The test of affluence is the observed fact that when you are really uber affluent, apathy becomes a very frequent friendly visitor at the doorsteps. Affluence apparently drives one's soul to dry up and slowly and tragically go down the road of "I do not care anymore!"
Ever wonder how come in the most affluent countries, like United States and Europe, depression abound? Ever wonder how come the financial kind of philanthropy also abound in those places? Because if they don't do that, the overwhelming burden of wealth stewardship will drive one crazy = )
Why not try "googling" the number of really uber rich persons who killed themselves recently?
But do not get me wrong. I am not advocating let's all get poor. My point is I hope when one is given the privilege of earthly wealth, our hearts are ready for it. For if our hearts are not ready for wealth, what is suppose to be a blessing is now a curse.
To know someone, do not give him hardship.
He will rise above that.
Instead, give him power.
Give him success.
Give him wealth.
And see what he becomes = )
"... man can not serve two masters... God... money"
Monday
Friday
a realization from the dark and the deep
This is a blessing.
This is a gift.
War and poverty make us realize that
...we can truly get by with so little.
That all we really need is "so little".
Realizing that there's is God.
Love from those we hold dear.
That's it.
Everything else will work itself out.
This is a gift.
War and poverty make us realize that
...we can truly get by with so little.
That all we really need is "so little".
Realizing that there's is God.
Love from those we hold dear.
That's it.
Everything else will work itself out.
Monday
a scenario that roots from a vanishing farming communities
It is a situation with so many variables at play. It is tempting to give the easy explanations. And because these explanations is readily embraced, the situation is getting dimmer.
The first variable at play is that the fruits of the farmer's labor is not enough to sustain a growing family. With price controls on farm products as a government staple to control inflation and the limitedly-inspired infrastructure (roads and "congress") at play, these two acts as griding stones to our farmers.
It also does not help that the weather is behaving in ways never seen before. This adds to the uncertainty that farming communities have to deal with.
Because of these variable's dynamic, the natural progression of a farmer's thoughts is to look for certainty. And this certainty is expressed in the growing OFW dollars.
But this certainty is also limitedly-inspired. As more dollars go back to the Philippines to alleviate the life of most Filipinos, the value of the dollar decreases.
The situation now forces ALL OF US to understand the bigger world, the globalized world and look at its dynamics.
If there's a good that comes out of this painful situation this will be it - we will be educated in the forces that moves the economics of a globalized world. Of which, the present generation of farming-rooted personalities will have to learn. More so, for the next generation.
But here's a discomforting thought. What if this heavy situation that we are in is really the plan of the greedy. Think, if farmer's lose hope on their lands - what would they do? Would they sell it? Of course! They will sell it to send their children to school so that their children have a better chance at certainty.
If this goes on, then all the land will be consolidated in the hands of the fewer. The fewer that has enough capital to exploit the fruits of the Philippine's true gold, its fertile land.
I hope this is simply a rumbling of an uncontrolled fear.
I hope our government is still "...for the people, by the people and of the people."
I hope our government really make good in building infrastructure that will cost-effectively link the fruits of our fertile lands to the buying markets of the whole world so that those who labor will benefit the fruits of their aching backs and their sun-darkened skin.
I hope our government really make good in allocating the biggest part of our budgets to the countryside's education so that they grasp the expanded truth of our present situation.
Lord, raise up a new generation of teachers and of educators to aptly contextualized what a global economy is to everybody. May we see what You want us to see.
Lord, I pray for our leaders and the would-be leaders that they act the way You want them to act.
Lord, help us also to be good followers to Your instituted authority here on earth.
Remind us Father that You love us and that You will never forsake us. You are our strength and our portion forever.
The first variable at play is that the fruits of the farmer's labor is not enough to sustain a growing family. With price controls on farm products as a government staple to control inflation and the limitedly-inspired infrastructure (roads and "congress") at play, these two acts as griding stones to our farmers.
It also does not help that the weather is behaving in ways never seen before. This adds to the uncertainty that farming communities have to deal with.
Because of these variable's dynamic, the natural progression of a farmer's thoughts is to look for certainty. And this certainty is expressed in the growing OFW dollars.
But this certainty is also limitedly-inspired. As more dollars go back to the Philippines to alleviate the life of most Filipinos, the value of the dollar decreases.
The situation now forces ALL OF US to understand the bigger world, the globalized world and look at its dynamics.
If there's a good that comes out of this painful situation this will be it - we will be educated in the forces that moves the economics of a globalized world. Of which, the present generation of farming-rooted personalities will have to learn. More so, for the next generation.
But here's a discomforting thought. What if this heavy situation that we are in is really the plan of the greedy. Think, if farmer's lose hope on their lands - what would they do? Would they sell it? Of course! They will sell it to send their children to school so that their children have a better chance at certainty.
If this goes on, then all the land will be consolidated in the hands of the fewer. The fewer that has enough capital to exploit the fruits of the Philippine's true gold, its fertile land.
I hope this is simply a rumbling of an uncontrolled fear.
I hope our government is still "...for the people, by the people and of the people."
I hope our government really make good in building infrastructure that will cost-effectively link the fruits of our fertile lands to the buying markets of the whole world so that those who labor will benefit the fruits of their aching backs and their sun-darkened skin.
I hope our government really make good in allocating the biggest part of our budgets to the countryside's education so that they grasp the expanded truth of our present situation.
Lord, raise up a new generation of teachers and of educators to aptly contextualized what a global economy is to everybody. May we see what You want us to see.
Lord, I pray for our leaders and the would-be leaders that they act the way You want them to act.
Lord, help us also to be good followers to Your instituted authority here on earth.
Remind us Father that You love us and that You will never forsake us. You are our strength and our portion forever.
Sunday
ignorance
Ignorance is a choice.
Ignorance is pride.
Ignorance is plain being lazzy.
Ignorance is a situation.
Ignorance is a disease.
Ignorance is pride.
Ignorance is plain being lazzy.
Ignorance is a situation.
Ignorance is a disease.
Wednesday
education
What kind of education does one person received when all he learned is how to hate?
What kind of education does one received when all he learned is fear?
What kind of education does one received when all he learned is how to cheat?
What kind of education does one received when all he got were grades?
If all he got was these, then he paid good and hard-earned money on how to be poor even if he graduated with honors.
If all he got was these, then he paid good and hard-earned money on how to be a loser even if he graduated with honors.
What kind of education does one received when all he learned is fear?
What kind of education does one received when all he learned is how to cheat?
What kind of education does one received when all he got were grades?
If all he got was these, then he paid good and hard-earned money on how to be poor even if he graduated with honors.
If all he got was these, then he paid good and hard-earned money on how to be a loser even if he graduated with honors.
an insight from a current African experience placed in its Philippine context
There's a war. The newest is in Kenya, Africa.
For us, this is nothing new. It seems that at any given moment, war happens. And at that same moment, someone falls in love and pledges undying love and devotion to someone. How come that never reach prime-time news? Too usual, I guess. Not unless we know for sure that that union will bring forth a child that will cure cancer or AIDS. Or maybe finally come up with a business model that makes the Hydrogen Economy a reality. But that 's another story all together. = )
But that's not the point of this entry. It's about a "what if".
What if Spain never colonized the Philippines, would it be such a stretch to see us in tribal wars today? Tribal wars happen almost every year in Africa during the past decades. And this is of interest for us, I mean - mostly for me because if I remember correctly, we were a group of "balangays", or tribes in present context, before the Spaniards came.
I mean, we became La Islas de Filipinas because Governor Heneral said so. And then, drew the map of our "nation's" territory in honor of King Philip.
Our "pre-school type of nationhood" came because we had someone to blame, a common enemy for all the hardships our forefathers had to bear. We had an Emilio Aguinaldo-led and Andres Bonifacio-led revolution with the Spaniards in the late 1800's. Then, the Americans in the early 1900s. Then, the Japanese during the 1940s.
I think it is because of this "common-enemy story and someone to blame logic" that saved us from going into tribal wars as horrible as the Kenyans is going through it right now.
But I think it is time for this "blame-game" to have a new twist. I mean, I lived through its recent reincarnations - the Marcos-version, then the Cory-version, then the Ramos-version, then the Estrada-version and then the Arroyo-version and we are still stuck in "a nation still in the hospital" category.
I heard of "the sick man of Asia" and then the a nation "in the ICU aka a nation nearing its end of days during the turn of the millennium." Remember Governor Arnold's film, End of Days? And who was the president then?
The best we did was being a tiger cub but that's so 90s. It was abruptly disrupted by the Asian financial crisis of 1997. And now, as the spin doctors are saying (but I am hoping that it is really true) - we are now in the recuperating room. Hrmpf. Still a nation in the hospital. Oh, well...
Could we turn a new leaf? Please? It's new year after all, di ba? Could we add "It's my fault, too" to "It's their fault"? After all, we are the ones who elected them, right?
On the first few pages of the landmark work of Dr. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled, he discussed about the difference between paranoia and character disorder and said that it's easier to help the one with character disorder because "...they take responsibility."
I take responsibility. It's my fault too, Lord!
For us, this is nothing new. It seems that at any given moment, war happens. And at that same moment, someone falls in love and pledges undying love and devotion to someone. How come that never reach prime-time news? Too usual, I guess. Not unless we know for sure that that union will bring forth a child that will cure cancer or AIDS. Or maybe finally come up with a business model that makes the Hydrogen Economy a reality. But that 's another story all together. = )
But that's not the point of this entry. It's about a "what if".
What if Spain never colonized the Philippines, would it be such a stretch to see us in tribal wars today? Tribal wars happen almost every year in Africa during the past decades. And this is of interest for us, I mean - mostly for me because if I remember correctly, we were a group of "balangays", or tribes in present context, before the Spaniards came.
I mean, we became La Islas de Filipinas because Governor Heneral said so. And then, drew the map of our "nation's" territory in honor of King Philip.
Our "pre-school type of nationhood" came because we had someone to blame, a common enemy for all the hardships our forefathers had to bear. We had an Emilio Aguinaldo-led and Andres Bonifacio-led revolution with the Spaniards in the late 1800's. Then, the Americans in the early 1900s. Then, the Japanese during the 1940s.
I think it is because of this "common-enemy story and someone to blame logic" that saved us from going into tribal wars as horrible as the Kenyans is going through it right now.
But I think it is time for this "blame-game" to have a new twist. I mean, I lived through its recent reincarnations - the Marcos-version, then the Cory-version, then the Ramos-version, then the Estrada-version and then the Arroyo-version and we are still stuck in "a nation still in the hospital" category.
I heard of "the sick man of Asia" and then the a nation "in the ICU aka a nation nearing its end of days during the turn of the millennium." Remember Governor Arnold's film, End of Days? And who was the president then?
The best we did was being a tiger cub but that's so 90s. It was abruptly disrupted by the Asian financial crisis of 1997. And now, as the spin doctors are saying (but I am hoping that it is really true) - we are now in the recuperating room. Hrmpf. Still a nation in the hospital. Oh, well...
Could we turn a new leaf? Please? It's new year after all, di ba? Could we add "It's my fault, too" to "It's their fault"? After all, we are the ones who elected them, right?
On the first few pages of the landmark work of Dr. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled, he discussed about the difference between paranoia and character disorder and said that it's easier to help the one with character disorder because "...they take responsibility."
I take responsibility. It's my fault too, Lord!
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