judgment on those involved:

https://www.youtube.com/post/Ugy8TgcAQ9_gEgUi6ux4AaABCQ

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Be careful what you all wish for, they could all come true.

When Duterte won, I grudgingly had a wish that was both all-encompassing and straight-forward.

Given and based on all that he had represented and personified, my wish was that he would “upset” all the traditional values and traditions that we had accumulated over the years as a nation and people living free from any foreign domination.  Since I had concluded that those had gotten us nowhere.

So that every time he would be required to think, say, and act as expected  by his high office, he would set aside the protocols and promulgate his own based on values he had acquired not only for being part of the common man but more importantly because he self-identifies with their plaints, plights, and hurts.

 Remember it started with the manner of dress, the pomp and elegance of official gatherings, down to the elevation of the lowly “maruya” as part and parcel of official and stately repasts.

 Now it has been a series of issues concerning foreigners or foreign countries and organizations.  Before anything else, we shall pre-emptively declare that this cannot be stemming from any aversion or revulsion to anything foreign or extraneous.  Remember his marriage was that to a foreigner.

Anyway, now his detractors are steaming hot on the collar because of his strident and negative remarks about the US.

Reflexively, they point to the foreign aids and other giveaway goodies we might have to forget about because of this.  Or all the negative financial repercussions this affront will engender.  Like when he insulted the UN, immediately people started counting the coterie of assistance the country was receiving from that body, and the insinuation that the country may now have to kiss them goodbye.  And this financial angle appears to be quite likely to come out immediately when something negative like this comes out of the office of the president.

But isn’t our mendicancy slip showing all over the place?  As a country and as a people, is that what characterizes or is important to us?  Again, where has all this gotten us?  That ought to be the Square One that we always try to get back to.

For all his flaws and inability to amply verbalize his thoughts and ideas, I am thinking that in his jumbled rhetoric what he is trying to bring across is the good idea that at this point we should aim for something grander and harder.  What about trying to wean ourselves from the good graces and benevolence of other countries, which appear to always look upon us by default as needing extra help just to stand on our own?

Maybe what he is conveying is that we try to cut that damned umbilical cord and go all out to better our future, over and above just simply surviving.  To wean ourselves from foreign hands and crutches and lifting ourselves with our own bootstraps.  Such a success ought to truly be meaningful and sustainable for us.

If so, then, hey, it is not such a bad idea.

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He probably is the most unusual democratic president of all time (my time, at least).  One so unwilling, so reluctant at first, giving all excuses both silly and understandable, to assume the formidable burden of a rugged campaign and now the intolerable rigors of the office.

 The most consummate model of an outlier president any country could possibly enlist.

 A solitary outsider, having only limited his political career to local governance in the most southern part of the country, away from notice and fame.  A section of the country considerably isolated and different from the rest.  And not desiring any or having no political alliances or dalliances with the rest of the country, showing great reservations and impatience in such methods of governance.

And now he holds the reins of government, being buffeted on all sides because of his coarse and uncharacteristic ways.   Unfazed, he goes about parrying and deflecting blows, allowing those who understand him and his intentions to do battle for his avowed causes.

So now many of his detractors claim given the most recent  developments in high echelons of government, that we now have a dictator reminiscent of the Marcos misrule, a ruler bent on dominating and singularly acting on his own lonesome to steer the entire country forward.

A dictator not ruling by force and duress, but by the trust and confidence his followers and believers invest in his rule?

Such a unique despot.   Is this a fine sample of a benevolent tyrant?

Or maybe derisively, signs of mass hypnotism of a good part of the country?

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Musings: when letting the mind run free and wild

 

The current Pope started his Papacy with great fanfare and expectations, and at the beginning he did not disappoint.  The essay below spoke of those first months of his tenure.

a’ Kempis (of Imitation of Christ renown) repeatedly reminded his readers not to play favorites with the saints and holy men of the Church.  It is sufficient for our purposes to acknowledge and be inspired by their exemplary lives lived in the service and worship of God.  Remember we have a very jealous God that will not countenance any competition with regard to worship.

In the case of the current Pope, many of us may have to re-think our thoughts about him, especially with regard to his holiness and righteousness.

And this might reveal how we ought to regard him based on what is impliedly coming from him.  Many devotees who have gotten near him and have been blessed by him have reported that in return and in parting the Pope is wont to offer the request that we also pray for him.  And many have been dumbfounded by this reaction.

But it is quite obvious.  Many come to him to ask for his blessings and prayer.  In return his parting word is his subtle way of telling these people that they are in the same boat with him, subject to the same flaws and vicissitudes.  Thus, if we ask for prayer and blessing from a fellow human, then we ought to return that favor by also praying for him.

As simple as that.

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                                                                       911 DIRGE

Words rush out of our mouths, like cascading river.

Never forget, never forget this horrible day.

Almost mindless and robot-like we continue to roar.

Always remind, always remember this fateful day.

Memory should be permanently ingrained in our minds.

Death and destruction wrought on a hapless nation.

When all it did was lived its daily life, unheeding.

Unmindful and not wishing anyone any ill will.

But we pause to ask: Why so, did it deserve its fate?

Did it inflict harm to its own, and thus feel remorse?

But no such thing happened, or is inferred as such.

Its reply to this revealed the nation's raw intent.

The loud answer shouted out what the real reason was.

Not to forget and forgive for retribution is coming.

And indeed such came in haste and in succession.

And the world has not forgotten nor will it forget.

Yet we continue our chants, never forget, never forget.

And we drone in cadence, each time the day draws nigh.

Yet we continue in our merry ways, unheeding the signs.

The signs that will bring the same dreaded aftermath.

The country continues to install rulers reflecting that.

The words from  mouths not synching what is in the heart.

Rendering then the yearly exercise pointless as can be?

So then we be quiet and proceed in our wayward ways?

Fate be the anointed guide and decider of the future grim.

At least we act true to what we have become as humanity.

Unheeding to old ideals that ought rule our daily lives.

To say Amen so long as we are aligned to kin and kith.

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                                                         Ways of Winning and Losing

Listened to both post-game interviews of the 2 good-looking losers in the semi-finals of the WTA US Open.

They did appear humbled by the 2 smiling and light-hearted victors, who appeared enjoying themselves not only with their many wins, but being thrust into the wild and noisy world stage.

When asked about their losses, one like throwing up her arms conceded that the youngster could not do anything wrong in her game.  The other said because she did not play her best.  Why not because the other players showed better than their best?  C'mon.

Also, they thought the youngsters won because they were fearless and had nothing to lose.

Huh?  Were they not that young before?  Maybe just 5-6 years ago?

A youngster pushed into that lion's den and having no fears?  Nothing to lose?  Most of us would not be able to control the shaking in our legs and bodies.

OF STRANGE DREAMS OF FEAR AND ANXIETY

All through life I have always had strange recurring dreams, but of late some are just too pronounced and demanding it becomes difficult not to take notice.  And over time I have written about such dreams, wanting to learn more about them.   Now it is postulated by some learned sources that dreams could actually be realities in a different dimension.

One such reverie occurred last night and thus thought it right to commit to writing at the first opportunity. Some familiar hallmarks do for me instigate such dreams to occur and this particular night was one such occasion.

I was just about ready to call it a day, after I had been physically drained by the yardwork I completed a few hours earlier.  And this coupled by the fact that the Internet was down due to maintenance work of the provider.  So I was just about ready to bed before 9 pm, after a hard day's work.

The dream materialized even before the hour turned to midnight.  It commenced this way.

For some unexplainable reason I still continue to work with the Westin St. Francis Hotel, though I had much earlier retired from it after 20 years of employment.  I thus find myself still working alone doing the IT work I had done prior to retirement.

And because dreams never typically follow the proper time sequence in real life, this narration will be one such example, jumping in time every which way.

So first I find myself looking for the room where former President George W. Bush is billeted and as is wont in similar dreams in the past I have difficulty negotiating through corridors, elevators, function rooms, etc. looking for the suite that I thought he would be in. And like past dreams, I find myself unable to find the right room.

Then the dream brings me back earlier, when I am inside that huge and dark wood-paneled room with the former president and another white-haired person that later I would recognize as being part of hotel security.  They were playing tennis inside that huge room, though at times it would turn to badminton.  On one side of the court was a big tree located near the baseline.  And so watching the game I placed myself beside the tree. But was told to step back because the tree was inside the court, which I did.  Then a little later, the white-haired person tells me that he had a good 15-minute workout playing tennis and badminton in which I remarked that I would have had a hard time doing what he did.

Then I find myself anxious in bed covering myself with a crumpled white sheet, with the former president beside me in another bed, and he is trying to placate  me, not to worry because my two bags will be given back to me in due time. In the dream, the 2 little bags are those I typically carried with me to work, with personal items in them, like my devotional books, my daily journal, and the usual clutter of pens and pencils, keys, etc. and at times extra clothing since at times after work I would change in the car and walked or jogged along the downtown area of San Francisco.

Anyway, he assures me that the bag will be returned, including some stuff that he would give me for my children.  It is then when I realize that I could be in danger, leaving behind in his room what could possibly be used to hurt him.  Maybe a bomb?  So my mind started racing about what things I may have in those two bags.  I recall that Bush was telling me that he liked one bag, which he described as a "tartanilla" bag and I said that old leather bag which looked a bit like a satchel  was given by my father, which bag when he was still using it contained all documents of his case load.  I then started to cry, though he gave assurance that nothing would happen to me.

At this juncture, I woke up staring at the darkness in the room, and my mind continued racing, this time about real things that happened to me.

I then thought about the time as a kid maybe of 8 or 9 when my father brought me with him to the town of Dansalan, in Lanao, where Muslims lived.  Riding his jeep we traveled to the place which is some 130 kilometers going west from our place. He had brought along his "porfolio" a small leather bag that contained his legal documents, and I was tasked to carry it around for him.  I do not recall any more companion with us, nor any conversation we may have had.  But I recall that reaching the place, there was a small coterie of people waiting and watching.  My father breaks through the crowd and enters the one-storey building where the legal case was supposed to be heard.  I left him with his bag and got back to the jeep outside, while the people milling around were all sucked inside.  Then nothing else.

Next my mind got into another occasion when I again rode the jeep of my father as his companion, this time there were other people and  luggage with me.  I was seated at the back on one side where a bare metal bench was. Nothing more than part of the frame of the jeep.  Facing forward, I had my feet raised on the bench and had a good view of the outside.  We were traversing graveled roads on some mountainous areas.  A detail I find hard to forget was that the soil on the shoulders of the road was reddish in color like clay, which is quite different in color from the one we had in the lowland areas. I had thought then that we were travelling to places like Imbatug, or Talakag, or even Impalutao in Bukidnon.

Another memory that tried to crowd in was my extended trip with my maternal grandmother to the remote island of Culion, in Palawan.

This time I became pensive and reflective.  From these experiences it would appear that the adults in our family had assigned for me a special task in their lives - as a travelling companion.  And to bolster to that, I also recall instances in my childhood when I would also accompany my mother, doing things that seemed like a child had no proper part in it, like going to movies that had adult themes.

Reality beckons, so I stood up, flicked the light switch, and starting writing my memories. 

Fernanda Cabrera Osmena Velez

 

Fernanda Cabrera Osmena Velez

So this narrative will be preserved and archived in my blog.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10159203705727348&set=a.84132687347

She was Fernanda Cabrera Osmena, who married Porfirio Velez. Her parents were Victoriano Osmena and Januaria Cabrera.

She was already elderly when I would stay with her or accompany her on trips. Her more prominent features were high cheekbones, long face, and droopy-eyed. So tried to recapture her image with those features at an earlier age.

My most intimate companionship with her was when as a little kid I accompanied her on a very extended vacation to the remote island of Culion, the leper colony. We stayed with the family of one of her married daughters.

She was most independent and regal in stature having lost her husband still in the 30s. She was quiet and withdrawn much like my own mother. Kept herself busy with her religious devotionals, and darning clothes in the most intricate fashion. I would watch her do this and be in awe at what she had done, like a little machine had done the work.

A Blog Entry Of Random Thoughts For A Sunday

As creatures with Free Will, no subject ought to be taboo.

We learn that the biblical sense of sin is this:  Missing the mark.  Thus, we sin because we miss the mark.

Now, bearing false witness against another man is missing the mark.

What about bearing false witness against another man because we believe the source(s) that allowed us to make such a witness?  Or because we are informed by such sources? And we believe without giving due diligence that sources are divulging the facts rather than their opinions.

That would still be missing the mark in my best judgment.

Because before making judgments against another man, or worse bearing false witness against another, one is compelled to first learn of the truth.  One cannot be satisfied with accepting things at face value.  Unless, we harbor entrenched loathing for another making it easy to make rash judgment at the slightest hint or provocation.

I am finding as I continue my virtual travels, that this is the one thing that muddies or complicates discussions on issues that are delicate but vital to our continued health and peace.   Issues about politics.  About religion.

And as some sort of cop-out, we then dismiss the whole thing and declare these subjects as taboo for good and cordial social interaction.

Yet deep down we know that we would become the better if we allowed ourselves unfettered and unhindered access and discussion to issues on religion and politics.

                                                         

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My Own Prayer for Serenity

From the clutter and frenzy of our everyday lives deliver us, O Lord.

And bring us to the mount of simplicity and serenity 

where we can find you with the destiny wrought for us all.

Let not the many allures of the world beset and confuse us.

For when all is said and done, they all matter but little.

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 A conscious stream of thought rides along my Sunday jog

Your earthly life is so very short. Do not waste any of it.

An admonition constantly hammered in our minds, especially for those of us in the twilight of our years.

And from the river of ideas propounded, many of us may be getting the wrong notions about this saintly beatitude written above.

Why seekest thou rest (and pleasure), since thou art born to labor? - chimed in a’ Kempis.

So, ask yourself this question: How is life then wasted or not wasted?

A life of ease and pleasure, or one of constant vigilance and pursuit of thoughts and acts that purify the soul? 

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 In Prayerful Supplication

Lord, what have we become?  For this is what I see before me.

So much loathing, hatred, and deceit toward other people, like we were unspoiled angels untainted by the very impaired nature bestowed on us.  

The few who do humbly scrutinize their own lives find themselves just as debauched, or even worse as the persons they are criticizing.   

We hate, yet our own lives are hateful or we tend toward odious things.  Projection?  We forget our beloved Christian exhortation, hate the sin, not the sinner.

Our children wallowing largely in a life of ease and comfort in these advanced stages of civilization and technology, so capable of knowing so much and thus ought to be inclined toward wisdom and prudence. 

Yet good enough numbers are so haughty, disrespectful, and unlettered to the ways of what is rightful for them to do or be as children, like being deferential and dutiful to their parents or elders. Or how about be subject to authority?

 They publicly disparage others taunting them to educate themselves, yet they are so oblivious about their own unawareness.  

Christ did warn that in pursuit of our own salvation, humanity will find itself in great turmoil, with families against families, parents against each other, and children against their parents, friends against friends, etc.

 We are told in that alternate existence we are expected to stand alone in our beliefs and resolve, solitary before our own judgment, and accountable only for our very own actions.  And not even for those of our own loved ones.

Is this what has become?  And there are telltale signs pointing to something.

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A Sunday Thought

In these times when we as a species are forever trying to exhibit and pay obeisance  to our social and gregarious nature, we are reminded of a simple but hard saying by a’ Kempis in his Imitation of Christ book.

We humans are constantly seeking discourses because we seek comfort from one another.  In explanation, he lays out one possible reason why humans are constantly on the move seeking new sights and new people to interact with.

And we find it could be for a self-centered reason, which at times could be clothed in altruism or other self-less reason.

Thus, we have to constantly be on the alert to examine whether our actions or protestations have the single eye of intention, or whether we do things for our own satisfaction and contentment.

Christ himself has cautioned us about the difficulty of showing the single eye of intention in the things we do here on earth.  So that when we say that we are doing things for the greater glory of God, are there no other more self-serving intentions thrown into the mix?

This we have to constantly remind ourselves lest we be misled.

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The strong contravening forces of both nature and nurture will conspire to almost guarantee that the next generations will be different from the previous.  The mothers and fathers different from their children; children and grandchildren from their ancestors.

Though it is still an obvious reality when certain individuals will surprise people when they start looking and acting like their previous generations.

And the similarities and differences will tread beyond just physical attributes, but all the way down to values and priorities.

I do believe that God’s stupendous and inscrutable creation assures the utter uniqueness of each human individual brought into this world.

We just hope the moral absolutes learned through the ages will find their way down to the last generation of humanity.  After all, we also believe these are encoded in our very nature.

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A timely rule to live by for we are wont to criticize our fellow humans in our daily discourse in social media or conversations.

Caution on Public Criticism

While clearly human actions are visible to us, 

And thus subject to our discriminating eyes,

Remember it is God alone that can discern

Hidden intentions and desires of the actor,

Unless unequivocally declared in public.

Good faith on the motives are to be assumed

To be fair and equitable in our judgments.

To rashly ascribe unkind and shallow motives 

Would no doubt clearly be unfair and unjust.

Thus best to exercise circumspection in such

For truly we do not possess the complete truth.

In another vein, the better part of discretion

Dutifully dictates to those hurt or concerned

To stay quiet about the misunderstandings

Unless keeping in quiet solitude it leads to

Much graver scandal or unnecessary offense.

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In Pursuit of Youthful Stuff

As a young pimply kid growing up in the 50’s in the sleepy town of Cagayan de Or0, we made do with whatever was available and affordable in pursuing our idle dreams of fame and fortune.  Dreams gathered and collated from what we saw on the silver screen, which for most of us was our only window to the rest of the fantasized world.

We naturally wanted to look like our idols, act and sing like them, and imitated as best we could their mannerisms, using means as crude and coarse as they got during those simpler times.

We did not have smartphones, not even decent cameras, much less photo editing apps we could play around with in pursuit of our escapist fantasies.

As a matter of fact, if we wanted pictures of ourselves, during off-times, meaning when there were no class pictures scheduled or school events to be memorialized in pictures, we had to go to one of a few studios around the city and sit for a portrait.  And this would set us back a few pesos, which meant we had to save for it.

And a number of us did just that, recording for posterity the silliness and pettiness that characterized our youth.

And in hindsight, we have cause for snickering. Or maybe smirking?

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Approaching the 2nd Term of Obama

In a latest show of disregard for 1st Amendment rights where the American Christian filmmaker of the controversial YouTube trailer that supposedly sparked all the flames stoking the Middle East and South Asia and specifically directed at US offices, had been taken by LA county deputies at midnight “for voluntary questioning”, I now find  no reason why any US voter ought to vote for the incumbent.  We do not have to name who the replacement ought to be.  It is just “anybody but” as far as I am concerned.

And let us count the random ways why he should not be re-elected.

Since he took office the general well-being of Americans has declined. In our local economy we find very anemic growth, very high chronic unemployment, even poverty has dramatically increased,   and millions of people have even stopped looking for work.  Household incomes have fallen to lowest levels since the 90’s.

His foreign policy initiatives from dealing with Iran’s nuclear weapon development activities to fostering better relations with Russia, and dealing with the Middle East and Israel in general, have not brought any results that we can celebrate about.

 He has not even properly addressed the looming debt crisis the country is bound to experience, much less planning any serious attempt at welfare and entitlement reforms.  His actions have simply exacerbated the problems which continue to get worse as more and more people join in on the Federal dole.

His policies to spur growth in the economy have been dismal failures. Including the promised pipe dream of creating more green jobs.  What about any attempt to mitigate the housing problems which continue to bedevil the country?

Not only are we registering record numbers in food stamps, and astronomical gas prices, we are now also experiencing increases in insurance premiums.  I suppose no thanks to the landmark Obamacare.

Even his campaign for re-election has gone into the deep end churning out less than honest ad campaigns targeting opposition candidates, rather than focusing on the problems of the state.

It would be nice to see amidst all these a harried head of state moving heaven and hell to try and address all these problems that cry out for attention, instead we see one too concerned only with fundraisers and recreational activities in the golf courses and  expensive vacation spots of the country and abroad.

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Thoughts on this the holy day of the Lord:  

Rather than a holy man or a prophet, it was instead a classical historian who reminded me that nothing in the world today that happens to man is new.

If one is confused or in quandary as to how to respond to current events, one simply has to turn to history, the old books, to realize the repetitive nature of things and events, and thus for modern man to derive the pertinent lessons from them.

All the lessons we need to lead good lives can be derived from those sources, whether in religious settings like Holy Scriptures, or in secular settings like ancient history books.

 All of humanity, of whatever religious orientation or inclination, simply needs to turn to them for examples or illustration.

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"Three coins in the fountain. Which one will the fountain bless. . . . . ." 

A reported tri-cornered auction for the 2016 mayoral election in our city is in the offing.  Here are some off-the-cuff observations from a budding numismatist, though for the sake of circumspection and tongue-in-cheek humor, no candidates’ names are mentioned.  Please appraise it for whatever currency it may have.

 The most-seasoned “fractional denomination” and his misshapen looks are still  glossy and eye-catching.  He has deadly intent to jingle back into the coffers of the city and he will mint any and all proof sets to attain that goal.  His protestations to the contrary and his eroded edges notwithstanding.  His intent is singular and his actions are all focused toward a fortuitous end.  To rule the city’s purse-strings anew.

 In the case of the other “loose change” it may be a little different. One recalls that at the onset of his decision to run for mayor, he interposed certain obstacles against his running.  A heart-tugging one remembered was that his family was not too happy about it, that they would rather he spends more time with them after so many years in politics.  And many early supporters got the shiny impression that he was in this one joust only to unseat what was perceived as a very undesirable and corrupt counterfeit legal tender.   And no mention was made about what would transpire after this.   Meaning no thoughts or plans were made beyond a first term.  After all, here was a candidate many thought who was possessed with a singularly-engraved noble intention of serving the common welfare.  And nothing more.  With no plans to perpetuate himself in power.  Also, what might the family think since after all they were already ambivalent about his initial round at auction?

With regard to the third “coin of the realm”, before casting their lot with  the eventual incumbent many had him as  the prized gold-cladded choice, and being one of its own, many pursued him relentlessly to no avail.   Excuses were given, like that he wanted to finish his work in Congress, etc.  And many held breaths and bids till the last minute.  Hedging for him to run for at least just one term.  Because he was viewed as a mint-condition shoo-in, even against a well-entrenched machinery. What ended however was that he eventually threw his support and ante pot with the challenger.  And many attribute this for the eventual record-price victory of the challenger.

  But recall that all this transpired before learning of this legislator’s BBL stance and his own PDAP/DAP mess.  Have we “loosely changed” our minds about him?

 "Three coins in the fountain. Make it mine!  Make it mine!"