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! :)

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?"

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!"

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."