Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
~ by Marianne Williamson, as heard in Coach Carter
Friday
2011 and here we go! :- )
Wednesday
memo to memo
You have in your midst one of the top 10 brightest students I have ever for the past 10 years. As to why you only have the character-building Convergence and the hastily prepared bulletin board as your "obvious" projects is worrisome.
Don't hate me for calling you out. It had to be done.
Why are you not expanding your talents and your capabilities when you have this opportunity? Don't you know that only a few are given this chance to lead and to have this first-hand understanding of what it means to lead?
Are you tired with the failures that seem to pile up faster than successes? The destructive side comments that never seem to stop?
Wake up. Life is hard. Life is difficult. These very difficulties are your ticket to be better. Learn how to deal with it. ALL that came before you faced the very thing you are facing. The path to knowing what it means to lead excuses no one. EVERYBODY goes through the SAME path.
Don't be like others who hid and became apathetic. And don't go using alcohol. Worse, using drugs. And even worst, using another person and pretend you are in love :) Don't you know that love, the true one, is the most difficult of them all? Haven't you heard that love is patient? Why do you think it has to be patient? It has to be patient because the other party has to grow up and you have to wait. Is waiting easy? Is it? Is it easy for a girl when she is madly in love with a 'torpedo' guy? I don't think so and we are simply in the infatuation stage. And infatuation is only the door to the room called love :)
Guys, most will cower and hide from the avalanche of unexpected responsibilities, difficulties and challenges. But they will not grow. They will not get better. They will be stuck.
But if we continue to fight and embrace the moment, we will get smarter. Not IQ smarter but street smart smarter. We will see and understand human nature. Its bad side and its good side. We will know how to navigate these waters. No book can tell us this. It's too complicated to write. We have to walk the path. Get bloodied. Lick our wounds. Cry tears. And utter some heartfelt prayers, too.
But I tell you and I promise you - you will get better. And you will give yourselves a pricing leverage over the other graduates when it comes to job hunting. They can only show a diploma while you have invaluably differentiated yourself.
But you have to show up. Carry on.
I looked at the bulletin board over the past months. A bulletin board that I still do not know if it is already finished :) I saw your pictures and the thing that entered my mind are these questions - what are they trying to say from the pictures? That they are aspiring models? I mean, they are student leaders? Is that not good enough? Or are they confused and they think that to be a student leader they have to project a "winter of discontent" look?
If you are confused, go back to the reason why we put up Memo in the first place. Go back to that time when you approached me in the Library more than a year ago and shared to me this noble burden. Go back to that. Once you remember that. You will know what to do next.
Have a meaningful 2011, Memo-philes! Or would you rather prefer Memo-bots? :)
Don't hate me for calling you out. It had to be done.
Why are you not expanding your talents and your capabilities when you have this opportunity? Don't you know that only a few are given this chance to lead and to have this first-hand understanding of what it means to lead?
Are you tired with the failures that seem to pile up faster than successes? The destructive side comments that never seem to stop?
Wake up. Life is hard. Life is difficult. These very difficulties are your ticket to be better. Learn how to deal with it. ALL that came before you faced the very thing you are facing. The path to knowing what it means to lead excuses no one. EVERYBODY goes through the SAME path.
Don't be like others who hid and became apathetic. And don't go using alcohol. Worse, using drugs. And even worst, using another person and pretend you are in love :) Don't you know that love, the true one, is the most difficult of them all? Haven't you heard that love is patient? Why do you think it has to be patient? It has to be patient because the other party has to grow up and you have to wait. Is waiting easy? Is it? Is it easy for a girl when she is madly in love with a 'torpedo' guy? I don't think so and we are simply in the infatuation stage. And infatuation is only the door to the room called love :)
Guys, most will cower and hide from the avalanche of unexpected responsibilities, difficulties and challenges. But they will not grow. They will not get better. They will be stuck.
But if we continue to fight and embrace the moment, we will get smarter. Not IQ smarter but street smart smarter. We will see and understand human nature. Its bad side and its good side. We will know how to navigate these waters. No book can tell us this. It's too complicated to write. We have to walk the path. Get bloodied. Lick our wounds. Cry tears. And utter some heartfelt prayers, too.
But I tell you and I promise you - you will get better. And you will give yourselves a pricing leverage over the other graduates when it comes to job hunting. They can only show a diploma while you have invaluably differentiated yourself.
But you have to show up. Carry on.
I looked at the bulletin board over the past months. A bulletin board that I still do not know if it is already finished :) I saw your pictures and the thing that entered my mind are these questions - what are they trying to say from the pictures? That they are aspiring models? I mean, they are student leaders? Is that not good enough? Or are they confused and they think that to be a student leader they have to project a "winter of discontent" look?
If you are confused, go back to the reason why we put up Memo in the first place. Go back to that time when you approached me in the Library more than a year ago and shared to me this noble burden. Go back to that. Once you remember that. You will know what to do next.
Have a meaningful 2011, Memo-philes! Or would you rather prefer Memo-bots? :)
Are they always better?
I grew up in Tundo. Played tumbang preso, langit-lupa, taguan-pong, patintero, teks and basketball in her streets. She was also a witness to my juvenile fist-fights :)
Her streets trained me before I entered school at age of six.
I went to public school.
By the time I was in Grade 3, I was given the opportunity to "jump" to Grade 5. They called it acceleration then. I spent my last two elementary years, still, at a public school. I went to General Maximino Hizon Elementary School. This is about a 30 minute commute ride from where I lived at 5:45AM. I was part of, then, Ministry of Education's Special Education program.
For the next two years, my section was "AC". No, it wasn't for Alternating Current. It was for "accelerated". We were housed at a wing called Silahis ng Diwa. For two years, my mind was shaped and formed by Sir Jordan, Ma'am Filoteo, Ma'am Borre, Ma'am Matias, Ma'am Beldas and Sir Terrado.
After graduation, I spent my high school in a private school. Nanay enrolled me at Colegio de San Juan de Letran. The school where my older brother, Elisalde, was enrolled too. I was one of the three "outsiders" who joined the freshmen Blessed Liem dela Paz section of June 1986.
Then, I was off to Mapua to take and to eventually finish a BS Industrial Engineering degree and then after seven years, got a graduate degree at De La Salle University.
And while I was finishing my graduate degree, I had the chance to go around the Philippines, visit some business hubs in Asia and be a part of multi-racial teams. I stayed long after the novelty "of being part of a multi-racial teams" had worn off :)
There's much to be learned from the West and from the first world countries. Just reading and studying their journey is already a treasure trove.
But I find it weird and a bit disturbing that most of us, Filipinos, more often than not accept that what they have, what they do and what they think is always better than what we have, what we do and what we think.
This is dangerous now and more so for the next generation.
Just take for example, diet.
Any country who has assimilated and adapted an American diet will have and will suffer diseases like heart attacks, obesity, diabetes and cancer. The American economic system and its corresponding healthcare system, no matter how broken it is now, can manage these diseases. But can the Philippine healthcare system handle such burden since our diet is very close to being American? Think Jollibee. Think McDonald's :)
Do we fully understand the danger behind the 'power' of nitrites?
Why can't we improve our supply chain of fresh vegetables, of fresh fruits, of fresh poultry, of fresh meat and of fresh fish so that we do not have to use nitrites?
I mean, the Philippines is literally smaller than the United States of America. Why can't we teach or allow our future supply chain designers with developing a supply chain map for Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao or simply just for MiMaRoPa? :)
Is it that hard to create a supply chain map for the Philippines that we are fine with studying the supply chain genius of Amazon.com?
Why do we limit our study to that?
Are we more impressed with the discussion of Amazon.com's or of Spain's Zara supply chain rather than the creative process of developing a supply chain for the Philippines that might actually help in improving the lives of millions of rural Filipinos because the apt infrastructure was made?
How about this.
Is there any American or Western practice that we can assimilate, since we love assimilating and adapting Western practices, that can handle the liver-disease time bomb because of the frequently-changed sleeping patterns of BPO workers?
The United States of America and Europe do not have this 'situation' at this magnitude and scale. Only the recipient countries, like the Philippines, of outsource work has this problem. Will insurance be enough?
Is there anything an Industrial Engineer can do? How about the Engineering Management graduate who majored in Service Management? Can he do something?
Or is he waiting for someone from America or Europe to write a research paper on it so that he can simply assimilate it? Copy it? Do I hear and smell OT? Sure pass? :)
Are they always better?
Always? That even if the problem is right before our eyes we wait for them to tell us what we should do?
Or are we simply afraid? Afraid to make a mistake that we let "them" commit it first, let them perfect it and then we copy. By that, we will always be shiny and happy people. Always correct. Always certain.
We could do that. And we are doing just that. But that also proves that we are afraid and irresponsible.
I grew up in Tundo. Played tumbang preso, langit-lupa, taguan-pong, patintero, teks and basketball in her streets. She was also a witness to my juvenile fist-fights :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Her streets trained me before I entered school at age of six.
I went to public school.
By the time I was in Grade 3, I was given the opportunity to "jump" to Grade 5. They called it acceleration then. I spent my last two elementary years, still, at a public school. I went to General Maximino Hizon Elementary School. This is about a 30 minute commute ride from where I lived at 5:45AM. I was part of, then, Ministry of Education's Special Education program.
For the next two years, my section was "AC". No, it wasn't for Alternating Current. It was for "accelerated". We were housed at a wing called Silahis ng Diwa. For two years, my mind was shaped and formed by Sir Jordan, Ma'am Filoteo, Ma'am Borre, Ma'am Matias, Ma'am Beldas and Sir Terrado.
After graduation, I spent my high school in a private school. Nanay enrolled me at Colegio de San Juan de Letran. The school where my older brother, Elisalde, was enrolled too. I was one of the three "outsiders" who joined the freshmen Blessed Liem dela Paz section of June 1986.
Then, I was off to Mapua to take and to eventually finish a BS Industrial Engineering degree and then after seven years, got a graduate degree at De La Salle University.
And while I was finishing my graduate degree, I had the chance to go around the Philippines, visit some business hubs in Asia and be a part of multi-racial teams. I stayed long after the novelty "of being part of a multi-racial teams" had worn off :)
There's much to be learned from the West and from the first world countries. Just reading and studying their journey is already a treasure trove.
But I find it weird and a bit disturbing that most of us, Filipinos, more often than not accept that what they have, what they do and what they think is always better than what we have, what we do and what we think.
This is dangerous now and more so for the next generation.
Just take for example, diet.
Any country who has assimilated and adapted an American diet will have and will suffer diseases like heart attacks, obesity, diabetes and cancer. The American economic system and its corresponding healthcare system, no matter how broken it is now, can manage these diseases. But can the Philippine healthcare system handle such burden since our diet is very close to being American? Think Jollibee. Think McDonald's :)
Do we fully understand the danger behind the 'power' of nitrites?
Why can't we improve our supply chain of fresh vegetables, of fresh fruits, of fresh poultry, of fresh meat and of fresh fish so that we do not have to use nitrites?
I mean, the Philippines is literally smaller than the United States of America. Why can't we teach or allow our future supply chain designers with developing a supply chain map for Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao or simply just for MiMaRoPa? :)
Is it that hard to create a supply chain map for the Philippines that we are fine with studying the supply chain genius of Amazon.com?
Why do we limit our study to that?
Are we more impressed with the discussion of Amazon.com's or of Spain's Zara supply chain rather than the creative process of developing a supply chain for the Philippines that might actually help in improving the lives of millions of rural Filipinos because the apt infrastructure was made?
How about this.
Is there any American or Western practice that we can assimilate, since we love assimilating and adapting Western practices, that can handle the liver-disease time bomb because of the frequently-changed sleeping patterns of BPO workers?
The United States of America and Europe do not have this 'situation' at this magnitude and scale. Only the recipient countries, like the Philippines, of outsource work has this problem. Will insurance be enough?
Is there anything an Industrial Engineer can do? How about the Engineering Management graduate who majored in Service Management? Can he do something?
Or is he waiting for someone from America or Europe to write a research paper on it so that he can simply assimilate it? Copy it? Do I hear and smell OT? Sure pass? :)
Are they always better?
Always? That even if the problem is right before our eyes we wait for them to tell us what we should do?
Or are we simply afraid? Afraid to make a mistake that we let "them" commit it first, let them perfect it and then we copy. By that, we will always be shiny and happy people. Always correct. Always certain.
We could do that. And we are doing just that. But that also proves that we are afraid and irresponsible.
I grew up in Tundo. Played tumbang preso, langit-lupa, taguan-pong, patintero, teks and basketball in her streets. She was also a witness to my juvenile fist-fights :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Monday
a professor's truest, surest and simplest test to ensure the perpetuity of quality of education in the university where he teaches :)
As a seasoned and battle-tested Industrial Engineer and a Kaizen super freak :), I understand, front and center, the brilliance and the practicality behind the theory of ensuring quality results means ensuring quality processes. I have preached that. And on many occasions, I have been financially blessed preaching and teaching that, too.
Industry, and now academe, had spent millions, if not billions, of Philippine Peso by now since the 80s, getting and holding on to the numerous certification and accreditation. Documents that announce to the whole wide world, to customers, to parents and to students that quality resides here. In this company. Some of this accreditation is nationally recognized. Some, even internationally.
Let me be clear, I am not against quality certification and accreditation. I am all for that. Quality and quality systems is part of my ways to earn a living.
What I am against is when we limit our concept of quality results and quality systems to getting the certification and accreditation.
Here's a question. With the proliferation of "quality", and now of "sustainability" concepts, why would plants and companies still close down? Or why and how could Toyota, the company that spawned Total Quality Management and of Continuous Improvement and who became the largest automaker in world a little over two years ago, be mired in a billion dollar product recall? Or why would Motorola, the company that developed the Six Sigma methodology, be a measly niche player in mobile handsets when they had StarTac (what?) and, more recently, Razr (a reloaded - what?) as early product successes in the, then, new product segments?
Why would they have a fall from grace?
Does a pride-sucking downfall absolutely happens after a glorious victory?
Or is because they are so enamored with winning a battle of being the largest automaker, Toyota, and of launching a great product, Motorola, that they forgot that they are at war?
And in speaking about my context, do I fully understand that getting ALL the valuable accreditation out there is simply one of the battle in a war? And that even if my school wins that battle, it is still in a perpetual war? That victory is not certain for it is still in a "perpetual" war against "pwede na" and against ningas-cogon?
So, with everything that's been said, what now? If my very culture and me very being set me up to fail and to fail miserably - how do I get myself out of this seemingly perpetual rut?
Simple.
But, mind you, this simple does not mean easy.
Ok?
:- )
I think it is better, if we pit our "pwede na" and "ningas cogon" tendencies with our love of family. The very love that drives a Filipino half way across the globe, battling loneliness and whatever, simply to send money home so that the next generation would have a better life.
Add to the many benefits of accreditation, this simple test - will I put my very own child in my own class? In the class of my co-faculty? In the school where I am a faculty? In the very university where I am a faculty?
In the intervention successes I have so far, a common denominator jumps out - a system has to be personal to the personnel involved in order for it to be perpetually successful. And the presence of genuine trust among stakeholders with one another spells a huge and stark difference between a perpetual failure and perpetual success. A huge and stark difference as wide and as obvious as night and day.
Will I have my child get his education at the school where I teach?
"... why think like mere men?"
Industry, and now academe, had spent millions, if not billions, of Philippine Peso by now since the 80s, getting and holding on to the numerous certification and accreditation. Documents that announce to the whole wide world, to customers, to parents and to students that quality resides here. In this company. Some of this accreditation is nationally recognized. Some, even internationally.
Let me be clear, I am not against quality certification and accreditation. I am all for that. Quality and quality systems is part of my ways to earn a living.
What I am against is when we limit our concept of quality results and quality systems to getting the certification and accreditation.
Here's a question. With the proliferation of "quality", and now of "sustainability" concepts, why would plants and companies still close down? Or why and how could Toyota, the company that spawned Total Quality Management and of Continuous Improvement and who became the largest automaker in world a little over two years ago, be mired in a billion dollar product recall? Or why would Motorola, the company that developed the Six Sigma methodology, be a measly niche player in mobile handsets when they had StarTac (what?) and, more recently, Razr (a reloaded - what?) as early product successes in the, then, new product segments?
Why would they have a fall from grace?
Does a pride-sucking downfall absolutely happens after a glorious victory?
Or is because they are so enamored with winning a battle of being the largest automaker, Toyota, and of launching a great product, Motorola, that they forgot that they are at war?
And in speaking about my context, do I fully understand that getting ALL the valuable accreditation out there is simply one of the battle in a war? And that even if my school wins that battle, it is still in a perpetual war? That victory is not certain for it is still in a "perpetual" war against "pwede na" and against ningas-cogon?
So, with everything that's been said, what now? If my very culture and me very being set me up to fail and to fail miserably - how do I get myself out of this seemingly perpetual rut?
Simple.
But, mind you, this simple does not mean easy.
Ok?
:- )
I think it is better, if we pit our "pwede na" and "ningas cogon" tendencies with our love of family. The very love that drives a Filipino half way across the globe, battling loneliness and whatever, simply to send money home so that the next generation would have a better life.
Add to the many benefits of accreditation, this simple test - will I put my very own child in my own class? In the class of my co-faculty? In the school where I am a faculty? In the very university where I am a faculty?
In the intervention successes I have so far, a common denominator jumps out - a system has to be personal to the personnel involved in order for it to be perpetually successful. And the presence of genuine trust among stakeholders with one another spells a huge and stark difference between a perpetual failure and perpetual success. A huge and stark difference as wide and as obvious as night and day.
Will I have my child get his education at the school where I teach?
"... why think like mere men?"
Wednesday
sure pass' sure curse :)
I have a bad feeling about the concept of "sure pass" or SP.
Don't get me wrong, I fully understand and sympathized, how one could be enticed by the allure of a "sure pass" for I was also once a 'confused' student, too.
But I am glad I found out the certainty of danger behind SP sooner rather than later :)
You see, we are actually emasculating ourselves and making our future dimmer if we limit our appreciation of "sure pass" only to the tempting immediate and never consider its 'difficult to see' effects to our mindset, to our being and to our career opportunities.
Here's the thing. All actions and decisions have results - a blessing or a consequence. What we consider as the 'shortcut' is actually the long way and what we consider as the long way is actually the 'shortcut' :)
Believe me. It is.
Life offers only two paths when it comes to these things. The path is either "suffer now and enjoy later" or "enjoy now and suffer later".
Serious. It is.
The truth is life does not become easier as we age. It gets harder. More difficult. Challenging :)
The more we look for and enjoy 'sure pass', the more we are preparing our lives to suffer even more as life rolls on.
The challenges we face are actually the hidden stepping stones and the keys that prepares us for our future. The more difficulties and challenges we overcome, the better it is for us. The more opportunities we open up for ourselves.
Serious. It is.
To clarify, let me ask - does a college basketball team become better by playing with elementary basketball teams?
I mean, they will surely win. Consistently. An SP. But did they get better? Did they prepare themselves to become champions?
And if we relate this to economics, how much do you think an MVP in the championship team gets paid? And how much more does he earn compared to the MVP of a so-so team?
Or how much does a Kobe Bryant earn compared to the best PBA player?
Are you getting me now?
You see. We get better by the challenges we faced. By the difficulties we faced. We give ourselves a pricing leverage with the market by the very dynamic of difficulties.
This is, I am afraid, why America became America. Why Japan became Japan. Why South Korea became South Korea. And why Singapore became Singapore. Their youth has a different view and appreciation of challenges and of difficulties. To them, difficulties and challenges are a person's best friend. We on the other hand, ensure that we go through life as unhindered, as unscathed and as unchallenged as possible. Waiting and hoping for dole outs, olive branches and every day Christmas :)
"Kung pwedeng lumusot, lulusot :)"
If there's is one thing we want to obliterate in our minds is the infestation of the love affair with SP. SP is "sure pass" but it is "sure paghihirap" in the future, too :)
So, disagree with me. Prove me wrong. Wager your young lives. I hope you're right because, unlike the computer I am using, life has no "undo" button. We live with the consequences of our choices and decisions :) We do not wake up to find ourselves in yesterday. We wake to a tomorrow. It is up to us if it will saddled with consequences or a harvest of blessings.
Choose wisely. It is your life after all :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Don't get me wrong, I fully understand and sympathized, how one could be enticed by the allure of a "sure pass" for I was also once a 'confused' student, too.
But I am glad I found out the certainty of danger behind SP sooner rather than later :)
You see, we are actually emasculating ourselves and making our future dimmer if we limit our appreciation of "sure pass" only to the tempting immediate and never consider its 'difficult to see' effects to our mindset, to our being and to our career opportunities.
Here's the thing. All actions and decisions have results - a blessing or a consequence. What we consider as the 'shortcut' is actually the long way and what we consider as the long way is actually the 'shortcut' :)
Believe me. It is.
Life offers only two paths when it comes to these things. The path is either "suffer now and enjoy later" or "enjoy now and suffer later".
Serious. It is.
The truth is life does not become easier as we age. It gets harder. More difficult. Challenging :)
The more we look for and enjoy 'sure pass', the more we are preparing our lives to suffer even more as life rolls on.
The challenges we face are actually the hidden stepping stones and the keys that prepares us for our future. The more difficulties and challenges we overcome, the better it is for us. The more opportunities we open up for ourselves.
Serious. It is.
To clarify, let me ask - does a college basketball team become better by playing with elementary basketball teams?
I mean, they will surely win. Consistently. An SP. But did they get better? Did they prepare themselves to become champions?
And if we relate this to economics, how much do you think an MVP in the championship team gets paid? And how much more does he earn compared to the MVP of a so-so team?
Or how much does a Kobe Bryant earn compared to the best PBA player?
Are you getting me now?
You see. We get better by the challenges we faced. By the difficulties we faced. We give ourselves a pricing leverage with the market by the very dynamic of difficulties.
This is, I am afraid, why America became America. Why Japan became Japan. Why South Korea became South Korea. And why Singapore became Singapore. Their youth has a different view and appreciation of challenges and of difficulties. To them, difficulties and challenges are a person's best friend. We on the other hand, ensure that we go through life as unhindered, as unscathed and as unchallenged as possible. Waiting and hoping for dole outs, olive branches and every day Christmas :)
"Kung pwedeng lumusot, lulusot :)"
If there's is one thing we want to obliterate in our minds is the infestation of the love affair with SP. SP is "sure pass" but it is "sure paghihirap" in the future, too :)
So, disagree with me. Prove me wrong. Wager your young lives. I hope you're right because, unlike the computer I am using, life has no "undo" button. We live with the consequences of our choices and decisions :) We do not wake up to find ourselves in yesterday. We wake to a tomorrow. It is up to us if it will saddled with consequences or a harvest of blessings.
Choose wisely. It is your life after all :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Saturday
the "3" that is not "pass" but "caution"
They made the cut. The absolutely and certifiable mid-20something college students :)
Though it may seem it is an achievement, it is more of a cautionary sign. A sign that in order for you guys, and you know who you are, to make the cut, an olive branch must grow out of nowhere. And that every day must be Christmas :)
But these olive branches, I fear, and you know this, is getting scarcer as the time goes by. And you know, Christmas comes only once a year :)
Why and how come? It is because, you are getting older. And life is slowly taking you far more seriously than the previous years :)
You are now starting to join in carrying the burden your respective parents (or guardians, as the case maybe) have been carrying around for the longest time. A burden they lovingly carried because of you.
Every time they ask you "matatapos na ba?" or "gaano pa katagal?" is also asking and confirming to themselves "are you ready for life?"
They are slowly shifting some weight towards your shoulders and you are having a knee jerk reaction to this unsettling truth. Because as of the moment, and ever since, life has been fun. Life, as most seasoned human being know, has been shielded from you. And now, you are starting to see what is this life all about - beauty and responsibilities :)
You are now the next in line. Those who came before you, like me, hopefully, prepared you to carry the weight.
How will you respond to life's weight being shifted on to you right now?
Will you accept where you are and who you are, truly? Or will you deny and blame? Point fingers and never own up? Never grow up?
Life is starting to show it side that it can be a burden. A beast of a burden. A burden you have to carry day in and day out. Even if you do not want to :)
And how does it feel knowing that when it comes to life's challenges, you face them alone. Yes, your friends will be there but they can only go so far. And when life throws a challenge, you have to choose and those choices have results and consequences. And those choice, those results and those consequence defines us. They will show to the whole world and to ourselves, hopefully, who we truly are.
Will the answer be that we are brave? or a coward?
Will the answer be that we have honor? That we have self-respect? Or that we are spineless?
Will you stand up? Or hide and pray, or should I say, wish that an olive branch sprouts out of nowhere? That it must be Christmas?
Do you have it in you?
I am just worried that there will come a time, heaven forbid, when it will truly and really matter, you may, sadly and painfully, will not make the cut. And you won't be able to properly process what just happened.
Right now, it may seem that you got lucky. That you are the king :)
In reality and in the grander scheme of things, you may have actually deprived yourselves with knowing the answer to the question - can you truly do it on the sixth try? On the fourth try? The third try? The second? The first?
Can you really do it?
Do you have what it takes?
Are you ready for life?
I am not pulling you down nor am I trying to scare you. I am simply asking.
But everything happens for a reason. My mind is limited. Who am I compared to the Omniscient One? I am a molecule of a dust.
Kudos to you :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Though it may seem it is an achievement, it is more of a cautionary sign. A sign that in order for you guys, and you know who you are, to make the cut, an olive branch must grow out of nowhere. And that every day must be Christmas :)
But these olive branches, I fear, and you know this, is getting scarcer as the time goes by. And you know, Christmas comes only once a year :)
Why and how come? It is because, you are getting older. And life is slowly taking you far more seriously than the previous years :)
You are now starting to join in carrying the burden your respective parents (or guardians, as the case maybe) have been carrying around for the longest time. A burden they lovingly carried because of you.
Every time they ask you "matatapos na ba?" or "gaano pa katagal?" is also asking and confirming to themselves "are you ready for life?"
They are slowly shifting some weight towards your shoulders and you are having a knee jerk reaction to this unsettling truth. Because as of the moment, and ever since, life has been fun. Life, as most seasoned human being know, has been shielded from you. And now, you are starting to see what is this life all about - beauty and responsibilities :)
You are now the next in line. Those who came before you, like me, hopefully, prepared you to carry the weight.
How will you respond to life's weight being shifted on to you right now?
Will you accept where you are and who you are, truly? Or will you deny and blame? Point fingers and never own up? Never grow up?
Life is starting to show it side that it can be a burden. A beast of a burden. A burden you have to carry day in and day out. Even if you do not want to :)
And how does it feel knowing that when it comes to life's challenges, you face them alone. Yes, your friends will be there but they can only go so far. And when life throws a challenge, you have to choose and those choices have results and consequences. And those choice, those results and those consequence defines us. They will show to the whole world and to ourselves, hopefully, who we truly are.
Will the answer be that we are brave? or a coward?
Will the answer be that we have honor? That we have self-respect? Or that we are spineless?
Will you stand up? Or hide and pray, or should I say, wish that an olive branch sprouts out of nowhere? That it must be Christmas?
Do you have it in you?
I am just worried that there will come a time, heaven forbid, when it will truly and really matter, you may, sadly and painfully, will not make the cut. And you won't be able to properly process what just happened.
Right now, it may seem that you got lucky. That you are the king :)
In reality and in the grander scheme of things, you may have actually deprived yourselves with knowing the answer to the question - can you truly do it on the sixth try? On the fourth try? The third try? The second? The first?
Can you really do it?
Do you have what it takes?
Are you ready for life?
I am not pulling you down nor am I trying to scare you. I am simply asking.
But everything happens for a reason. My mind is limited. Who am I compared to the Omniscient One? I am a molecule of a dust.
Kudos to you :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Sunday
from 2000 to 2010
The first year of the second decade of the new millennium is 20 days from now. And at 36, I finally have the grasped on what makes 10 years short and what makes it long :)
Ten years ago, I was in the middle of my graduate studies. I own a Nokia 3210. I was thriving in my little piece of the Philippine Information Technology. I just finished selling the idea of the Y2K bug. I drank the Kool Aide entitled "I.T. is the greatest revolution ever". Ellis, my youngest brother, was still alive. I was, apparently, about to have a Jerry Maguire-ian adventure. I was being slightly pulled away from the rat race for that year, June, I will teach my first class - IE Computer Laboratory, every Saturday morning. I still have to meet Him. And I still have to meet, Beb, my beautiful and wonderful wife.
Ten years.
It was long when we lost Ellis to dengue. For 52 consecutive Sundays, we went to see his grave. I know people die but to experience death, that loss, in the family for the first time was painful. I am thankful that He saw me, us, through.
It was also in this decade that I was hospitalized, thrice. One trip, for dengue. I can only imagine the horror and the fear of that to my loving parents. Another trip was because I ate an ill-prepared salmon sashimi at a Christmas Party. And the third, was because I wasn't catching enough sleep that when I was relieving myself at the comfort room, I passed out. The doctor termed it vasovagal syncope. These three trips made me realize the limitations of our bodies and its strength to recuperate. Made me exercise more. And be conscious about what I eat. We are after all, what we eat :)
It was also in this passing decade when most of my friends got married. I was the last one, actually :) From, Sabado nights and night out with the boys, we are now in the realm of child births, baptisms and children parties. But two or three are still single. Five years removed from college, in 2000, my friends and I, started to see our niches. Our spot under the sun.
Teaching definitely made the 10 years short. I can not believe that 2011 is my 11th year of being a professor. Before that, I stayed at a company, the shortest - eight weeks, the longest three and a half years. And on two occasions, my feet slightly started getting heavier going into the 2nd year of the job. And now, I am on my 11th year. Crazy :)
I am thankful and humbled that I was part of the journey of, I think, close to 4,000 students, if we combine graduate and undergraduate, by now. I hope I did more good than harm :)
If Malcolm Gladwell is spot on and if we are to believe him through his book Outliers, I am now an expert in assessing needs, designing interventions, developing content, facilitating learning and ensuring the outcome :)
It also in this decade that I was given the chance to steward a company, Imaj, a talent agency. Funny, life do prepare you for the challenges and gifts of the future. My high school friends, Kaka, and I were into theater way back in the late 80s. We were way ahead of the High School Musical and Glee curves :)
The theater prepares one to respect the craft. That we are simply stewards of this gift called talent. We have to take care of the talent in us, hone it before it can take care of us. A truth I am forever trying to contextualize for the aspiring models who come to Imaj's door. And now, this stewardship brings me to embark to put out there Imaj's second acting workshop, a safe learning situation and a first good step for those who want to know what to do with the actor and actress within :)
It is was also in the "slipping away" decade that my professional life expanded. I found out, first hand, that a person can survive and thrive away from the usual "8-5" job. It is in this decade that I started to wear many hats at the same time. During the early years of this hat-wearing "trick", I was a graduate student, an account manager and a professor all at the same time. Towards the middle, a professor, an entrepreneur/manager and a business consultant.
This unusual decade started with curious uncertainty. When I was trying to figure things out, I asked the usual limited question of "what kind of life is this?". And now, 10 years remove, I am seeing the beauty of the journey. The tapestry :) For one, professionally, I can look at a situation, see it from various perspective and offer a course of action that will surprise even seasoned Industrial Engineer or manager. All because I was given the chance to put on so many hats but that was a long journey and I am journeying still :)
To some, this is crazy. But I soon found out, that if we listen to "some and others", we will never be unique. Never ourselves. We will only dishonor the very life we were given by becoming a second rate version of being somebody else when the very thing He wanted from us is to be an excellent first rate version of ourselves. To be the first rate version of His original design. The world needs us to be us. If it didn't then we should have not existed. He should have not created us :)
Ten years.
It was long. It was short.
Thank you, Lord!
I do not deserve the love and mercy You have shown... given... and I have received.
Ten years ago, I was in the middle of my graduate studies. I own a Nokia 3210. I was thriving in my little piece of the Philippine Information Technology. I just finished selling the idea of the Y2K bug. I drank the Kool Aide entitled "I.T. is the greatest revolution ever". Ellis, my youngest brother, was still alive. I was, apparently, about to have a Jerry Maguire-ian adventure. I was being slightly pulled away from the rat race for that year, June, I will teach my first class - IE Computer Laboratory, every Saturday morning. I still have to meet Him. And I still have to meet, Beb, my beautiful and wonderful wife.
Ten years.
It was long when we lost Ellis to dengue. For 52 consecutive Sundays, we went to see his grave. I know people die but to experience death, that loss, in the family for the first time was painful. I am thankful that He saw me, us, through.
It was also in this decade that I was hospitalized, thrice. One trip, for dengue. I can only imagine the horror and the fear of that to my loving parents. Another trip was because I ate an ill-prepared salmon sashimi at a Christmas Party. And the third, was because I wasn't catching enough sleep that when I was relieving myself at the comfort room, I passed out. The doctor termed it vasovagal syncope. These three trips made me realize the limitations of our bodies and its strength to recuperate. Made me exercise more. And be conscious about what I eat. We are after all, what we eat :)
It was also in this passing decade when most of my friends got married. I was the last one, actually :) From, Sabado nights and night out with the boys, we are now in the realm of child births, baptisms and children parties. But two or three are still single. Five years removed from college, in 2000, my friends and I, started to see our niches. Our spot under the sun.
Teaching definitely made the 10 years short. I can not believe that 2011 is my 11th year of being a professor. Before that, I stayed at a company, the shortest - eight weeks, the longest three and a half years. And on two occasions, my feet slightly started getting heavier going into the 2nd year of the job. And now, I am on my 11th year. Crazy :)
I am thankful and humbled that I was part of the journey of, I think, close to 4,000 students, if we combine graduate and undergraduate, by now. I hope I did more good than harm :)
If Malcolm Gladwell is spot on and if we are to believe him through his book Outliers, I am now an expert in assessing needs, designing interventions, developing content, facilitating learning and ensuring the outcome :)
It also in this decade that I was given the chance to steward a company, Imaj, a talent agency. Funny, life do prepare you for the challenges and gifts of the future. My high school friends, Kaka, and I were into theater way back in the late 80s. We were way ahead of the High School Musical and Glee curves :)
The theater prepares one to respect the craft. That we are simply stewards of this gift called talent. We have to take care of the talent in us, hone it before it can take care of us. A truth I am forever trying to contextualize for the aspiring models who come to Imaj's door. And now, this stewardship brings me to embark to put out there Imaj's second acting workshop, a safe learning situation and a first good step for those who want to know what to do with the actor and actress within :)
It is was also in the "slipping away" decade that my professional life expanded. I found out, first hand, that a person can survive and thrive away from the usual "8-5" job. It is in this decade that I started to wear many hats at the same time. During the early years of this hat-wearing "trick", I was a graduate student, an account manager and a professor all at the same time. Towards the middle, a professor, an entrepreneur/manager and a business consultant.
This unusual decade started with curious uncertainty. When I was trying to figure things out, I asked the usual limited question of "what kind of life is this?". And now, 10 years remove, I am seeing the beauty of the journey. The tapestry :) For one, professionally, I can look at a situation, see it from various perspective and offer a course of action that will surprise even seasoned Industrial Engineer or manager. All because I was given the chance to put on so many hats but that was a long journey and I am journeying still :)
To some, this is crazy. But I soon found out, that if we listen to "some and others", we will never be unique. Never ourselves. We will only dishonor the very life we were given by becoming a second rate version of being somebody else when the very thing He wanted from us is to be an excellent first rate version of ourselves. To be the first rate version of His original design. The world needs us to be us. If it didn't then we should have not existed. He should have not created us :)
Ten years.
It was long. It was short.
Thank you, Lord!
I do not deserve the love and mercy You have shown... given... and I have received.
Friday
sleep and work
They actually have a commonality :)
Both can only happen at the end of a process.
We can not instantaneously sleep whenever we choose to nor finish work. We have to start, move along the phases and then, expectedly to some and magically to others, it happens :)
Another common denominator is that both can not be done when we are interrupted or distracted. Both need our full effort and full concentration in order to happen :)
No wonder we feel sleepy when we are trying to work :)
Seriously now. In a baritone voice, Aslan-like, how can we, 21st century "managers", remove distractions and interruptions from the offices?
Should we ban the usual suspect, Facebook and alike, in our offices?
Isn't that the 21st century version of a 15-minute coffee break or yosi-break? If you ask me, I'd rather have my work collaborators open their Facebook account rather than apathetically allowing them to inhale carcinogens which will only make them look older than necessary. Which, by the way, may increase water consumption because they have to brush their teeth after. It may also not be good to the environment because the waste management companies have to deal with cigarette filters and plastic wrappers of the menthol candy they will take after the life-shortening ritual :)
But would the Facebook-friendly stance open me up for abuse?
If that happens, it only means my recruitment and selection chops need to be sharpened for I chose the wrong person to collaborate with. If we are passionate students of the management craft, we need to seek out true collaborators. Not free loaders.
"... why think like mere men?"
Both can only happen at the end of a process.
We can not instantaneously sleep whenever we choose to nor finish work. We have to start, move along the phases and then, expectedly to some and magically to others, it happens :)
Another common denominator is that both can not be done when we are interrupted or distracted. Both need our full effort and full concentration in order to happen :)
No wonder we feel sleepy when we are trying to work :)
Seriously now. In a baritone voice, Aslan-like, how can we, 21st century "managers", remove distractions and interruptions from the offices?
Should we ban the usual suspect, Facebook and alike, in our offices?
Isn't that the 21st century version of a 15-minute coffee break or yosi-break? If you ask me, I'd rather have my work collaborators open their Facebook account rather than apathetically allowing them to inhale carcinogens which will only make them look older than necessary. Which, by the way, may increase water consumption because they have to brush their teeth after. It may also not be good to the environment because the waste management companies have to deal with cigarette filters and plastic wrappers of the menthol candy they will take after the life-shortening ritual :)
But would the Facebook-friendly stance open me up for abuse?
If that happens, it only means my recruitment and selection chops need to be sharpened for I chose the wrong person to collaborate with. If we are passionate students of the management craft, we need to seek out true collaborators. Not free loaders.
"... why think like mere men?"
Thursday
visible
What makes a place poor?
Economics? Peace and order situation? Indios? :)
What makes a place rich?
Economics? Peace and order situation? Educated Indios? :)
How come the 21st century Smokey Mountain is not the same as the Smokey Mountain of the 80s?
What changed?
How did the change start?
Was it having Geneva Cruz join a singing group and belt out Kailan? :)
Or was it Sharon Cuneta saying, "Pasan ko ang daigdig!"?
Why do we know the stories of 80s Smokey Mountain?
Why do we know what's currently happening in Smokey Mountain?
Google?
Why can it be Google-ed?
Who decided to write about it so that it can be Google-ed?
Why write about Smokey Mountain when one can write on other things?
And who decided to read about it?
Did change happen because someone wrote about it?
Read about it?
Does it mean for change to happen, the situation's story must be written? Told? Read?
Must it be made visible?
So, what makes a place poor? Rich?
Economics? Peace and order? Indios? Educated Indios?
Stories?
Visibility?
So, is this a case of "...it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness?"
So, why are we, we? :)
Are we visible to ourselves? :)
May my eyes be open that I could see, Lord...
"... why think like mere men?"
Economics? Peace and order situation? Indios? :)
What makes a place rich?
Economics? Peace and order situation? Educated Indios? :)
How come the 21st century Smokey Mountain is not the same as the Smokey Mountain of the 80s?
What changed?
How did the change start?
Was it having Geneva Cruz join a singing group and belt out Kailan? :)
Or was it Sharon Cuneta saying, "Pasan ko ang daigdig!"?
Why do we know the stories of 80s Smokey Mountain?
Why do we know what's currently happening in Smokey Mountain?
Google?
Why can it be Google-ed?
Who decided to write about it so that it can be Google-ed?
Why write about Smokey Mountain when one can write on other things?
And who decided to read about it?
Did change happen because someone wrote about it?
Read about it?
Does it mean for change to happen, the situation's story must be written? Told? Read?
Must it be made visible?
So, what makes a place poor? Rich?
Economics? Peace and order? Indios? Educated Indios?
Stories?
Visibility?
So, is this a case of "...it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness?"
So, why are we, we? :)
Are we visible to ourselves? :)
May my eyes be open that I could see, Lord...
"... why think like mere men?"
Wednesday
release
The 2010 IE-EMG Night.
What truly bothered me about that night was the numerous banter of the American mestizo host with his fellow Caucasian.
Did they truly believe that what went on was funny?
Did they consider everybody there as simpletons and that we will find their skit amusing?
Did the skit fly on the first try that they had to repeat it?
Are we, the student of the School of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management of Mapua Institute of Technology still indios to them?
Or is this a case of the wrong guy for the job? Or a guy trying to find his niche in the Philippine entertainment scene?
I hope we helped him in his search :)
Did the organizers pay for his services?
Or was that a freebie?
Or was the host using the supposedly premier social event of IE-EMG students as a stepping stone?
Are we a stepping stone?
Is that all we are? A mere stepping stone?
I hope that male host will become the next Hugh Jackman if we are a stepping stone :)
Or maybe, I am simply making a fuss about nothing.
As Shakespeare once wrote, "... much ado about nothing!" :)
But if that is the truth why does it bother so much that I have to call and write a blog about it while the rest remain silent?
Are we afraid that we rather or we, by default, accept to be indios? Mapuan Indios? I mean in this day and age, in the 21st century? In December 2010, we will accept to be Mapuan Indios?
Could you?
Or maybe I am just...
"... why think like mere men?"
What truly bothered me about that night was the numerous banter of the American mestizo host with his fellow Caucasian.
Did they truly believe that what went on was funny?
Did they consider everybody there as simpletons and that we will find their skit amusing?
Did the skit fly on the first try that they had to repeat it?
Are we, the student of the School of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management of Mapua Institute of Technology still indios to them?
Or is this a case of the wrong guy for the job? Or a guy trying to find his niche in the Philippine entertainment scene?
I hope we helped him in his search :)
Did the organizers pay for his services?
Or was that a freebie?
Or was the host using the supposedly premier social event of IE-EMG students as a stepping stone?
Are we a stepping stone?
Is that all we are? A mere stepping stone?
I hope that male host will become the next Hugh Jackman if we are a stepping stone :)
Or maybe, I am simply making a fuss about nothing.
As Shakespeare once wrote, "... much ado about nothing!" :)
But if that is the truth why does it bother so much that I have to call and write a blog about it while the rest remain silent?
Are we afraid that we rather or we, by default, accept to be indios? Mapuan Indios? I mean in this day and age, in the 21st century? In December 2010, we will accept to be Mapuan Indios?
Could you?
Or maybe I am just...
"... why think like mere men?"
introspection on anger
Can we be angry over something we do not care about?
Serious.
Is that possible?
If that is impossible, does it mean that care, or should I even dare say - love, is necessary before anger can happen?
And does love disappear when anger pays a visit?
Or is it - love is required before anger could possibly happen?
So, going back, can we be angry when love (care) does not exists?
So, does it mean when someone is angry, it only proves that love (care) exists?
But why does love turn to anger?
How?
Unjustly and unfairly treated?
Does it also mean that when we love or care about something, we should be ready to experience anger?
And how does one process anger?
Interesting :)
Serious.
Is that possible?
If that is impossible, does it mean that care, or should I even dare say - love, is necessary before anger can happen?
And does love disappear when anger pays a visit?
Or is it - love is required before anger could possibly happen?
So, going back, can we be angry when love (care) does not exists?
So, does it mean when someone is angry, it only proves that love (care) exists?
But why does love turn to anger?
How?
Unjustly and unfairly treated?
Does it also mean that when we love or care about something, we should be ready to experience anger?
And how does one process anger?
Interesting :)
Tuesday
Monday
a quip reaction
It is said that we Filipinos are not Asians from the eyes of our fellow Asians. The West, Americans and Europeans, also agrees with it. :)
There is a current notion that this is a sad predicament. A race without an identity. Without a soul. It may carry significant weight today but in future someone, a celebrated and much respected anthropologist, maybe :) , will write that this very thing is the very source and reason why the Filipinos succeeded and became great :)
"... why think like mere men?"
There is a current notion that this is a sad predicament. A race without an identity. Without a soul. It may carry significant weight today but in future someone, a celebrated and much respected anthropologist, maybe :) , will write that this very thing is the very source and reason why the Filipinos succeeded and became great :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Friday
closer
I have journeyed far but the more important thing is I am closer to my real home. My true destination.
Sometimes I forget that and I allow sadness to have an audience with me. The lies that has been whispered relentlessly into one's ear. It can be tiring at times but should one expect something different?
We are at war. In the middle of a battle for a good life and the best life :)
Christmas has always been "packaged" as a happy and joyful time, which it is, but the other half of the truth is that it was a start of a rescue operation. Why is it only heard in whispers and nowhere to be found in the malls? :)
I am glad I wrote this.
Merry Christmas!
"... why think like mere men?"
Sometimes I forget that and I allow sadness to have an audience with me. The lies that has been whispered relentlessly into one's ear. It can be tiring at times but should one expect something different?
We are at war. In the middle of a battle for a good life and the best life :)
Christmas has always been "packaged" as a happy and joyful time, which it is, but the other half of the truth is that it was a start of a rescue operation. Why is it only heard in whispers and nowhere to be found in the malls? :)
I am glad I wrote this.
Merry Christmas!
"... why think like mere men?"
hopeful shout out
They will come a time in the future when someone will write a positive piece about the emergence of a new Filipino. And someone will write back, a retort, and will say that it is not a new Filipino but the emergence of the real Filipino. The Filipino that the history books of the past 400 years tried to suppressed and eradicate from the mainstream awareness.
That day will come... :)
That day will come... :)
Tuesday
a thought on November 2nd
I am addicted to management and the beautiful and ugly execution of it :)
In chronological order: Got and read close to 200 books (and still counting) that discusses it for the past 15 years since college. Went to school to earn a graduate degree about it. I was given the opportunities to be in those roles when I was in my 20s. And now, humbled and privileged to be given the chance to run a small adventure :)
Though I put on my manager's hat every other day, on the every other day of the every other day, I am managed by someone else. I have a boss. I collaborate with him. And it is in these interactions and non-interactions with present and past bosses where the most powerful insights and lessons on how to execute management happens. The epiphanies between the interaction of "what could be" and "what is" is one of the potent sources I draw upon every time some one taps me to help them as a consultant or a simple spring board of ideas :)
And life has taught me this simple and elegant fact when one manages to get past the anger and the frustration phase: We can use the experiences during the angry and frustrated years for one's profit :)
How?
Well, you get angry and frustrated over things you love doing. And you can only have this type of anger and frustration on things you know can be done. And maybe the reason you know it can be done is because you already saw it get done. And what may further aggravate this anger and this frustration could be the fact that you were a part of the team that got it done. Worse, maybe, you got it done by yourself :)
Without this "I have walked the path!" experience, one could only be a mumbling critic. Almost good for nothing :)
Note to the HR Specialist for Recruitment, try asking the applicant situations in his/her life (or work) where he/she met the greatest frustration and ask why he/ she has frustration over it. Do not forget to ask what he/she has done about it and what was the result. This "frustration question" magnifies and gives you a measure on his passions and on the level of his bias for actions and his courage in making decisions :)
Now back to the anger and to the frustration and their existence :)Its existence in your life only means that you know a better way of doing things. So, if your present job does not allow you to improve on things, do not fret. Get a Moleskin, or put up a blog :), and write a note about it.
Take it as an investment for your next role in life. That way, you turn all conceivable wrongs and unfairness done to you by opaquely inspired management execution into jewels and treasures in life :)
"In everything, give thanks..." ~ The Holy Bible
"... why think like mere men?"
In chronological order: Got and read close to 200 books (and still counting) that discusses it for the past 15 years since college. Went to school to earn a graduate degree about it. I was given the opportunities to be in those roles when I was in my 20s. And now, humbled and privileged to be given the chance to run a small adventure :)
Though I put on my manager's hat every other day, on the every other day of the every other day, I am managed by someone else. I have a boss. I collaborate with him. And it is in these interactions and non-interactions with present and past bosses where the most powerful insights and lessons on how to execute management happens. The epiphanies between the interaction of "what could be" and "what is" is one of the potent sources I draw upon every time some one taps me to help them as a consultant or a simple spring board of ideas :)
And life has taught me this simple and elegant fact when one manages to get past the anger and the frustration phase: We can use the experiences during the angry and frustrated years for one's profit :)
How?
Well, you get angry and frustrated over things you love doing. And you can only have this type of anger and frustration on things you know can be done. And maybe the reason you know it can be done is because you already saw it get done. And what may further aggravate this anger and this frustration could be the fact that you were a part of the team that got it done. Worse, maybe, you got it done by yourself :)
Without this "I have walked the path!" experience, one could only be a mumbling critic. Almost good for nothing :)
Note to the HR Specialist for Recruitment, try asking the applicant situations in his/her life (or work) where he/she met the greatest frustration and ask why he/ she has frustration over it. Do not forget to ask what he/she has done about it and what was the result. This "frustration question" magnifies and gives you a measure on his passions and on the level of his bias for actions and his courage in making decisions :)
Now back to the anger and to the frustration and their existence :)Its existence in your life only means that you know a better way of doing things. So, if your present job does not allow you to improve on things, do not fret. Get a Moleskin, or put up a blog :), and write a note about it.
Take it as an investment for your next role in life. That way, you turn all conceivable wrongs and unfairness done to you by opaquely inspired management execution into jewels and treasures in life :)
"In everything, give thanks..." ~ The Holy Bible
"... why think like mere men?"
Wednesday
on beauty contest :)
I think we are mistaken if we are celebrating or honoring a person because he or she is beautiful. I think the real honor should be to the parents because the beautiful person did not do anything to have that face.
God and his/her parents gave that face :)
Do not get me wrong. I am not against beauty contests. In a way, I ply a trade that profits from beauty, a talent agency.
My point - let's correct how we honor beauty contest winners. Let's honor their parents. It is really because of them why we see beauty in the first place :)
"... why think like mere men?"
God and his/her parents gave that face :)
Do not get me wrong. I am not against beauty contests. In a way, I ply a trade that profits from beauty, a talent agency.
My point - let's correct how we honor beauty contest winners. Let's honor their parents. It is really because of them why we see beauty in the first place :)
"... why think like mere men?"
on our farmers
Our farmers work hard. They just do not know any better way of farming.
It is not their fault for the people in the past, people who were given the responsibility to ensure they 'crawl' out of poverty, saw profit in the status quo. It is easier to get, and buy, votes when the people who elects you is ignorant.
Farmers work hard. Harvest their crops. Get abused when they bring their produce to markets. Do not get the highest margins possible for their hardwork. They stay poor. And then, they work even harder. They stay poorer. And then, it is easier to really get and buy their votes :)
Philippine statistics will show that, on average, a Filipino farmer only reached Grade 5 schooling. It is not because they were lazy. It is because it is not physically possible to go to school if school is so far you spend more than half of a day reaching it on foot.
In this day and age, a grade 5 schooling will bring a person how far?
Will a grade 5 schooling be enough to appreciate what the world's soil experts tell about how rich our physical soil is? Will grade 5 schooling be enough, granting they know how rich our soil, to do something about the fact that our soil is rich? Will a grade 5 schooling be enough to study and to put into use modern day farming techniques?
Will a grade 5 schooling be enough to see that our "oil" is really our soil? That our gold in not yellow but green?
Yes. Our farms need the water system. Yes, they also need the farm-to-market roads. But they also need to have a mind to appreciate, to maintain and to improve upon these various infrastructure that will be built through foreign aid.
It would not be the first time someone wrote this, "... in order for our country to flourish, to progress... the educated people will have to step into our soil and put their heads in it, too!"
What kind of farmers do Japan have? How about South Korea? Do you think they only reached Grade 5?
"... why think like mere men?"
It is not their fault for the people in the past, people who were given the responsibility to ensure they 'crawl' out of poverty, saw profit in the status quo. It is easier to get, and buy, votes when the people who elects you is ignorant.
Farmers work hard. Harvest their crops. Get abused when they bring their produce to markets. Do not get the highest margins possible for their hardwork. They stay poor. And then, they work even harder. They stay poorer. And then, it is easier to really get and buy their votes :)
Philippine statistics will show that, on average, a Filipino farmer only reached Grade 5 schooling. It is not because they were lazy. It is because it is not physically possible to go to school if school is so far you spend more than half of a day reaching it on foot.
In this day and age, a grade 5 schooling will bring a person how far?
Will a grade 5 schooling be enough to appreciate what the world's soil experts tell about how rich our physical soil is? Will grade 5 schooling be enough, granting they know how rich our soil, to do something about the fact that our soil is rich? Will a grade 5 schooling be enough to study and to put into use modern day farming techniques?
Will a grade 5 schooling be enough to see that our "oil" is really our soil? That our gold in not yellow but green?
Yes. Our farms need the water system. Yes, they also need the farm-to-market roads. But they also need to have a mind to appreciate, to maintain and to improve upon these various infrastructure that will be built through foreign aid.
It would not be the first time someone wrote this, "... in order for our country to flourish, to progress... the educated people will have to step into our soil and put their heads in it, too!"
What kind of farmers do Japan have? How about South Korea? Do you think they only reached Grade 5?
"... why think like mere men?"
Tuesday
a legacy that is Pacquiao
To some, it could have been Eugene Torre. To some, it is Lea Salonga and the whole cast of Miss Saigon. To some it is, and currently, Charice Pempengco. Two generations before, it could have been Gino Padilla and Lilet :) And to others, it might be even be Efren "Bata" Reyes or Brendan "The Truth" Vera or Batista.
To me, it is Manny Pacquiao.
He accelerated, solidified, intensified the sputtering and stammering walk towards being proud to be a Filipino and to wear that pride on my sleeves.
I respect him for his work on the ring and the quality of work he puts in to be on the ring :)
He re-acquianted to me the fruit of hardwork and the gift of having no choice but through :)
"... why think like mere men?"
To me, it is Manny Pacquiao.
He accelerated, solidified, intensified the sputtering and stammering walk towards being proud to be a Filipino and to wear that pride on my sleeves.
I respect him for his work on the ring and the quality of work he puts in to be on the ring :)
He re-acquianted to me the fruit of hardwork and the gift of having no choice but through :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Monday
the un-learned ondoy lesson
Eighty percent (80%) of the residents of Provident Village came back to their houses and still lives there after all that televised destruction last September 2009.
Who can blame them if that's the only place they call home.
So, as we enter the season of Signal 4 typhoons, my prayers go out to the families receiving the Juan's fury up there in the north and to the brave souls who returned to their homes in Provident Village.
Though they made some adjustments by building a 3rd and a 4th floors, I hope it is high enough because the Marikina River is getting shallower every year and the water will always spill over when the heavy rain comes.
Any engineering mind could see that happening. But I think it is not an engineering thing anymore but of political will. Of good governance. Of pakikikapwa-tao...
Well, this another manifestation of how come we have over 10 million OFWs. The government is overwhelmed with problems because the government of the past did not govern. And we are playing catch-up. The government's good side is neck-deep with work as the government's dark side is waiting to put the blame so that they can have a short-term measure approved and for money to roll in.
As long as the good is in neck-deep, the Filipino citizens will be left to themselves to solve the problems. They will fly way, be an OFW and send money. Or they will build 3rd floors and 4th floors. Both are temporary solution until good governance is restored.
Where is the generation that will sacrifice their young lives so that the next generation will have it better?
When will we see that it is both a burden and a privilege so that when the future generation of Filipino ask why they have it better now than the past, they will see that those who were in the past were awake and was thinking of them even if they knew they will never hear the praise and feel the gratitude...
Lord, I pray...
"... why think like mere men?"
Who can blame them if that's the only place they call home.
So, as we enter the season of Signal 4 typhoons, my prayers go out to the families receiving the Juan's fury up there in the north and to the brave souls who returned to their homes in Provident Village.
Though they made some adjustments by building a 3rd and a 4th floors, I hope it is high enough because the Marikina River is getting shallower every year and the water will always spill over when the heavy rain comes.
Any engineering mind could see that happening. But I think it is not an engineering thing anymore but of political will. Of good governance. Of pakikikapwa-tao...
Well, this another manifestation of how come we have over 10 million OFWs. The government is overwhelmed with problems because the government of the past did not govern. And we are playing catch-up. The government's good side is neck-deep with work as the government's dark side is waiting to put the blame so that they can have a short-term measure approved and for money to roll in.
As long as the good is in neck-deep, the Filipino citizens will be left to themselves to solve the problems. They will fly way, be an OFW and send money. Or they will build 3rd floors and 4th floors. Both are temporary solution until good governance is restored.
Where is the generation that will sacrifice their young lives so that the next generation will have it better?
When will we see that it is both a burden and a privilege so that when the future generation of Filipino ask why they have it better now than the past, they will see that those who were in the past were awake and was thinking of them even if they knew they will never hear the praise and feel the gratitude...
Lord, I pray...
"... why think like mere men?"
Sunday
Friday
Could we afford to have another America?
Serious.
Could the world afford to have another America?
How much of the earth, the part that we mined and the part that we, well, destroyed, was necessary to produce a country like United States of America?
And if the idea and path of modern economics leads to becoming a USA-clone, will there still be an earth, a physical earth, that will house and support the lives of our children?
And I am not suggesting that we all be poor and live on one meal a day. But is it really necessary to have everyone be like America? Enjoy an American salary? Live an American lifestyle?
How much will it cost the current human race and the soon to be born human race to enable this dream? This wanting?
"... why think like mere men?"
Could the world afford to have another America?
How much of the earth, the part that we mined and the part that we, well, destroyed, was necessary to produce a country like United States of America?
And if the idea and path of modern economics leads to becoming a USA-clone, will there still be an earth, a physical earth, that will house and support the lives of our children?
And I am not suggesting that we all be poor and live on one meal a day. But is it really necessary to have everyone be like America? Enjoy an American salary? Live an American lifestyle?
How much will it cost the current human race and the soon to be born human race to enable this dream? This wanting?
"... why think like mere men?"
Wednesday
Friday
un-TV
Not that we can't afford a new flat screen TV but my wife, Beb, and I decided that for the first few months of our married life, TV is out.
The thinking goes, and we both agreed unanimously, time spent not glued in front of the TV is time spent much much better for newlyweds like us.
And after four weeks, I cannot agree even more.
:-)
I love my wife more today than yesterday and definitely much more tomorrow :)
"... why think like mere men?"
The thinking goes, and we both agreed unanimously, time spent not glued in front of the TV is time spent much much better for newlyweds like us.
And after four weeks, I cannot agree even more.
:-)
I love my wife more today than yesterday and definitely much more tomorrow :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Wednesday
jeepney love
Traffic is bad if one takes a daily commute of at least an hour to travel, one way, 8 kilometers. I can jog 8 kilometers in less than an hour but I'll arrive sweating in the office :)
According to LTO's statistics of 2008, registered jeepneys across the Philippines number around 202,285. And if we include the tricycle drivers, the number expands to over 800,000. That does not include the sidecar drivers and the "walang prangkisa drivers" :)
That digit represents close to 3% of the employed Filipinos. What makes this situation simply not an engineering problem is that any move to make our transportation system in Metro Manila more efficient will result to unemployment to one of the least flexible part of our Filipino workforce. Suddenly, the mathematical models of quants won't be enough. Political savvy is needed :)
And further aggravating the situation is the fact that if we do not improve this situation, our air in the metro will get worse. And the number one victim of bad air are the growing children. And the majority of these growing children are the very children of our hardworking jeepney drivers. And if we get into the effects of carbon monoxide, jeepneys' exhaust, to a child's brain development, this blog entry will start to feel like Crime and Punishment :)
But why do we have jeepneys in the first place? And why are they only abundant in the Philippines?
After some alpha-numeric entries in Google, I came to understand that jeepneys were the American way of rebuilding the obliterated transportation system of the Philippines after World War 2. It was suppose to be a short term fix to get the country, literally and figuratively, moving. And of course, it was also a "brilliant" and low-barrier American solution to give employment to a war-torn Philippines.
I mean, why would the Americans build American transportation systems in the Philippines that will amount to millions of dollars in 1940s money, when they can cheaply sell to the Filipinos scrap US Army Jeepney and let the Filipino transform it to public utility vehicles that can run in World War 2 torn roads? It does not make American economic sense :)
My curiosity was stirred as to whose idea was it to declare the Philippines as an independent nation roughly less than a year remove from World War 2. Historians describe the state of the Philippines after the war as the second most devastated country. Next only to Germany. And we were an independent nation after how many months? Who is suppose to pay for all the destruction that my country suffered? But that curiosity is a subject of another blog entry :)
Now, back to jeepney love :)
Apparently, it is because of this "cheaply-sell-scrap-jeepney-to-Filipinos-and-let-them-transform-it-to-a-public-utility-vehicles" solution's easy implementation characteristics and the immediate money that came to the Filipino driver's hand proves to be the culprit of our "1-hour commute for a 8-kilometer distance" situation of today. Money came in easy. I mean, this was in the 40s and the 50s, with few drivers plying the routes, and economic activity being coaxed, money will come easy. But because of these easy money, the thinkers, the politicians and the leaders forgot that the jeepney, a Philippine cultural icon, was simply a short-term fix. They forgot that they should be building a better transportation system.
So now, we are here.
I have a feeling that if we do not realize that the jeepneys were simply and fundamentally a short term fix, the children of our noble and hardworking jeepney drivers will continue with their highly disadvantaged beginnings and suffer. What does it take before we even consider that making jeepneys run on LPG is not enough?
Where are the leaders that's suppose to solve this problem? Where are youth that will have to sacrifice in order for the next next generation will have a better chance? And what can I do to help? To contribute?
"... why think like mere men?"
According to LTO's statistics of 2008, registered jeepneys across the Philippines number around 202,285. And if we include the tricycle drivers, the number expands to over 800,000. That does not include the sidecar drivers and the "walang prangkisa drivers" :)
That digit represents close to 3% of the employed Filipinos. What makes this situation simply not an engineering problem is that any move to make our transportation system in Metro Manila more efficient will result to unemployment to one of the least flexible part of our Filipino workforce. Suddenly, the mathematical models of quants won't be enough. Political savvy is needed :)
And further aggravating the situation is the fact that if we do not improve this situation, our air in the metro will get worse. And the number one victim of bad air are the growing children. And the majority of these growing children are the very children of our hardworking jeepney drivers. And if we get into the effects of carbon monoxide, jeepneys' exhaust, to a child's brain development, this blog entry will start to feel like Crime and Punishment :)
But why do we have jeepneys in the first place? And why are they only abundant in the Philippines?
After some alpha-numeric entries in Google, I came to understand that jeepneys were the American way of rebuilding the obliterated transportation system of the Philippines after World War 2. It was suppose to be a short term fix to get the country, literally and figuratively, moving. And of course, it was also a "brilliant" and low-barrier American solution to give employment to a war-torn Philippines.
I mean, why would the Americans build American transportation systems in the Philippines that will amount to millions of dollars in 1940s money, when they can cheaply sell to the Filipinos scrap US Army Jeepney and let the Filipino transform it to public utility vehicles that can run in World War 2 torn roads? It does not make American economic sense :)
My curiosity was stirred as to whose idea was it to declare the Philippines as an independent nation roughly less than a year remove from World War 2. Historians describe the state of the Philippines after the war as the second most devastated country. Next only to Germany. And we were an independent nation after how many months? Who is suppose to pay for all the destruction that my country suffered? But that curiosity is a subject of another blog entry :)
Now, back to jeepney love :)
Apparently, it is because of this "cheaply-sell-scrap-jeepney-to-Filipinos-and-let-them-transform-it-to-a-public-utility-vehicles" solution's easy implementation characteristics and the immediate money that came to the Filipino driver's hand proves to be the culprit of our "1-hour commute for a 8-kilometer distance" situation of today. Money came in easy. I mean, this was in the 40s and the 50s, with few drivers plying the routes, and economic activity being coaxed, money will come easy. But because of these easy money, the thinkers, the politicians and the leaders forgot that the jeepney, a Philippine cultural icon, was simply a short-term fix. They forgot that they should be building a better transportation system.
So now, we are here.
I have a feeling that if we do not realize that the jeepneys were simply and fundamentally a short term fix, the children of our noble and hardworking jeepney drivers will continue with their highly disadvantaged beginnings and suffer. What does it take before we even consider that making jeepneys run on LPG is not enough?
Where are the leaders that's suppose to solve this problem? Where are youth that will have to sacrifice in order for the next next generation will have a better chance? And what can I do to help? To contribute?
"... why think like mere men?"
Monday
live curious
As I was walking from SM-Makati to my cozy office along V.A. Rufino, I was taken by this awareness campaign by the venerable National Geographic in Greenbelt 3.
Live curious. Ask-holic. Funny :)
I enjoy watching National Geographic. And time passes by also as I tune in to History Channel and to Bio, too. I love those cable channels. I guess it is because of this habit that my limited window of the world has now become two limited windows :)
And as I walk away from the showcase, my mind started to wander to a National Geographic presentation of life forms surviving, living and thriving in extremes environment like that plant under the sea or that crustacean that lives near and on the small volcanoes. National Geographic has done a splendid job in showing the beauty and the resiliency of the species. And because of this magnificent job they did, we are fascinated by them.
I wonder.
How come they never do the same take on how the poor lives? That instead of focusing on sadness, on sorrow and on ugliness of poverty, they focus on the poor's resiliency?
I am not suggesting that we celebrate poverty. Or we treat human beings as crustaceans. No. Just tell a story about resiliency. Maybe if we see that presentation of National Geographic, we manage to see the poor not only as a statistic but a very resilient people with a face and with a dream.
Or maybe I am just hungry. Time to munch on that takeout sandwich :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Live curious. Ask-holic. Funny :)
I enjoy watching National Geographic. And time passes by also as I tune in to History Channel and to Bio, too. I love those cable channels. I guess it is because of this habit that my limited window of the world has now become two limited windows :)
And as I walk away from the showcase, my mind started to wander to a National Geographic presentation of life forms surviving, living and thriving in extremes environment like that plant under the sea or that crustacean that lives near and on the small volcanoes. National Geographic has done a splendid job in showing the beauty and the resiliency of the species. And because of this magnificent job they did, we are fascinated by them.
I wonder.
How come they never do the same take on how the poor lives? That instead of focusing on sadness, on sorrow and on ugliness of poverty, they focus on the poor's resiliency?
I am not suggesting that we celebrate poverty. Or we treat human beings as crustaceans. No. Just tell a story about resiliency. Maybe if we see that presentation of National Geographic, we manage to see the poor not only as a statistic but a very resilient people with a face and with a dream.
Or maybe I am just hungry. Time to munch on that takeout sandwich :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Mapua student ver 2.0 (This one is for the new Engineering Management students of Mapua.)
First things first.
You are where you are right now because of your thoughts. And those thoughts made you decide that led to an action that led to consequences that led you where you are right now. A now that could be seen as an end or the freshest start ever.
You see, and here is the truth of the matter - when we hit rock bottom, there is no place but up :)
The thing is, would you believe what I just told you or would you rather believe your brain and how you see things that led you where you are right now :) Confused? :)
Be still.
This could be THE moment that changes everything :)
If there is one thing I have realized for the past years I have been walking earth, life has its way of nudging you. Of leading you where you are suppose to be. It is not a coincidence that you are reading this right now. Wink ;)
An end is simply a new beginning.
So, life somehow threw you a Pacquiao left cross. You must be in dreamland right now. Did you see how Ricky Hatton fell like a log? :)
Well, maybe you are not suppose to be a boxer? Maybe you are not suppose to be a trying hard Electrical Engineer? Or a wannabe Mechanical Engineer? Or a fleeting by Industrial Engineer? Or an "angry with myself" Chemical Engineer?
Maybe, you are suppose to be this legendary management thinker who will tell the next generation of companies how to behave as they face the challenges of Earth 2050?
Why do I say that for nobody knows what will be the challenges in 2050? The experts guess are as good as yours or mine :)
Here's the thing and this I know for sure, the one thing, the one skill that is necessary in the future is the ability to rise up and blaze a new trail. You see, the problems that Earth 2050 will face is brought about by the current thinking. By the current assumed truths that was taught to you.
Apparently, the truth that was discussed to you does not reverberate with your soul :) You find it disconnected. A "What is this for?" moment.
Have you ever wondered why you are this way? And I am assuming that most people had probably told you that you are a very challenged student. Well, that's true. But here's another truth. Maybe you were suppose to learn a different lesson :)
Be still. Listen. Answer this - what's was the REAL lesson for you?
And why do you think, life is teaching you this lesson as early as now? And more importantly - why you?
Engineering Management students are not castoffs nor second class engineers, as most limited thinkers would suggest. And we are cool with the fact that they do not get it :) We are not castoffs. We are simply a different type of engineers. A different breed :)
And I personally welcome you!
:)
"... why think like mere men?"
You are where you are right now because of your thoughts. And those thoughts made you decide that led to an action that led to consequences that led you where you are right now. A now that could be seen as an end or the freshest start ever.
You see, and here is the truth of the matter - when we hit rock bottom, there is no place but up :)
The thing is, would you believe what I just told you or would you rather believe your brain and how you see things that led you where you are right now :) Confused? :)
Be still.
This could be THE moment that changes everything :)
If there is one thing I have realized for the past years I have been walking earth, life has its way of nudging you. Of leading you where you are suppose to be. It is not a coincidence that you are reading this right now. Wink ;)
An end is simply a new beginning.
So, life somehow threw you a Pacquiao left cross. You must be in dreamland right now. Did you see how Ricky Hatton fell like a log? :)
Well, maybe you are not suppose to be a boxer? Maybe you are not suppose to be a trying hard Electrical Engineer? Or a wannabe Mechanical Engineer? Or a fleeting by Industrial Engineer? Or an "angry with myself" Chemical Engineer?
Maybe, you are suppose to be this legendary management thinker who will tell the next generation of companies how to behave as they face the challenges of Earth 2050?
Why do I say that for nobody knows what will be the challenges in 2050? The experts guess are as good as yours or mine :)
Here's the thing and this I know for sure, the one thing, the one skill that is necessary in the future is the ability to rise up and blaze a new trail. You see, the problems that Earth 2050 will face is brought about by the current thinking. By the current assumed truths that was taught to you.
Apparently, the truth that was discussed to you does not reverberate with your soul :) You find it disconnected. A "What is this for?" moment.
Have you ever wondered why you are this way? And I am assuming that most people had probably told you that you are a very challenged student. Well, that's true. But here's another truth. Maybe you were suppose to learn a different lesson :)
Be still. Listen. Answer this - what's was the REAL lesson for you?
And why do you think, life is teaching you this lesson as early as now? And more importantly - why you?
Engineering Management students are not castoffs nor second class engineers, as most limited thinkers would suggest. And we are cool with the fact that they do not get it :) We are not castoffs. We are simply a different type of engineers. A different breed :)
And I personally welcome you!
:)
"... why think like mere men?"
Sunday
2 types of people 1.0
Would you rather be someone who endures what he does or the one who enjoys what he does? And by enjoying what he does we do not mean someone paid you to enjoy the job :)
"... why think like mere men?"
"... why think like mere men?"
Saturday
overheard
"It is not that the future man should be more technological. But for technology to be more human..."
:)
"... why think like mere men?"
:)
"... why think like mere men?"
doctorate's first step :)
I will. Soon :)
But the one thing I can say for sure even though I still have to take the first step towards earning a doctorate is this: An undergraduate student in order to pass, must have the answers. While a graduate student needs less of the answers and more of the questions :)
To contribute to the body of knowledge of the human race, answers are needed. But we do not get into new answers and new knowledge if we did not ask questions that were never asked before :)
So, what shall be my question? What will be Elisier's question?
Would it be about learning? How poverty's benefits? Because a person that rose out of poverty is in a sense the most efficient dynamic system because it managed to rise up using the littlest of resources? How about passions? Because passions are the key, the window and the door for leveling up?
Or how about the humility of not knowing because that's the first step to knowing? :)
"... why think like mere men!"
But the one thing I can say for sure even though I still have to take the first step towards earning a doctorate is this: An undergraduate student in order to pass, must have the answers. While a graduate student needs less of the answers and more of the questions :)
To contribute to the body of knowledge of the human race, answers are needed. But we do not get into new answers and new knowledge if we did not ask questions that were never asked before :)
So, what shall be my question? What will be Elisier's question?
Would it be about learning? How poverty's benefits? Because a person that rose out of poverty is in a sense the most efficient dynamic system because it managed to rise up using the littlest of resources? How about passions? Because passions are the key, the window and the door for leveling up?
Or how about the humility of not knowing because that's the first step to knowing? :)
"... why think like mere men!"
Thursday
20 days after :)
I got married to the most beautiful lady in the world last 10 September. Her name is Anna Katrina V. Lacsina. I am so happy that she is now Mrs. Anna Katrina Fantillo :)
She is a blessing in my life. The most wonderful gift I have received from Him :)
And 20 days after THAT day, here are some thoughts and rooted feelings I finally were allowed to have :)
1. Our parents did the most excellent job in providing for both us as we were growing up.
2. They did I splendid job in bringing us up.
3. I can only cry tears of joy and of gratefulness.
4. THANK YOU, PO!
5. They truly and absolutely love us.
6. It was a blessing to have been born inside the love they have for one another.
7. I can only pray that we, Beb and I, can pass on to our children, God willing, what we received from our respective parents.
8. The various adjustments that my wife, Beb, and I are having right now and will have in the future is due to the fact that the love-filled environment that our parents have provided for us, that we have grown very accustomed to, in becoming this well-adjusted and contributing to society adults is morphing to a different environment. An environment that my wife and I is building and will be building:)
9. And I am thankful that we have two blueprints and two love-filled homes we can draw inspiration from.
10. Suddenly, "we can only give what we have... what we have received" has a more expanded meaning for me.
11. I pray for those who may have grew up under different circumstances that may you finally meet Him. The ultimate Source of inspiration. Of love.
Funny, now I can tell myself if ever a situation comes up when my wife, Beb, and I, would have a spat. I can honestly say that a spat is too precious to waste if all we can get out of it is anger and hurt. A spat is a door to get to know one another better. A peek to how we were loved. And the reason why we are having a spat is because our parents could not hold back in loving us when we were growing up:)
I truly think that that is the much bigger truth rather than the common and sad refrain of "...we're are just too different!" :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Lord, thank You! :)
She is a blessing in my life. The most wonderful gift I have received from Him :)
And 20 days after THAT day, here are some thoughts and rooted feelings I finally were allowed to have :)
1. Our parents did the most excellent job in providing for both us as we were growing up.
2. They did I splendid job in bringing us up.
3. I can only cry tears of joy and of gratefulness.
4. THANK YOU, PO!
5. They truly and absolutely love us.
6. It was a blessing to have been born inside the love they have for one another.
7. I can only pray that we, Beb and I, can pass on to our children, God willing, what we received from our respective parents.
8. The various adjustments that my wife, Beb, and I are having right now and will have in the future is due to the fact that the love-filled environment that our parents have provided for us, that we have grown very accustomed to, in becoming this well-adjusted and contributing to society adults is morphing to a different environment. An environment that my wife and I is building and will be building:)
9. And I am thankful that we have two blueprints and two love-filled homes we can draw inspiration from.
10. Suddenly, "we can only give what we have... what we have received" has a more expanded meaning for me.
11. I pray for those who may have grew up under different circumstances that may you finally meet Him. The ultimate Source of inspiration. Of love.
Funny, now I can tell myself if ever a situation comes up when my wife, Beb, and I, would have a spat. I can honestly say that a spat is too precious to waste if all we can get out of it is anger and hurt. A spat is a door to get to know one another better. A peek to how we were loved. And the reason why we are having a spat is because our parents could not hold back in loving us when we were growing up:)
I truly think that that is the much bigger truth rather than the common and sad refrain of "...we're are just too different!" :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Lord, thank You! :)
Saturday
200 surnames
It has been hypothesized by the current and most seasoned thinkers of our land that the economy of the Philippines is managed and controlled by only 200 surnames. That 85% of the wealth is concentrated and held only by these 200 surnames. The rest of the 99 million Filipinos is scrambling for leftovers. And most of these scramblers are OFWs sending money from all over the world because these same 200 surnames' wealth are not invested in the Philippines to create more wealth to optimally benefit the whole Filipino race. Sadly, it is only invested to benefit the same 200 surnames.
We can't blame. That's as far as their logic bubble extends.
In fact, and it seems, the poorer the Philippines become, the better it is for these 200 surnames. For one, because of their wealth - soon they will only be the ones who can afford a decent education. Soon they are the only ones who can "think" :)
Maybe all the cooperatives of the Philippines should invest in telecommunication companies. In Internet companies. So that they have a say on how these infrastructure are built. So that the Internet connection becomes cheaper. So that they can go online and go to youtube.com and seek Bill Gates' favorite professor and learn from him for free because the cost of education will continue to incrementally rise :)
This is my hope. No. This is my prayer. That somehow all of them wake up to the fact that in this world where wealth creation is fundamentally becoming interdependent, it is necessary to strengthen the weakest parts of our society because we can only go as far and as wealthy, as the weakest part of our society can carry us.
Maybe the weakest part of our society are not the poor. Maybe it is the wealthy :) for they have lacked the inspiration to create more wealth than their predecessors. Maybe they lack the drive that their forefathers once held :)
For those who went and "received" the best education the world has to offer and to those who have "privileged" attached to their surnames, is this the best you can do? This is it? Simply float around and be unattached? Uninvolved? I mean if we will compare your hearts and your minds to someone like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, how will your version of involvement stack up against them?
To whom much is given much is expected :)
Or would we rather have, "... with great power comes great responsibility."?
"... why think like mere men?"
We can't blame. That's as far as their logic bubble extends.
In fact, and it seems, the poorer the Philippines become, the better it is for these 200 surnames. For one, because of their wealth - soon they will only be the ones who can afford a decent education. Soon they are the only ones who can "think" :)
Maybe all the cooperatives of the Philippines should invest in telecommunication companies. In Internet companies. So that they have a say on how these infrastructure are built. So that the Internet connection becomes cheaper. So that they can go online and go to youtube.com and seek Bill Gates' favorite professor and learn from him for free because the cost of education will continue to incrementally rise :)
This is my hope. No. This is my prayer. That somehow all of them wake up to the fact that in this world where wealth creation is fundamentally becoming interdependent, it is necessary to strengthen the weakest parts of our society because we can only go as far and as wealthy, as the weakest part of our society can carry us.
Maybe the weakest part of our society are not the poor. Maybe it is the wealthy :) for they have lacked the inspiration to create more wealth than their predecessors. Maybe they lack the drive that their forefathers once held :)
For those who went and "received" the best education the world has to offer and to those who have "privileged" attached to their surnames, is this the best you can do? This is it? Simply float around and be unattached? Uninvolved? I mean if we will compare your hearts and your minds to someone like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, how will your version of involvement stack up against them?
To whom much is given much is expected :)
Or would we rather have, "... with great power comes great responsibility."?
"... why think like mere men?"
Thursday
salamat
I just want to say my heartfelt "Thank you!" to you :)
Thank you for dropping by and choosing to spend a bit of your time in a day in this piece of virtual land.
Maraming salamat, po!
"... why think like mere men!"
Thank you for dropping by and choosing to spend a bit of your time in a day in this piece of virtual land.
Maraming salamat, po!
"... why think like mere men!"
September Issue
An answered prayer he is to me: My greatest blessing she will always be. And so this day we will pledge our love in front of our family, friends and God above.
In God and in thee my joy shall be.
Thank You, Lord! Thank You for Your faithfulness. For Your mercy. For never quitting on us. For Your ever present help. For Your protection. For the refuge You willingly give us. Above all for the love You gave each one of us so that we can love one another like the way You love us, unconditional.
Dr. F. Landa Jocano: A Filipino Warrior
If it were up to F. Landa Jocano, elementary school history classes would be very different.
"We need to revise history. Our history is the only one in the world where we concentrate on our faults or defeats rather than whatever success we have, or if we ever succeed, we never talk about the valor of the warriors."
As I was listening to him, he made a lot of sense. "What happened," he said, "After the Battle of Mactan..." A statue was built for Magellan, and as for Lapu-lapu, well, a fish was named after him. "This," he remarks, "Is how we 'honor' people who were prepared to die for the people."
After the Revolution against the Americans, it was the same. Our ancestors fought for every inch of our land, but afterwards, the Americans were glorified as heroes and Filipinos just labeled as 'insurrectos'. Notice how every street and bridge seems to have been named after the Americans, especially during that time.
This, and many other factors, Jocano says, made us grow up hating our own culture. Another major factor was the system of education introduced by our colonizers. The Spaniards, of course, provided no education but for the elite, and even when the Americans introduced an organized system for even the barrios, the things that were taught were not healthy for our national pride.
"We were taught that "A" is for "apple" and I thought I was a good pupil because during my formative years I kept running to the board and writing "A" is for "apple" but I had never seen one!"
"Maybe it was not intended," he adds, "But they never thought of teaching us our traditions. In our geography lessons, they reminded us of the smallest things in the world: the smallest fish in the world? Pandaca Pygmaea; the smallest monkeys? Tarsiers; the smallest deer? Mousedeer. Sometimes the lessons would end: Who are the smallest people in the world? Of course, it is us. We are negritos."
Modern psychologists, he suggests, might call it conditioning. There were subtle hints. "Ano ba'ng national flower natin? (What is out national flower?)"
"Sampaguita," I answer.
"Maliit (small)," he points out.
"Ano'ng national bird?"
"Maya," I breathe a sigh, thankful I remembered my grade school lessons.
"Everything is maliit (small) so Filipinos grew up with that concept. Even our roads our bridges are all narrow because our mindset was already formed. And there is an admiration of the bigness of the other. We became brown Americans. We are disgusted with our own culture."
Wednesday
I am ashamed = (
First, as a Filipino, I am ashamed for what transpired last Monday. But I am even more ashamed for what transpired after the incident. The time when my fellow Filipinos went to the scene to have their pictures taken as if it is a sight to be celebrated.
My prayers goes out to the families who lost a love one. May you grieve. May you find in your hearts to forgive. I can only pray...
And secondly, I am asking if our local media will own up to their participation in last Monday's shameful and sad events? Will they also take responsibility? Will they apologize? Or will they sit tight in their moral high horse and act as if they know better?
The story that I really want to know about last Monday is how did Media use the power they have last Monday?
Did they use it like the old man dictator by bulldozing their freedom of the press refrain? What about the right to life of those who were held hostage?
Which one takes precedence? A career or a life?
Lord, we still have a long way to go. May we, all Filipinos, know that we are in this thing together. May we not limit our reactions to simply pointing fingers. May we own up. As a nation. As a race.
My prayers...
My prayers goes out to the families who lost a love one. May you grieve. May you find in your hearts to forgive. I can only pray...
And secondly, I am asking if our local media will own up to their participation in last Monday's shameful and sad events? Will they also take responsibility? Will they apologize? Or will they sit tight in their moral high horse and act as if they know better?
The story that I really want to know about last Monday is how did Media use the power they have last Monday?
Did they use it like the old man dictator by bulldozing their freedom of the press refrain? What about the right to life of those who were held hostage?
Which one takes precedence? A career or a life?
Lord, we still have a long way to go. May we, all Filipinos, know that we are in this thing together. May we not limit our reactions to simply pointing fingers. May we own up. As a nation. As a race.
My prayers...
Monday
order and chaos
Order leads to growth which leads to chaos which leads to a new order which leads to growth which leads to chaos which leads to new order... :)
Chaos is chaos because the observer is unwilling to let go of his notion of order. Chaos is an emergence of a new order and one has to look, see and understand this new order to be effective.
Order and chaos is one and the same.
"... why think like mere men?"
Chaos is chaos because the observer is unwilling to let go of his notion of order. Chaos is an emergence of a new order and one has to look, see and understand this new order to be effective.
Order and chaos is one and the same.
"... why think like mere men?"
Sunday
taxes, national budget, OFW money and an idea :)
Next year, the Philippine government plans to spend PhP 1.645 Trillion.
Where they will spend is documented.
I truly hope they will spend it where they say they will spend it. Philippines could use some infrastructure to harness the 'green gold' it has and its 'blue gold', too :)
But where they will get the money, well that's another thing.
Any government has two sources of funds: the Internal Revenue (BIR in the Philippines) and the Customs.
Now let's put some numbers to make things interesting. By the way, these are rough numbers. Though it may not be precise, it is better than scratch. But to those who know, please correct this simple number push:)
A common taxpayer gives 30% of his gross income. Corporations, some numbers will point to about 40%. Let's level it off. Let's agree on 35% as taxes paid by any economic entity plying his trade in the Philippines.
So to meet the PhP 1.645 Trillion requirement, the net economic activity that has to happen in the Philippines must be at least PhP 5 Trillion in order to get a tax amounting to the proposed budget.
Of course, that's assuming that we paid all the taxes that needs to be paid, that we have collected all that needs to be collected and that no 'under the table' transaction ever happened.
Now, let's go to the OFW money, the greatest and most potent temptation ever presented to the Filipino politicians. Because of this money, politicians, as a whole, do not work anymore to improve the lot of their respective 'tribes', if we are to believe that the Philippines is simply a group of tribes made into a country. The family members of these respective tribes put it upon themselves to go out, gather and hunt farther from home because the current incarnation of the datu in their midst is nothing compared to Lapu Lapu. At least, Lapu Lapu was competitive :)
Back to OFW money:) The Philippine banking system received and processed about $20 Billion of OFW money last year. That's roughly PhP 900 Billion. And that's only the money that went through proper channels. We still have to figure out how much money the OFW actually have on them when they arrived :)
Assuming that this OFW money was spent in the country because this money after all, is used for tuition fees, clothing, food, utilities and text allowances :) the government is supposed to have generated PhP 315 Billion in taxes from these.
So, we roughly need about PhP 1.33 Trillion more :)
Let's now focus our attention to how much business the Philippine Top 1000 corporations created last year and apply the 35% on their income before taxes. And then, one also has to consider that the Philippines gets a VAT on all the raw materials they bought:)
With all those numbers spinning, why we still have a budget deficit? That we borrow funds locally and internationally to finance our PhP 1.57 Trillion budget?
Could the culprit be the assumptions we made? That we paid all the taxes, that we collected all the taxes and no 'under the table' happened?
For the individual taxpayer, the system was designed to ensure that he pays his taxes.
What about The Man on the top? The Man that signs the checks? What goes inside his head? That may make him not pay the taxes he owes the government?
Does he know that the more he does not pay the right taxes, the more the government needs him to sustain the much taunted employment numbers but to the very detriment of his very own Filipino workforce? And because he benefits from this very sick situation, will he ever pay the right taxes?
What if there is a committee, an NGO, a Greenpeace or World Wildlife Foundation of sort, that ranks all Philippine businesses on their love of country by measuring their honesty in paying taxes? And the higher their rank on this list, the more gwapo they look to their future employees? The future employees that truly hate the status quo because they are the ones who suffered most. They are the ones who has to live in a house when one parent was away. They are the ones who felt lonely. Felt alone. They are the ones who turned to drugs and to alcohol to numb the pain of not having a mother or a father at home. They are the ones that really carried the brunt of what the pundits called the social cost of the OFW trend.
The corruption dynamic is perpetuated by making sure that the status quo remains. But when a stakeholder or an unwitting player in this status quo realizes that he has the power to destroy the status quo and comes up with a better one where ALL the stakeholders prosper, then, improvement comes. Progress dawns.
And we still have to talk about the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Where they will spend is documented.
I truly hope they will spend it where they say they will spend it. Philippines could use some infrastructure to harness the 'green gold' it has and its 'blue gold', too :)
But where they will get the money, well that's another thing.
Any government has two sources of funds: the Internal Revenue (BIR in the Philippines) and the Customs.
Now let's put some numbers to make things interesting. By the way, these are rough numbers. Though it may not be precise, it is better than scratch. But to those who know, please correct this simple number push:)
A common taxpayer gives 30% of his gross income. Corporations, some numbers will point to about 40%. Let's level it off. Let's agree on 35% as taxes paid by any economic entity plying his trade in the Philippines.
So to meet the PhP 1.645 Trillion requirement, the net economic activity that has to happen in the Philippines must be at least PhP 5 Trillion in order to get a tax amounting to the proposed budget.
Of course, that's assuming that we paid all the taxes that needs to be paid, that we have collected all that needs to be collected and that no 'under the table' transaction ever happened.
Now, let's go to the OFW money, the greatest and most potent temptation ever presented to the Filipino politicians. Because of this money, politicians, as a whole, do not work anymore to improve the lot of their respective 'tribes', if we are to believe that the Philippines is simply a group of tribes made into a country. The family members of these respective tribes put it upon themselves to go out, gather and hunt farther from home because the current incarnation of the datu in their midst is nothing compared to Lapu Lapu. At least, Lapu Lapu was competitive :)
Back to OFW money:) The Philippine banking system received and processed about $20 Billion of OFW money last year. That's roughly PhP 900 Billion. And that's only the money that went through proper channels. We still have to figure out how much money the OFW actually have on them when they arrived :)
Assuming that this OFW money was spent in the country because this money after all, is used for tuition fees, clothing, food, utilities and text allowances :) the government is supposed to have generated PhP 315 Billion in taxes from these.
So, we roughly need about PhP 1.33 Trillion more :)
Let's now focus our attention to how much business the Philippine Top 1000 corporations created last year and apply the 35% on their income before taxes. And then, one also has to consider that the Philippines gets a VAT on all the raw materials they bought:)
With all those numbers spinning, why we still have a budget deficit? That we borrow funds locally and internationally to finance our PhP 1.57 Trillion budget?
Could the culprit be the assumptions we made? That we paid all the taxes, that we collected all the taxes and no 'under the table' happened?
For the individual taxpayer, the system was designed to ensure that he pays his taxes.
What about The Man on the top? The Man that signs the checks? What goes inside his head? That may make him not pay the taxes he owes the government?
Does he know that the more he does not pay the right taxes, the more the government needs him to sustain the much taunted employment numbers but to the very detriment of his very own Filipino workforce? And because he benefits from this very sick situation, will he ever pay the right taxes?
What if there is a committee, an NGO, a Greenpeace or World Wildlife Foundation of sort, that ranks all Philippine businesses on their love of country by measuring their honesty in paying taxes? And the higher their rank on this list, the more gwapo they look to their future employees? The future employees that truly hate the status quo because they are the ones who suffered most. They are the ones who has to live in a house when one parent was away. They are the ones who felt lonely. Felt alone. They are the ones who turned to drugs and to alcohol to numb the pain of not having a mother or a father at home. They are the ones that really carried the brunt of what the pundits called the social cost of the OFW trend.
The corruption dynamic is perpetuated by making sure that the status quo remains. But when a stakeholder or an unwitting player in this status quo realizes that he has the power to destroy the status quo and comes up with a better one where ALL the stakeholders prosper, then, improvement comes. Progress dawns.
And we still have to talk about the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Saturday
on colonialism
Who would not be angry about being colonized?
I was angry once but I have moved beyond 'that' anger and 'that' hate of 'once upon a time colonizers', like the Spaniards, the Americans and the Japanese, upon realizing that there's hardly a country in the world that was not colonized :)
So, I have stopped blaming 'them' because I have realized that I will be doing my country, the Philippines, a disservice if all I can produce out of the injustice, out of the abuse and out of the suffering brought about by colonization is a measly anger and hate.
A colonized mind is too steep a price to pay if all I can get out of it is anger and hate?
And adding insult to injury is the fact that we do not have 'old-school' colonizers in our midst but the infrastructure and the mindset that they have drilled into our psyche is still upon us. And worse, our current colonizers are already brown skinned. Instead of destroying the structure instituted by the colonizers, all they did was to put their selves into the shoes of the historical colonizers :)
I refuse to contain and limit my reactions to colonialism and to its evil at anger and hate. I think we, the everyday Filipinos, can do something more than anger and hate.
Like, asking and trying to answer why are we, Filipinos, still stuck at this colonial mentality? When almost all those who have been colonized, like we were once and also at the same time like we were, has managed to break free from that bondage, like Malaysia 'Truly Asia'? :)
Why are we still there? Or here? :)
Is this question and the forthcoming answer the very beginning of our liberalization?
I wonder :)
"... why think like mere men?"
I was angry once but I have moved beyond 'that' anger and 'that' hate of 'once upon a time colonizers', like the Spaniards, the Americans and the Japanese, upon realizing that there's hardly a country in the world that was not colonized :)
So, I have stopped blaming 'them' because I have realized that I will be doing my country, the Philippines, a disservice if all I can produce out of the injustice, out of the abuse and out of the suffering brought about by colonization is a measly anger and hate.
A colonized mind is too steep a price to pay if all I can get out of it is anger and hate?
And adding insult to injury is the fact that we do not have 'old-school' colonizers in our midst but the infrastructure and the mindset that they have drilled into our psyche is still upon us. And worse, our current colonizers are already brown skinned. Instead of destroying the structure instituted by the colonizers, all they did was to put their selves into the shoes of the historical colonizers :)
I refuse to contain and limit my reactions to colonialism and to its evil at anger and hate. I think we, the everyday Filipinos, can do something more than anger and hate.
Like, asking and trying to answer why are we, Filipinos, still stuck at this colonial mentality? When almost all those who have been colonized, like we were once and also at the same time like we were, has managed to break free from that bondage, like Malaysia 'Truly Asia'? :)
Why are we still there? Or here? :)
Is this question and the forthcoming answer the very beginning of our liberalization?
I wonder :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Wednesday
Philippine History 101
What happened in March 1521?
The memorized answer is "Magellan discovered the Philippines".
But for the real answer, one has to look. Search.
And the search will lead to this conclusion: In March 1521, the Spaniards invaded our shores.
The Spaniards did not discover us as our elementary education told us. That fact that Magellan apparently "discovered" us is simply the effect of a Euro-centric view of the world that we, Filipinos, have unknowingly and unwittingly embraced.
For one, we were never lost in 1521. Just ask the Chinese businessmen in our shores back then :) So if we were not lost, why are we supposed to be discovered?
Our land had a thriving society and culture when they arrived. They went here not because they want to discover us. They went for something else:)
I am not angry. I just want the records straight. I just want to know the truth. And for the truth to be known by all. And the truth is that we have a sophisticated society when the colonizers arrived. We were not indios.
The memorized answer is "Magellan discovered the Philippines".
But for the real answer, one has to look. Search.
And the search will lead to this conclusion: In March 1521, the Spaniards invaded our shores.
The Spaniards did not discover us as our elementary education told us. That fact that Magellan apparently "discovered" us is simply the effect of a Euro-centric view of the world that we, Filipinos, have unknowingly and unwittingly embraced.
For one, we were never lost in 1521. Just ask the Chinese businessmen in our shores back then :) So if we were not lost, why are we supposed to be discovered?
Our land had a thriving society and culture when they arrived. They went here not because they want to discover us. They went for something else:)
I am not angry. I just want the records straight. I just want to know the truth. And for the truth to be known by all. And the truth is that we have a sophisticated society when the colonizers arrived. We were not indios.
"... ang mamatay ng dahil sa 'yo" ver 2.0
He got it right. Jose Palma.
Amidst the turmoil that brought about the first Philippine republic that song was written. Amidst the confusion that made a Filipino hero, Emilio Aguinaldo, order to kill another Filipino hero, Antonio Luna, that song was written.
Filipinos killing each other and Filipinos selling their countrymen to foreigners are not proof that the Filipinos are weak. In fact it is a proof that the Filipinos are strong for that song was written after almost 400 years of brainwashing of the colonizers. A brainwashing that include calling us as indios. How could love of one's country still exist after all of that? After all that confusion, how can something remain?
"... ang mamatay ng dahil sa 'yo!"
Amidst the turmoil that brought about the first Philippine republic that song was written. Amidst the confusion that made a Filipino hero, Emilio Aguinaldo, order to kill another Filipino hero, Antonio Luna, that song was written.
Filipinos killing each other and Filipinos selling their countrymen to foreigners are not proof that the Filipinos are weak. In fact it is a proof that the Filipinos are strong for that song was written after almost 400 years of brainwashing of the colonizers. A brainwashing that include calling us as indios. How could love of one's country still exist after all of that? After all that confusion, how can something remain?
"... ang mamatay ng dahil sa 'yo!"
Sunday
"... ang mamatay ng dahil sa 'yo!"
From the heart of my heart
For the ones who certainly knows that the best days are still ahead
This could easily be a rumbling. But this rumbling is felt. Honest. True. Pure.
I recently rediscovered how beautiful our nation anthem is.
I know we have memorized it since birth :) We can even unconsciously sing it. But do we ever stop and think how could someone write such lyrics. Seriously. How can one write such beautiful lyrics after almost 400 years of brainwashing from the colonizers if we are indios? How could someone use "hinirang" to describe a land where heartache resides?
What were the thoughts and feelings that Jose Palma embraced when he penned the beautiful poem? What did he see that we do not see anymore? That we are hoping to see again?
"... why think like mere men?"
For the ones who certainly knows that the best days are still ahead
This could easily be a rumbling. But this rumbling is felt. Honest. True. Pure.
I recently rediscovered how beautiful our nation anthem is.
I know we have memorized it since birth :) We can even unconsciously sing it. But do we ever stop and think how could someone write such lyrics. Seriously. How can one write such beautiful lyrics after almost 400 years of brainwashing from the colonizers if we are indios? How could someone use "hinirang" to describe a land where heartache resides?
What were the thoughts and feelings that Jose Palma embraced when he penned the beautiful poem? What did he see that we do not see anymore? That we are hoping to see again?
"... why think like mere men?"
Friday
the worst student
The worst type of student is the one who thinks he only has to show up in class, crack a few jokes, flash a sly smile every now and then and that's it. He will pass.
This type of students are the ones nearest the "beyond help" category :)
I had a number of them over the past 10 years of facilitating tertiary and graduate education. I could only offer a prayer to them that they see the error of their ways sooner rather than later.
I have a number of them this term. Some are in the same class for a number of times already. I hope they have changed their ways or I will see them again next term.
Not that I am complaining, I just feel bad for those who pay their tuition.
Realization is indeed a very expensive, super sagad painful and sadsad humbling friend :)
"... why think like mere men?"
This type of students are the ones nearest the "beyond help" category :)
I had a number of them over the past 10 years of facilitating tertiary and graduate education. I could only offer a prayer to them that they see the error of their ways sooner rather than later.
I have a number of them this term. Some are in the same class for a number of times already. I hope they have changed their ways or I will see them again next term.
Not that I am complaining, I just feel bad for those who pay their tuition.
Realization is indeed a very expensive, super sagad painful and sadsad humbling friend :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Sunday
The Filipinos: The Earth Benders
From the movie "The Last Airbender"
There was a poignant scene in the movie that spoke to me. Crushed my heart. It was the scene when the Avatar was talking to the "imprisoned" Earth Benders. He was imploring them, reminding them that they were a great people. That they ARE a great people. He was questioning them why are they living like this? In poverty.
My eyes got teary.
It sounded like he was talking to me, a Filipino.
You see, I have always believe that the real treasure of the Philippines is her land. Science and statistics has proven this. In the list of mineral deposits and metals, of any kind and of the world, the Philippines always belongs to the top 10. And the fact that we are sitting on top of the ring of fire, also suggests that our geo-thermal energy potential is second to none.
I am hopeful that 'this' way of living, as the Avatar in the movie described, will end for the real and truthful answer to the question of "Why we are not 'bending' our God-given treasure and living like 'this'?" is slowly being answered today.
You see, if we can 'bend' earth, there is no need to import food. There is no need to see people starve. If we can 'bend' earth, our electricity bills goes down to only a tenth of what we pay for today.
But why are we not studying and 'bending' earth? Why do we choose to be the second class, worst, the third class citizen in foreign soil?
The answer lies in the fact that those who hunger for wealth and power in the past did an effective and efficient job in making us forget who we truly are. We forgot that we were a great people. That we have something worth going to battle for.
Remember Lapu-Lapu? Why did he fought Magellan?
Why do we have gold works that rivals the best in ancient times and pre-date colonial Philippines? You see, gold is a metal that needs to be mined. In order to acquire gold, you must know where to find, how to find and how to get it. That needs sophisticated intelligence. So, why did the Spanish called us indios when we knew how to mine gold before they came?
The answer lies in the fact that no colonizer will build a nation out of its own colony because that very act defeats the very purpose of being a colonizer :)
Divide and conquer is a pain behind our anatomy :)
You see, our forefathers knew how to 'bend' earth. And this knowledge is the reason why we never built fortress or castles of any kind. For fortresses and castles are built to protect something. A fortress and a castle is built by the "haves" to protect themselves from the "have nots". If everyone are "haves", why do you need to build a fortress or a castle in the first place?
Another proof of this "earth bending" prowess is the Banawe Rice Terraces. If only all the Filipinos can see its beauty and majesty, maybe, the blood that runs through us that ran through our forefathers gets awakened and then we start to truly see :)
To God be all the glory.
"... why think like mere men?"
"It is in the hearts that the true battles are fought and won..."
"You have to know the reason why you were born..."
There was a poignant scene in the movie that spoke to me. Crushed my heart. It was the scene when the Avatar was talking to the "imprisoned" Earth Benders. He was imploring them, reminding them that they were a great people. That they ARE a great people. He was questioning them why are they living like this? In poverty.
My eyes got teary.
It sounded like he was talking to me, a Filipino.
You see, I have always believe that the real treasure of the Philippines is her land. Science and statistics has proven this. In the list of mineral deposits and metals, of any kind and of the world, the Philippines always belongs to the top 10. And the fact that we are sitting on top of the ring of fire, also suggests that our geo-thermal energy potential is second to none.
I am hopeful that 'this' way of living, as the Avatar in the movie described, will end for the real and truthful answer to the question of "Why we are not 'bending' our God-given treasure and living like 'this'?" is slowly being answered today.
You see, if we can 'bend' earth, there is no need to import food. There is no need to see people starve. If we can 'bend' earth, our electricity bills goes down to only a tenth of what we pay for today.
But why are we not studying and 'bending' earth? Why do we choose to be the second class, worst, the third class citizen in foreign soil?
The answer lies in the fact that those who hunger for wealth and power in the past did an effective and efficient job in making us forget who we truly are. We forgot that we were a great people. That we have something worth going to battle for.
Remember Lapu-Lapu? Why did he fought Magellan?
Why do we have gold works that rivals the best in ancient times and pre-date colonial Philippines? You see, gold is a metal that needs to be mined. In order to acquire gold, you must know where to find, how to find and how to get it. That needs sophisticated intelligence. So, why did the Spanish called us indios when we knew how to mine gold before they came?
The answer lies in the fact that no colonizer will build a nation out of its own colony because that very act defeats the very purpose of being a colonizer :)
Divide and conquer is a pain behind our anatomy :)
You see, our forefathers knew how to 'bend' earth. And this knowledge is the reason why we never built fortress or castles of any kind. For fortresses and castles are built to protect something. A fortress and a castle is built by the "haves" to protect themselves from the "have nots". If everyone are "haves", why do you need to build a fortress or a castle in the first place?
Another proof of this "earth bending" prowess is the Banawe Rice Terraces. If only all the Filipinos can see its beauty and majesty, maybe, the blood that runs through us that ran through our forefathers gets awakened and then we start to truly see :)
To God be all the glory.
"... why think like mere men?"
Saturday
stepping out in faith
I have been talking since 8:15AM. It is now 7:54PM on my laptop computer. I never thought I made it through. That I can still be a blessing for my 6PM class.
I stepped out and You were there to lift me. To carry this fumbling and inconsistent fool :)
Thank you Lord for honoring my faith. Thank you for reminding me that You honor exercised faith. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for answering prayers. For reminding me that You answer prayers.
Lord, You know the prayer of the heart of my heart. I can only say indecipherable murmurings. But You understand me completely, Lord... Help. You are my ever present help. There's no one...only You and this soul You saved.
I pray in Jesus name.
Amen!
"... why think like mere men?"
I stepped out and You were there to lift me. To carry this fumbling and inconsistent fool :)
Thank you Lord for honoring my faith. Thank you for reminding me that You honor exercised faith. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for answering prayers. For reminding me that You answer prayers.
Lord, You know the prayer of the heart of my heart. I can only say indecipherable murmurings. But You understand me completely, Lord... Help. You are my ever present help. There's no one...only You and this soul You saved.
I pray in Jesus name.
Amen!
"... why think like mere men?"
Thursday
on how small bigness is for Filipinos :- )
When I was in my early 20s, I was given the privilege to perform a role of an Area Manager for a network of computer schools.
This role had given me the chance to go around the Philippines for free. And see her with my very eyes and not only as a tourist but as a Filipino.
My job entailed that I understand the economic system of a particular place. How the place supports the life of people and what do people do to support their lives. I had to understand how money flows, test the sustainability of its flow and make a call if it will improve.
Had to do this because we were task to put up branches all over the Philippines :)
And in these travels, Philippines introduced herself to me. I saw how beautiful she is. How inequitable wealth is spread across her lands. That the farther one is from the city, education gets diluted. I realize that taxis only exist in Baguio, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro. The rest, tricycle is the choice of transportation for short distances. I hope, by now, it changed already :)
And from these travels I realize how weird it is to see a giant statue of Lapu-Lapu in Luneta :)
Serious. It is weird. Peculiar. Actually, for me, it is actually a loud, never ceasing and screaming statement of sorts.
You see, across the Philippines we have erected statues of our heroes. That's nothing new but it usually not in the scale and in the imposition of that Lapu-Lapu giant. Our heroes are physically depicted in statues as life size or a bit bigger than life size. But not done in gigantic scale like Luneta's Lapu-Lapu. Come to think of it, Rizal's monument on the other side is dwarfed by this:)
What makes this even interesting is, what made a Filipino create such a huge statue when in the past he never did?
So, I drew closer to find out : )
Lo and behold, it's confirmed! The Filipinos still does not do gigantic statues. Lapu-Lapu's statue was commissioned and given to us by our South Korean brothers:)
Which, to me, makes it even more interesting:) Why would our South Korean brothers give us such a monument and why in that scale?
What are they trying to say to us?
Are they trying to wake us up and so that we can see who truly we are? That this smallness we carry, this misplaced inferiority we have towards foreigners, is actually a malaise we carry in our hearts and minds? A malaise imposed upon us by our colonizers?
Are they saying that we have to go further than the history of indio bravos to know and understand who we are? Truly? Further to the time of Lapu-Lapu?
Are they reminding us that the true Filipinos had this identity, this life worth killing for? Fighting for? That we have a past? A proud one at that. That we have a heritage?
I can only ask. Get curious. But it is enough :)
That giant Lapu-Lapu is enough for me not to settle and to accept the imposed smallness to my soul:)
"... why think like mere men?"
This role had given me the chance to go around the Philippines for free. And see her with my very eyes and not only as a tourist but as a Filipino.
My job entailed that I understand the economic system of a particular place. How the place supports the life of people and what do people do to support their lives. I had to understand how money flows, test the sustainability of its flow and make a call if it will improve.
Had to do this because we were task to put up branches all over the Philippines :)
And in these travels, Philippines introduced herself to me. I saw how beautiful she is. How inequitable wealth is spread across her lands. That the farther one is from the city, education gets diluted. I realize that taxis only exist in Baguio, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro. The rest, tricycle is the choice of transportation for short distances. I hope, by now, it changed already :)
And from these travels I realize how weird it is to see a giant statue of Lapu-Lapu in Luneta :)
Serious. It is weird. Peculiar. Actually, for me, it is actually a loud, never ceasing and screaming statement of sorts.
You see, across the Philippines we have erected statues of our heroes. That's nothing new but it usually not in the scale and in the imposition of that Lapu-Lapu giant. Our heroes are physically depicted in statues as life size or a bit bigger than life size. But not done in gigantic scale like Luneta's Lapu-Lapu. Come to think of it, Rizal's monument on the other side is dwarfed by this:)
What makes this even interesting is, what made a Filipino create such a huge statue when in the past he never did?
So, I drew closer to find out : )
Lo and behold, it's confirmed! The Filipinos still does not do gigantic statues. Lapu-Lapu's statue was commissioned and given to us by our South Korean brothers:)
Which, to me, makes it even more interesting:) Why would our South Korean brothers give us such a monument and why in that scale?
What are they trying to say to us?
Are they trying to wake us up and so that we can see who truly we are? That this smallness we carry, this misplaced inferiority we have towards foreigners, is actually a malaise we carry in our hearts and minds? A malaise imposed upon us by our colonizers?
Are they saying that we have to go further than the history of indio bravos to know and understand who we are? Truly? Further to the time of Lapu-Lapu?
Are they reminding us that the true Filipinos had this identity, this life worth killing for? Fighting for? That we have a past? A proud one at that. That we have a heritage?
I can only ask. Get curious. But it is enough :)
That giant Lapu-Lapu is enough for me not to settle and to accept the imposed smallness to my soul:)
"... why think like mere men?"
Tuesday
My World Cup entry
Maybe it is because the Americans did a wonderful job in selling themselves to us, Filipinos, that I felt more involved in the recent, and annual, NBA Finals rather than the "every 4-year" event called - the World Cup.
But I did manage to watch one game in its entirety, Germany versus Argentina. I watched because I wanted to see if Diego Maradonna was able to bring his magic from being a player to being the one who calls the shots. And if anybody watched that game, Argentina got blown away.
But this is not about that :)
This is about a simple curiosity. It is about football and, well, Filipino's amor with basketball :)
Maybe it is better to frame it as something about an irony :)
You see, in playing basketball you definitely need height. Why? Because in order to score, you need to put the ball through a hoop that's 10-feet tall. And Filipino's, on average, measure around 5'6" for male and 5'1" for female.
And in the game of football, height becomes an issue only for the goalkeeper. But for the rest of the team, speed, and grace, always trumps height. Why? One does not need height to control the ball and to score a goal. And the fact that the ball is on the ground, helps :)
Here's the thing, you see some Filipino street children was recently invited to a street children version of the World Cup in Brazil and guess who won? The Filipino Team.
Let's put this in perspective. Brazil produced Pele. Brazil is Football Country. And yet, our "boy palaboys" defeated them? That tells you something, right?
Maybe it is time to rethink this whole thing :-)
"... why think like mere men?"
But I did manage to watch one game in its entirety, Germany versus Argentina. I watched because I wanted to see if Diego Maradonna was able to bring his magic from being a player to being the one who calls the shots. And if anybody watched that game, Argentina got blown away.
But this is not about that :)
This is about a simple curiosity. It is about football and, well, Filipino's amor with basketball :)
Maybe it is better to frame it as something about an irony :)
You see, in playing basketball you definitely need height. Why? Because in order to score, you need to put the ball through a hoop that's 10-feet tall. And Filipino's, on average, measure around 5'6" for male and 5'1" for female.
And in the game of football, height becomes an issue only for the goalkeeper. But for the rest of the team, speed, and grace, always trumps height. Why? One does not need height to control the ball and to score a goal. And the fact that the ball is on the ground, helps :)
Here's the thing, you see some Filipino street children was recently invited to a street children version of the World Cup in Brazil and guess who won? The Filipino Team.
Let's put this in perspective. Brazil produced Pele. Brazil is Football Country. And yet, our "boy palaboys" defeated them? That tells you something, right?
Maybe it is time to rethink this whole thing :-)
"... why think like mere men?"
the odyssey that is singapore
As I write this, 14 senior IE-EMG students from Mapua are currently in Singapore for their one year OJT.
It started badly.
The housing was not up to the taste of some of the students. Apparently, the beds where these students slept house bed bugs too. In other words, may surot :- )
Let the games begin :)
This is not about who did not do their jobs. Nor is it about "less than virtuous" businessmen who are out there to make money from unsuspecting customers. This is after all, for their customers, is not yet the "real world". This less than perfect situation happened while being enrolled in a school-supported On-the-Job Training Program :- )
This not about that.
This is, however, about how our Asian counterparts see us, Filipinos.
For students reading this, this might come as a surprise to you but, I think, it is better for you to know it now rather than later. You see, Singaporeans signal their arrival to the world and that they have made it BIG by having a Filipino as their house help. Period. Don't blink. You read it right :-)
Of course, they appreciate Filipinos for other and many things too but we, as a people, play THAT peculiar role in their society.
Let me be clear on this. I am not demeaning the role of being a house help. I lived and grew up in a home where we have house help, a kasam-bahay. I respect all the manangs that made our home their home too. I truly believe that our country will be worse if we did not have the manangs who faithfully and dutifully serve in our respective homes.
Ok?
Now, this is my itch to scratch. Singaporeans actually could not believe why we, the Philippines, allow and sends her best, college graduates, to their shores to become a house help. This "exodus" of sort have been going on now for years. And because of this, there are sectors in the Singaporean society that have started to treat us, Filipinos, as a whole, as a people to look down on.
So, for the 14 students who are out there in the country that's probably 20 times bigger than our per capita GDP at PPP but pales in comparison to our natural resources, if the situation is not as comfy as home, you can blame those who came before you. For they have done a job that made our Singaporean brothers treat us the way they are treating you now - housing you, the Philippines' next generation, in houses where you have to share your bed with surots :- )
Or you can get angry and do a superb and excellent job worthy of Lee Kuan Yew and of Jose Rizal that you make our Singaporean brothers feel embarrassed and ashamed for housing you in such conditions because they have misread and underestimated Filipino version 2010!!!
I hope and pray you choose and decide to do the later.
You are all in my prayers.
"... why think like mere men!"
It started badly.
The housing was not up to the taste of some of the students. Apparently, the beds where these students slept house bed bugs too. In other words, may surot :- )
Let the games begin :)
This is not about who did not do their jobs. Nor is it about "less than virtuous" businessmen who are out there to make money from unsuspecting customers. This is after all, for their customers, is not yet the "real world". This less than perfect situation happened while being enrolled in a school-supported On-the-Job Training Program :- )
This not about that.
This is, however, about how our Asian counterparts see us, Filipinos.
For students reading this, this might come as a surprise to you but, I think, it is better for you to know it now rather than later. You see, Singaporeans signal their arrival to the world and that they have made it BIG by having a Filipino as their house help. Period. Don't blink. You read it right :-)
Of course, they appreciate Filipinos for other and many things too but we, as a people, play THAT peculiar role in their society.
Let me be clear on this. I am not demeaning the role of being a house help. I lived and grew up in a home where we have house help, a kasam-bahay. I respect all the manangs that made our home their home too. I truly believe that our country will be worse if we did not have the manangs who faithfully and dutifully serve in our respective homes.
Ok?
Now, this is my itch to scratch. Singaporeans actually could not believe why we, the Philippines, allow and sends her best, college graduates, to their shores to become a house help. This "exodus" of sort have been going on now for years. And because of this, there are sectors in the Singaporean society that have started to treat us, Filipinos, as a whole, as a people to look down on.
So, for the 14 students who are out there in the country that's probably 20 times bigger than our per capita GDP at PPP but pales in comparison to our natural resources, if the situation is not as comfy as home, you can blame those who came before you. For they have done a job that made our Singaporean brothers treat us the way they are treating you now - housing you, the Philippines' next generation, in houses where you have to share your bed with surots :- )
Or you can get angry and do a superb and excellent job worthy of Lee Kuan Yew and of Jose Rizal that you make our Singaporean brothers feel embarrassed and ashamed for housing you in such conditions because they have misread and underestimated Filipino version 2010!!!
I hope and pray you choose and decide to do the later.
You are all in my prayers.
"... why think like mere men!"
Saturday
the term that was
In the end, it ends :-)
I just signed off the FINAL grades at the Registrar's Office. Though parents, students and soon-to-be-employers will see numbers, professors, like me, saw the story behind the numbers. A story that the qualitative equivalent of the quantitative number could never tell.
First, the "Boy Wonders" - Alvin Ariola and Christian Zablan from my Strategic Planning and Management class (IE302).
Both were multiple takers in this class. But in the past 11 weeks of their lives, something happened. They blossomed. Something switched on. And I hope it never gets switched off :) The results of their multiple choice answers and their style in expressing their thougths and insights in essays suggest a new found confidence. And what's fascinating about them is that they got better as the term rolled on. And this is fascinating because they have classmates who were in the same situation such as theirs but never found the courage and determination to own up like they did. Classmates who reported to class every blue moon. By that, I meant they had an absence every week.
I do not know what is the logic bubble of these "blue moon" students but I hope that that bubble gets burts sooner than later. Because sooner than later, they will no longer be young men but men. And by then, the adjective that might be used to described them is weak. I pray they see how limited their thinking is and will finally see the light.
My hats off to Alvin and Chris. You found something this term that all students must find. And it does not matter that it took you this long to find it. The important thing is that you found it. Be brave. Stay determined. And your dreams will become real. Stay the course.
Second, my Engineering Management Practices(EMG130) Class. In this class, I glimpsed how the young of our Asian counterparts see their future and how ours do. (A South Korean was enrolled in my class.) Their visions are continents apart. But our young, has hope. For in this class, I saw worldclass thinking. But sadly, it was far and between. Maybe the South Korean understand what it takes to be of service in this new world economy. And our Filipino youth, are still trying to figure things out - his identity and his place in this world. But that day will come. It is sooner now. One can sense it. I can. :-)
And then their is the EMG111 classes. My two Multimedia Arts and Science class. We ate the food called Principles of Marketing. They fed me with a different kind of energy. Their thoughts and wavelengths, I considered, are tangential. It reacquainted me to a past role I once enjoyed. A role I once thrived in, an Area Manager. And this class also bridged the taste of victories in this past role with the current blessing of being seen on TV :) Somehow, things aligned. Molded. It clicked. It was a joy to facilitate this class even if it started at 7:30 AM :-) I just hope the class sensed the joy I had.
To the students who have been given another chance to be in the same class, I pray you have become better persons. I pray that you see and realize the logic bubble that hinders your progress. I pray that you discover your strength and your courage in this trying time. I pray for your well-being. And I trust God will speak to you in a very special and personal way this next few days. Be still. Listen.
To the students who will move on, life is the hardest of all the teachers. It gives the test before the lesson :) Know that we are all journeying. That that the achievement we have now is simply a step towards the next lesson. And the lessons are arranged according to the dreams you keep between the shadows and the soul:) I pray that He gives you the dream you are suppose to dream.
Father, thank you for this term. I am humbled by what You gave. I am simply an insignificant man, who up to now still asks, why did You choose me?
Thank you Father for choosing me :)
"... why think like mere men?"
I just signed off the FINAL grades at the Registrar's Office. Though parents, students and soon-to-be-employers will see numbers, professors, like me, saw the story behind the numbers. A story that the qualitative equivalent of the quantitative number could never tell.
First, the "Boy Wonders" - Alvin Ariola and Christian Zablan from my Strategic Planning and Management class (IE302).
Both were multiple takers in this class. But in the past 11 weeks of their lives, something happened. They blossomed. Something switched on. And I hope it never gets switched off :) The results of their multiple choice answers and their style in expressing their thougths and insights in essays suggest a new found confidence. And what's fascinating about them is that they got better as the term rolled on. And this is fascinating because they have classmates who were in the same situation such as theirs but never found the courage and determination to own up like they did. Classmates who reported to class every blue moon. By that, I meant they had an absence every week.
I do not know what is the logic bubble of these "blue moon" students but I hope that that bubble gets burts sooner than later. Because sooner than later, they will no longer be young men but men. And by then, the adjective that might be used to described them is weak. I pray they see how limited their thinking is and will finally see the light.
My hats off to Alvin and Chris. You found something this term that all students must find. And it does not matter that it took you this long to find it. The important thing is that you found it. Be brave. Stay determined. And your dreams will become real. Stay the course.
Second, my Engineering Management Practices(EMG130) Class. In this class, I glimpsed how the young of our Asian counterparts see their future and how ours do. (A South Korean was enrolled in my class.) Their visions are continents apart. But our young, has hope. For in this class, I saw worldclass thinking. But sadly, it was far and between. Maybe the South Korean understand what it takes to be of service in this new world economy. And our Filipino youth, are still trying to figure things out - his identity and his place in this world. But that day will come. It is sooner now. One can sense it. I can. :-)
And then their is the EMG111 classes. My two Multimedia Arts and Science class. We ate the food called Principles of Marketing. They fed me with a different kind of energy. Their thoughts and wavelengths, I considered, are tangential. It reacquainted me to a past role I once enjoyed. A role I once thrived in, an Area Manager. And this class also bridged the taste of victories in this past role with the current blessing of being seen on TV :) Somehow, things aligned. Molded. It clicked. It was a joy to facilitate this class even if it started at 7:30 AM :-) I just hope the class sensed the joy I had.
To the students who have been given another chance to be in the same class, I pray you have become better persons. I pray that you see and realize the logic bubble that hinders your progress. I pray that you discover your strength and your courage in this trying time. I pray for your well-being. And I trust God will speak to you in a very special and personal way this next few days. Be still. Listen.
To the students who will move on, life is the hardest of all the teachers. It gives the test before the lesson :) Know that we are all journeying. That that the achievement we have now is simply a step towards the next lesson. And the lessons are arranged according to the dreams you keep between the shadows and the soul:) I pray that He gives you the dream you are suppose to dream.
Father, thank you for this term. I am humbled by what You gave. I am simply an insignificant man, who up to now still asks, why did You choose me?
Thank you Father for choosing me :)
"... why think like mere men?"
Thursday
the hardest teacher
Overheard...
:- )
"... why think like mere men?"
"Life is the hardest of all the teachers. It gives the test before the lesson!"
:- )
"... why think like mere men?"
Sunday
deja vu
On the 30th of June, we will have a new president. But the news will start to look like the old and stale as the weeks progress after that much televised inauguration.
This is certainty.
History has always told us that every time an incoming president wins by painting how bad the outgoing president was or that he or she did not do anything, it has always been proven a sort of an omen for a heightened graft and corruption bonanza that's about to come. A graft and corruption bonanza that seems to be bigger than the last one :-)
When President Marcos was elected, he threw everything at President Diosdado Macapagal and how incapable he was and pointed to the fact that it was under President Macapagal's watch that the Philippines got poorer. Look at what happened after 21 years. When President Corazon Aquino became president, ever heard of Kamag-anak Inc? When the FVRamos Presidency was on its last legs, ever heard of the Amari fiasco? And did President Erap ever finished his term? Ooops. He did not. He was driven off Malacanang nga pala. And now it is GMA's turn to be booted out.
Bottom line. Every incoming Administration has harped, and won, on the fact that the past Presidency was a bad one and that under the past President's watch the Philippines lagged behind in the world because the outgoing administration did not do its job.
But that's not my point :)
This well advertised and well sold mindset sets up everyone that the incoming government has to spend huge amount of money on infrastructure to catch up with the world and this is where the newspapers and the network make their money - stories of scandals and of corrupt and greedy politicians :)
Let me explain.
The more we lag behind, the more we have to spend in infrastructure projects. The more we have to spend, the temptation to dip one's hand into the cookie jar called "kaban ng bayan" becomes more unbearable because the amount is getting bigger and bigger because the gap of the Philippines and the world is getting wider and wider. And because the wheels of justice is slow on corrupt politicians in this part of the world, the gap widens which in return sets the next infrastructure projects to become even bigger. Thus, the temptation becomes even stronger. And the media moguls get even richer :)
Apparently, we all drank the Kool-Aid of to play in this world economics, one has to spend.
If we adhere to this logic bubble, then let's, for our own peace of mind and for the next generation, do only small infrastructure projects that will not attract the bloodhounds called corrupt and greedy politicians. Like for example doing our jobs at the most excellent way :)
Maybe, it is this wanting to hit a home-run or this penchant for hitting the 3-point shot to win it all or this wanting to build this marvelous infrastructure projects that's wrong.
I mean, think about it. Maybe the small things matter. I mean just ask your wife or your girlfriend :)
But even if I seem a bit pessimistic, I am hopeful. I will do my part in building a better Philippines so that the next generation will see that not everyone was asleep in the past.
The darkness is the perfect foil for a weak and "insignificant" light. For it is because of the darkness, that one sees this light.
"... why think like mere men?"
This is certainty.
History has always told us that every time an incoming president wins by painting how bad the outgoing president was or that he or she did not do anything, it has always been proven a sort of an omen for a heightened graft and corruption bonanza that's about to come. A graft and corruption bonanza that seems to be bigger than the last one :-)
When President Marcos was elected, he threw everything at President Diosdado Macapagal and how incapable he was and pointed to the fact that it was under President Macapagal's watch that the Philippines got poorer. Look at what happened after 21 years. When President Corazon Aquino became president, ever heard of Kamag-anak Inc? When the FVRamos Presidency was on its last legs, ever heard of the Amari fiasco? And did President Erap ever finished his term? Ooops. He did not. He was driven off Malacanang nga pala. And now it is GMA's turn to be booted out.
Bottom line. Every incoming Administration has harped, and won, on the fact that the past Presidency was a bad one and that under the past President's watch the Philippines lagged behind in the world because the outgoing administration did not do its job.
But that's not my point :)
This well advertised and well sold mindset sets up everyone that the incoming government has to spend huge amount of money on infrastructure to catch up with the world and this is where the newspapers and the network make their money - stories of scandals and of corrupt and greedy politicians :)
Let me explain.
The more we lag behind, the more we have to spend in infrastructure projects. The more we have to spend, the temptation to dip one's hand into the cookie jar called "kaban ng bayan" becomes more unbearable because the amount is getting bigger and bigger because the gap of the Philippines and the world is getting wider and wider. And because the wheels of justice is slow on corrupt politicians in this part of the world, the gap widens which in return sets the next infrastructure projects to become even bigger. Thus, the temptation becomes even stronger. And the media moguls get even richer :)
Apparently, we all drank the Kool-Aid of to play in this world economics, one has to spend.
If we adhere to this logic bubble, then let's, for our own peace of mind and for the next generation, do only small infrastructure projects that will not attract the bloodhounds called corrupt and greedy politicians. Like for example doing our jobs at the most excellent way :)
Maybe, it is this wanting to hit a home-run or this penchant for hitting the 3-point shot to win it all or this wanting to build this marvelous infrastructure projects that's wrong.
I mean, think about it. Maybe the small things matter. I mean just ask your wife or your girlfriend :)
But even if I seem a bit pessimistic, I am hopeful. I will do my part in building a better Philippines so that the next generation will see that not everyone was asleep in the past.
The darkness is the perfect foil for a weak and "insignificant" light. For it is because of the darkness, that one sees this light.
"... why think like mere men?"
Friday
man talk
For a man, it is necessary to know and to confirm to himself that he can do it. That he can honestly do it. That he can honestly go through the ordeal and come out a victor on the other side.
It is very important.
Once he tried to fool the authority by cheating and gets away with it, he can say, and even brag about it, that he put one over. But, seriously and honestly, he simply emasculated himself. He made himself weak. Weaker.
Because there will come a time when the real test comes and he will be found out.
The next important question is, will he man up to it? When he has been found out, weighed and found lacking? Or will he will blame others again and cheat himself, again and once more, from what is suppose to be a painfully liberating experience?
I am talking to you. Yes. You! You know who you are.
Will you man up? As Kobe manned up? :-)
"... why think like mere men?"
It is very important.
Once he tried to fool the authority by cheating and gets away with it, he can say, and even brag about it, that he put one over. But, seriously and honestly, he simply emasculated himself. He made himself weak. Weaker.
Because there will come a time when the real test comes and he will be found out.
The next important question is, will he man up to it? When he has been found out, weighed and found lacking? Or will he will blame others again and cheat himself, again and once more, from what is suppose to be a painfully liberating experience?
I am talking to you. Yes. You! You know who you are.
Will you man up? As Kobe manned up? :-)
"... why think like mere men?"
Wednesday
type and go to this link
www.gmanews.tv/story/193261/old-manila-photos-show-what-the-war-destroyed
For us to understand who we are today, one must go back to the past and see the journey.
I thank God for, finally, information like this proliferates.
"... why think like mere men?"
Saturday
an ad where the inspiration seemed limited
Not that I am against foreigners. I am not.
It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I see caucasian talents being used to "sell" an aspirational ad geared towards the Filipino teen market.
Can we not use Filipino talents to "sell" a concept of aspiration? When are we going to be comfortable in our skins? When will the Malay color be associated with something to be aspired for in this part of Asia?
Or maybe the minds of those creative people are so defaulted or hardwired to their colonial state that they can not seem to be aware that they are in that state? That they, instead of building the next generation's pride and identity, continually perpetuate this pride-sucking and emasculation mantra of the past? What kind of education did they receive to continually enslave the next generation to this colonizer-friendly "default"?
There will come a time when that "logic bubble" will end. The creative people seem to forget that that end can start with them :- )
"... why think like mere men?"
It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I see caucasian talents being used to "sell" an aspirational ad geared towards the Filipino teen market.
Can we not use Filipino talents to "sell" a concept of aspiration? When are we going to be comfortable in our skins? When will the Malay color be associated with something to be aspired for in this part of Asia?
Or maybe the minds of those creative people are so defaulted or hardwired to their colonial state that they can not seem to be aware that they are in that state? That they, instead of building the next generation's pride and identity, continually perpetuate this pride-sucking and emasculation mantra of the past? What kind of education did they receive to continually enslave the next generation to this colonizer-friendly "default"?
There will come a time when that "logic bubble" will end. The creative people seem to forget that that end can start with them :- )
"... why think like mere men?"
Friday
Game 7
I watched it. And I just can't seemed to get enough of it. I am watching videos and interviews of after the game up to now.
Artest was special this night. Most brave when he told everybody in an interview that he sought psychiatric help to handle the mental part of the game. In my mind, he was most brave because to become a champion, he needed to work on, not on his strength but had to accept his weakness and do something about it. He was the MAN of Game 7.
Pau Gasol had, as always, his steady and silent magnificence in full view. Derek, was being Derek. Clutch. And let's not forget Sascha. He knocked down two free throws after a timeout. Apparently, it was a play designed by the 11th time champion Coach Phil for him. A play that will have LA inbound and Sascha will be the receiver. Phil had the foresight, he will be fouled and he will knock down the two free throws even if he did not play a single second of the game before that. Brilliant.
Last point.
Most people would argue that Kobe's imprint was not in the game. To that, I would say, you are missing the point.
Kobe was everywhere. The mere fact that Boston tried everything to contain him and in doing so dared his teammates to step up that's the time when Kobe showed up everywhere, in his teammates. Kobe's imprint was obvious for me when Boston was up eleven points and LA had to claw themselves back in. That spirit. That drive. That competitiveness. That's Kobe. Only this night, Kobe did not have the monopoly of being Kobe. Kobe was in his teammates.
My hats off to Boston. But this night, belonged to the purple and gold.
As Doc Rivers said a day before Game 7, "They are a great team. We are a great team. May the best team win..."
Artest was special this night. Most brave when he told everybody in an interview that he sought psychiatric help to handle the mental part of the game. In my mind, he was most brave because to become a champion, he needed to work on, not on his strength but had to accept his weakness and do something about it. He was the MAN of Game 7.
Pau Gasol had, as always, his steady and silent magnificence in full view. Derek, was being Derek. Clutch. And let's not forget Sascha. He knocked down two free throws after a timeout. Apparently, it was a play designed by the 11th time champion Coach Phil for him. A play that will have LA inbound and Sascha will be the receiver. Phil had the foresight, he will be fouled and he will knock down the two free throws even if he did not play a single second of the game before that. Brilliant.
Last point.
Most people would argue that Kobe's imprint was not in the game. To that, I would say, you are missing the point.
Kobe was everywhere. The mere fact that Boston tried everything to contain him and in doing so dared his teammates to step up that's the time when Kobe showed up everywhere, in his teammates. Kobe's imprint was obvious for me when Boston was up eleven points and LA had to claw themselves back in. That spirit. That drive. That competitiveness. That's Kobe. Only this night, Kobe did not have the monopoly of being Kobe. Kobe was in his teammates.
My hats off to Boston. But this night, belonged to the purple and gold.
As Doc Rivers said a day before Game 7, "They are a great team. We are a great team. May the best team win..."
Saturday
"What if?"
What if our lives are not measured by what we have done and achieved but by what did not happen because we truly lived?
Only God knows what did not happen because we lived and we did our part.
"... why think like mere men?"
Only God knows what did not happen because we lived and we did our part.
"... why think like mere men?"
Friday
exhaling in awhile
This term is busy. Engaging.
I have been facilitating learning close to 10 years now and I can say I am most tired this term.
I do not mean tired in a bad way. I mean tired that I was exhausted by the classes. Not by the conduct of class but by the class. I felt it. Maybe it is because my day starts at 7:30 am and the heat, the hottest in a decade, did not help. Plus, the assault that comes from having the first ever automated election added to the mental and emotional burden.
Or maybe, I am getting old :)
Looking forward to that one week respite in two to three weeks.
I finished reading and grading the last quiz of my EMG111 (Principles of Marketing) classes. Maybe it was close to one when my eyes glided over the last word.
And then, I smiled. Misty :)
Teaching or facilitating learning has a way of bringing you to these kind of moments. A moment when you fully accept the now and you are embraced by it. Somehow, things are lighter. And the upcoming day will be brighter. And all those struggles of waking up early seem to be a very poor price to pay for this moment.
I am humbled. Re-energized :)
Lord, I am humbled by what You have done and what You are doing in my life. Thank You.
Hope lulled me to sleep last night.
"... why think like mere men!"
I have been facilitating learning close to 10 years now and I can say I am most tired this term.
I do not mean tired in a bad way. I mean tired that I was exhausted by the classes. Not by the conduct of class but by the class. I felt it. Maybe it is because my day starts at 7:30 am and the heat, the hottest in a decade, did not help. Plus, the assault that comes from having the first ever automated election added to the mental and emotional burden.
Or maybe, I am getting old :)
Looking forward to that one week respite in two to three weeks.
I finished reading and grading the last quiz of my EMG111 (Principles of Marketing) classes. Maybe it was close to one when my eyes glided over the last word.
And then, I smiled. Misty :)
Teaching or facilitating learning has a way of bringing you to these kind of moments. A moment when you fully accept the now and you are embraced by it. Somehow, things are lighter. And the upcoming day will be brighter. And all those struggles of waking up early seem to be a very poor price to pay for this moment.
I am humbled. Re-energized :)
Lord, I am humbled by what You have done and what You are doing in my life. Thank You.
Hope lulled me to sleep last night.
"... why think like mere men!"
Thursday
a pleasant surprise
Finally.
I got my surprise this term and they came in a box called Alvin and Chris.
I was there when they were struggling and I was pleasantly surprise when the promise finally turned to reality.
I hope they continue...
"... why think like mere men?"
I got my surprise this term and they came in a box called Alvin and Chris.
I was there when they were struggling and I was pleasantly surprise when the promise finally turned to reality.
I hope they continue...
"... why think like mere men?"
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