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Change. The world's only permanent thing and yet one of the most battered words. In this era of advanced technology, it is hard to think of something not going through the process called change. According to one philosophy teacher, even change itself changes.
Today's women battle with social protocol as they struggle to break from society's conservative standards. From their fashion to their attitudes, women are being criticized. They are constantly frowned upon. Most people who are not open to women's new ways of thinking raise their eyebrows and continue to argue on the proper behavior of women.
How long ago was it when we used to see girls inside the comfort of their homes when the bell struck at six o' clock? When they held on to their skirts that were usually below knee level? When they kept their mouth shut on current issues for they were not encouraged to have a say on such matters? Or when they stayed in a nook and prayed to at least be allowed to vote on a national election? Probably those are now distant memories.
If before, women were usually home earlier than when we are dismissed from our classes, now they can have their social functions and night-outs and go on until the early hours of the next day. They have explored the vastness of their creativity through their sense of style exuded by their various fashion statements. The usual long skirts and conservative polo-type blouses are hardly seen now. Somehow, women can manage to show some skin now. They can dress themselves up in any way they want. Even the names of the Filipino women have also change in presentation. Seldom do we hear Apolinaria, Procopia and Concordia. Most of them are mocked now. They have been replaced with names like Apple or Polly, Percy, and Coline. From Maria's they have now become the modern Marie's. Just a subtle indication of how liberated our women have become today.
Currently, women have earned their respective places in the society. Their voices are being aired and heard. Their ideas are accepted and followed. Their actions are being looked up to and admired. They have acquired an air of confidence and an aura of sureness of their capabilities. They have refined their own independence and broken free from the chains of stereotyping and ignorance. Women have known much more about their worth. Now, they can do more than vote. We have our very own women leaders that never forget to balance power and heart. Women can now take part in every vital turn in the political arena:the election.
A woman's influence has penetrated the walls in the stock markets and entrepreneurship. They can now spell and smell career under their noses. They have made and marked their names in more ways than one. Even in the military and police force, the navy and marines, the jobs where the dirty work was usually done by men, these are not anymore male's sole control.
As the cliche goes, what men can do, a woman will strive hard to do better. We have to be resigned to the fact that nothing will ever stay the same.
Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand....If you were an '80s kid you'd probably remember this line from Michael Jackson's Thriller. For gen-Xers, they would most likely relate more the Mummy, Urban Legend or I know what you did last summer. Soon it will be Halloween again, and suddenly, you will imagine things like the presence of an evil power around you or shadows which lurk on a dark, moonless night.
Whatever it is that brings a chill down our spines-spooked houses, eerie cries in the night, a "tikbalang" sitting on top of a tree, the oh-so-famous "white lady" floating across Balete Drive, a "manananggal" swooping above your head-the question is, should we really consider as true these strange, inexplicable haunts? Do superstitions truly merit to be believed?
I have my share of eerie experiences in the past, and I must say that I cannot not disclaim the fact that incomprehensible things do happen. One such incident was when the Couples for Christ where our parents belong and their children went to Baguio. As we all know the summer capital of the Philippines had a tragic experience because of an earthquake which they can never forget. Many lives were lost in that incident and some of the dead bodies were not yet found until now. A few years later, they built hotels and rest houses under the ruins, where many people were buried alive because the rescuers couldn't find their lost bodies anymore. That is why there were many restless souls in some of the buildings in Baguio who are in need of our prayers and help. When we arrived at the rest house we saw a white cat and a white dog but we didn't mind it because we thought that somebody might owned those pets. But we know in ourselves that it is not an any ordinary animal. When evening came, our parents went to a prayer meeting and left us alone with our yaya. I woke up in the middle of the night because I thought my parent had arrived but what I saw was the door and cabinet opening and closing by itself, I thought I was hallucinating so I slept again. When I woke up in the morning, I told them what I saw that night and I thought that it was not true. But our yaya sleeping next to me told me she also saw the same incident too. I was terrified of what I heard. I could feel the menacing presence of something powerful, but nevertheless, I knew deep in my heart that God's power is much greater than what was there.
Prayer which declares trust in God alone, an unshakable confidence that I'm His child , redeemed by Jesus' death and resurrection.
So, is your life "haunted"? Ask God to pour out His love upon you and your family. Maintain a dynamic relationship with Him and live out the faith you have found.
The process may be long and difficult, but today is the always best time to start.
Do you know how to dance? Are you familiar with the dance "tango"? Have you ever tried dancing the same? Well, unlike modern and off-beat dances like you know, this dance is usually performed by a male dance partner, who manipulates and controls the steps, and a female dance partner who sways and dances with grace under her partner's manipulation. In total, one cannot dance tango alone. As the saying goes, "it takes two to tango".
The mechanics of tango, by analogy, somewhat apply in real life situation. In life, there exist manipulation and manipulated individuals. Whether at home, in school, and in the bigger community that we live in, we witness growth-stunting and success-defying relationships manifested by one who controls and another who allows himself or herself to be controlled by the other. In this "manipulator-manipulated relationship", the manipulator imposes and dictates what the other must do or omit to do using or applying maneuvering strategies like anger, fear and guilt either verbally or physically. These mechanisms are the enemies of success.
Let me illustrate how the manipulator is able to control and manage the acts of another using his maneuvering techniques that are stumbling blocks to success.
The imposition of "fear" one another is one of the effective maneuvering tools used by manipulators. The manipulated allows himself or herself to be controlled by letting the manipulator impose fear of becoming an outcast, among others, compel the manipulated to submit to the control of the manipulator.
In some instances, the manipulated individuals'"fear" kept them asserting themselves. Their acts of submitting to the dictates of the manipulator were manifestations of weakness, therefore, success-defeating.
Another maneuvering technique used by the manipulators is "anger".
Silent treatment may also be used to incite another to anger. Once the manipulator is able to stir up the other and make him or her angry, he would turn the table against the latter and blame him or her for losing his or her control.
Like in fear, the acts of the manipulated or controlled individuals in some instances are success-evading.
Lastly, a manipulator may also use "guilt" as a tool to control another.
Guilt as an emotion may be useful or noxious emotions. They are normal and natural human emotions which are part of our lives. The fear of defying the laws of God and of man, the guilt brought injustice to one's life are healthy indications and manifestations of one's ethical values. Fear, anger and guilt become crippling though when we allow others to use them in order to control us. Ergo, no one could be able to control if no one would allow him or her to.
If one wants to succeed in life, he or she should be able to identify the maneuvering techniques and strategies discussed above and should not allow the same to be used by another to control his or her actions. One should not let fear, guilt and anger rule his or her life. No one would dare try to manipulate another if the latter would repel and challenge the same.
"A complete Book of Success" wrote:"In any success-defying relationship it takes one who controls by manipulation and one who permits himself to be controlled..." "Without a partner, however, the controller can never play his game. It is as simple as that. Once you realized this basic truth, all you have to do is stop playing the game..." "...letting others to control us is a sure fire way toward failure".
The concept of success is relative. Although everyone wants to succeed in life, each has his or her own standards and measure of success. The translation of dreams into reality, the achievement of goals, and the fulfillment of wishes and aspirations are but normal and typical cravings of every rational individual.
The road to success, however, is not always a smooth sailing path. There are bents and bumps in the form of challenges, trials and failures along its way. The correct and desirable attitude, however, would be turn to these stumbling blocks on your favor by considering them as learning mechanisms.
Fear, anger and guilt are but ordinary spices of life. Although these emotions are considered "enemies" of success when used by one to manipulate another, the same can be turned into a friendly ally through discovering the proper way of dealing with dame to avert failure. Learning to control your emotions, your feelings, your thoughts yourself instead of allowing others to do it for you would be one big step toward success.
Conquer your fears, maintain a firm but reasonable disposition, set your goals and work hard to achieve them. Play your own game and win it!
We do admit that most of us grew up absorbing a lot of information about who is God in our lives except for those who are non Catholics. These would have come from parents, neighbors, friends and church ministers. But it is a fact that only few Catholics, most especially the youth have forgotten the main role of the written word of God-the Bible in their lives. They are always too busy of their friends, studies and vices that they even forget to go to church every Sunday. Just not like the older generation because they are more aware of Christianity because during the past, there are still no malls, Internet games and cellphones. And this might be because it is only attributed to the traditional point of view or thinking that the Bible is only for the clergy or for those who studied it in depth or as we call nerdy type of people. But what is really a bible? What is its role in our lives? Is it just any ordinary books found everywhere?
Our bible is not a book of History nor a book of Science that gives us some historical and scientific facts. Therefore, it is a book of faith wherein we should be reading it according to its perspectives and contents. We should be able to know what is the message of every chapters and verses we read. What it intended to do was to express the different communities' faith in God in the Old Testament and the different communities' faith in Jesus in the New Testament and especially to strengthen our faith in God. For it shows how God's people experienced the miracles he made as each day passes by. Though faith is shared with us individually during baptism, it is nurtured and strengthened to us by sharing it with the community where this same faith is shared by other people. The bible is just one of the many different ways for us to come back to God despite of the sins we have done because no matter what happens He still loves us. In our Christian community, we have the Bible, traditions, and the living of our faith in God.
But we should not forget that our goal is to submit ourselves to the light of the Holy Spirit in order for us to know what is His message for us. We should be devoted to God to be able for us to know him deeply because He already knows us by flesh and blood for He is the one who made us in the first place. To tell you, if you will be able to know him better, I am pretty sure that you will love him because He is the only one whom you can cry your heart out and tell your problems. He is a friend, but take note, a special kind of friend. Combining the serious study and prayerful reflection, God will surely speak to us personally and communally through the words of the Bible.
Nature is the world around us, except for human-made phenomena. As humans are the only animal species that consciously, powerfully manipulates the environment, we think ourselves as exalted, as special. We acknowledge that in an objective view we are merely one of many organisms, and that we are not able to survive outside of our natural world of air, earth, water and life. But we end to be poor leaders in the "hierarchy" of animal life. Despite our greatness, too often we waste, we fight, we breed heedlessly, and are too self-centered and short-sighted. I take note of the increasing awareness of ecology, at least Western culture, and am heartened. We may still change our weapons of war into tools of peace, and our habits of despoliation into nurturing.
Earth is so large, that even if humans destroy ourselves, plus most other life forms, there will still be nature. The soil, oceans, atmosphere and weather would still interact with solar power to allow some life to exist. Earth cannot be a barren place like the moon. Humans can, then, reduce our planetary paradise into a hell of sorts, but cannot, I believe, destroy the planet itself.
This thought, sober and gloomy, is a modern one; in early ages it is unlikely hat people contemplated ourselves wiping-out most life on earth. I don't know why I brought it to the forefront of my nature essay. It does offer a perspective.
Nature's life forces, as well as its winds, eruptions, quakes, avalanches, freezes, etc., is immensely powerful. Even in this age of high-technology, where many people who live in cities and work full-time with computers see but little nature intimately-at least we all are still aware of the weather and the seasons. We all know that a short, rainy winter day is less pleasant or striking memories we associate with each season.
My awareness of nature was at this normal level until high school. I recall as a second year student, the nature was wholly unappealing to me. I like sports, music, sleeping and whatnot. Tress were trees, grass was grass, flowers were flowers and weeds were weeds. But by this time, I had been affected profoundly by nature awareness. I went from a normal world view to one wherein the value of being aware of and appreciative of nature was a centerpiece. In retrospect, this was he pivotal transformation of my life.
I began meditating under trees, listening to birds, tasting wild berries, and finding joy and excitement, meaning and inspiration. My self-confidence boomed, my sense of being as an individual blossomed. I began designing a custom meal from the menu of life.
The awareness of natural beauty was like a revelation. I looked at, and experienced, all manner of organisms, and light. Rainfall and windstorms became celebratory. The principles of life, previously mere broad abstractions to me, became plainly clear. I saw firsthand how environment and genetics, together affect life. I saw nature's pace-before I'd only considered humanity's.
From nature study, then, I developed my critical faculties, I gained practical information, derived inspiration and joy, and welded my personal world view. This is not an unmitigated plus. When one has an odd perspective, and so sees things n rare way, communicating with others of more traditional or conventional outlook can be difficult. For example, if I believed the soil is sacred, and yet the prevailing assumption is that it is dirt-we are worlds apart from compromise.
I would prefer that people based their philosophies more on nature study and reflection, rather than nearly wholly on what their parents or influential peers tell them. But he weight of tradition is on the side of relatively uncritical acceptance of whatever one's mainstream believes in.
I would go so far as to say humans have an instinctive need for nature, since we evolved under its influences. So to live, say, in a cave, with only artificial light, and only human-made objects, would be a sever strain. Along this line, the sterility of hospital rooms is frightful-I am glad about the emergence of "horticultural therapy" and the like.
One of my motives i sharing what I've learned from nature study is to help empower others. Even if a person doesn't find nature effective for inspiration or education, it is good to "strike it off the list of possibilities and go on to sample something else, such as religion, art, work, etc. Find your love and pursue it passionately.
Death?!? Everybody is afraid of death because they are scared to leave behind their loved ones. Every time I hear the word death, it gives me this weird feeling of anger. Maybe because it always takes away from me the most important persons whom I treasure in my life. One of which is my beloved grandfather. As far as I know, he was 75 then when he died because of organ failures due to his Diabetes. It was really a shocking news for our family and especially for me, for the fact that I am a Lolo's girl.
On the eve of September 24, 2005, our family was having a small gathering because some of our relatives from Bohol visited us here in Cebu. As for me, I excused myself because I have to go to the Internet cafe to do some researches for my assignment. When I left, everybody was still laughing and they were having a good time. But when I came home, you know what I saw? I saw them in an opposite mood. It is as if someone died because there faces are so sad and their eyes are teary. I know something wrong happened when I was gone. My mother approached me and hugged me so tightly. She told me that they received a call from Bohol and said that my Lolo had just passed away a few hours ago. I told her that It was not a good joke. But I saw the seriousness in her eyes. I look at everybody especially my father who was my Lolo's son. He looks so down. I just leaned at the wall and I felt that I want to cry my heart out and then suddenly my tears just ell from my eyes. At that moment I just want to ride on a ship to Bohol and hugged the cold dead body of my grandfather. I was not even given a chance to say how thankful and how I lucky am to have a very loving and caring grandfather in the whole wide world. And now all I want to say is, "I love you Lolo". Early the next morning, my father and my brothers rode on a ship to Bohol to manage the needed papers for my grandfather's death. Unfortunately, I was not able to come with them because it was still our school days. I felt so sad and disappointed. But I told my mother that perhaps I could have be absent on the Friday. Even though we were going to have a test that day I told her that it is much more important to attend the wake of my Lolo because it is the last time that I will be able to show him how much I respect and love him. My mother and I went there Friday evening. We arrived on the port of Talibon, Bohol at 4 a.m. in the morning. As we were approaching the house of my grandparents, all I can see are bright lights coming from the wake. We went inside and saw the coffin of my grandfather. I felt a little bit scared because I was afraid of coffins and dead people. But I know I should not be afraid because my teacher said that we should not be afraid of the dead but of the those who are still living in this world. And perhaps he is my most beloved Lolo. Why should I be afraid? He looks like he was just sleeping and happy for where he is right now.
Somehow I moved on already because I know he is with God and happily living with angels. And I realized that it was what he wanted and I don't want him to suffer from his disease. Someday I know and I am hoping that we will be all together in paradise.
I hate this feeling I'm having right now! It is as if I'm in an island, lost and stranded. I think everybody is familiar with this feeling. I mean this strange feeling. Can this be love? Have you ever tried to love somebody with all your heart? I think no one is a beginner when it comes to love. They said that love is a special feeling felt for a special person. I thought when I am in love I would be contented and happy for what I have but my experiences of love made me realized that love could only make your heart ache a lot without being noticed. And it is not any ordinary pain that you feel but a deep wound that leaves a scar and will always be remembered every time you see that person who hurt you so much.
Love is never fair. You have to fight for your love with all your might even though you know that your losing the game. But why is it when you are serious enough to fight for it, it is also when the person you love treats your relationship as a game for kids. It really hurts. I've tried to be in a relationship but it was never what I expected to be because there were so many conflicts between the two of us. Many people say that relationships have to undergo that stage so that their relationship could be more stronger as each day passes by. But we were not able to surpass that. I suddenly remembered what one of my teachers said. She said that if you have a relationship you should make it an inspiration but not a destruction in your studies. So I have to let go of it because this relationship will have no direction anymore and it starts to ruin my studies. I wouldn't be able to know when I am going to be in love again. It is just happens in a wink of an eye. Currently for now, it is just up to crushes because maybe my mother was right that it is not yet the right time to have a relationship. I know having a relationship at this age is part of growing up and being a teenager. But mostly of the teenagers especially the girls are not allowed by their parents to have a relationship unless they already graduated in college and they already have a good occupation. But didn't they pass that kind of stage in life? Maybe because it is also for the own good of their children. They want to protect them so as not to destroy their lives. Just like me, when they knew that I had a boyfriend, they got so mad and I was grounded for one month. I have nothing to do but to cry. Now I realized that they just want to protect me and to finish my studies first. Maybe also because I was the only girl in the family. Now I am giving all my love and attention to my studies, family, God, friends and to my puppy love.
Me? I am nothing. I am just an ordinary person who knows how to feel, care, miss and especially love. But having my loved ones make my damn life special and extraordinary
