Bapa's Notes: February 2010

« January 2010 | Main | March 2010 »

February 2010

02/27/2010

LET'S LEARN FROM OUR KIDS

Kids are unafraid.

vst and co mabuti pa nu'ng bata

Posted at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I overheard somebody uttered this phrase: "And God made the heaven and the earth...and the rest were made in China." It sounds amusing but that is a reality nowadays. When somebody belittles chinesse products because of its low quality, I took time to reconsider it. The flooding of products coming from China here in our locality has some beneficial impact to many of us consumers. If you have P100, one can buy many things in many newly opened Chinese owned shops in Tagum City. Whenever I buy some motor parts, the storekeeper will always give me the option to buy some of their low cost China made spareparts. I would say that as a consumer I have benefited from this proliferation of China made products. But there are also some drawbacks that need to be address by our politicians in the locality. It's impossible for our local producers and manufacturers to compete with the prices of this China made products. More on my next post.

"made in china"

Posted at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ABOUT MORTALITY

Physical death is the most mysterious thing that man always find difficulty to explain. How could one met death in an unexpected time and place? I have witnessed a dying person and in just a split of seconds without any unusual signs the physical life was gone. I have also experienced trying to embrace the lifeless body of my grandmother. I have always told myself that death is not an optional thing that one could chose not to happen. Physical death is as natural as inhaling and

Grim Reaper

exhaling oxygen as part of our biological system. I have observed that people die due to many different causes. Some through terminal illness such as cancer, others met their untimely death through accidents and on and so forth. Dying is a frightening reality for some. But unless one has resolved to accept death as part of this physical existence shall find peace and equanimity in this life. Then what about suicidal death? Is that a part of the natural process of life? I have also resolved that suicidal death is an unnatural one. In taking one's life, it is an act of cowardice and selfishness of evading the responsibilities of life. I have observed also that many of this suicidal death was due to mental impairedness, inability to distinguish between what is fantasy or reality. On his book, People of the Lie by Dr. M. Scottpeck described it this way: " From the very beginning we are told that God created us in His own image. Are we going to take that seriously? Accept the responsiblity that we are godly beings? An that human life is of sacred importance?" p.43, People of the Lie, Published by Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1983. The reality is that we are called to live life as if this is our last day here on earth. To make the most of every opportunity as one great Apostle Paul puts it. The opportunity to help others, the opportunity to encourage others, these are all part of God's design for creating us with life. "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (Matt. 16:25).

Posted at 07:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/25/2010

THE MELANCHOLY OF ALL THINGS DONE

1969: Apollo 11 (NASA)

I've read this book entitled Going Crazy: An Inquiry into the Madness of our Time by Otto Friedrich, Copyright 1977. There was a strange thing that happened in the life of the famous American austronaut, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., after the unforgetable lunar conquest made by man, an unequal exploit for the Second Millenium. Here is the account of that mysterious incident, as Buzz had confided:

Buzz Aldrin (Summer of 1969)

"I had excelled academically, being at the top of the schools and classes I had attended during my life. Finally, there had been the most important goalof all, and it had been realized - I had gone to the moon. What to do next? What possible goal could I add now? There simply wasn't one and without a goal I was like an inert Ping-Pong ball being batted about by the whims and motivations of others. I was suffering from what the poets have described as the melancholy of all things done."

p.233, Going Crazy by Otto Friedrich, Published by Simon & Shuster, Inc.

And the story went on that the smart Buzz Aldrin had undergone a series of Psychotheraphy that made him whole again. Life has just its twists and turns. It's not always the question of what one possessed or attained in life. It is always about our reason for being as the popular French word coined "raison de'-tre" explained it. What is the purpose of life? Why am I here? What life would looked like after death? Here's a link I wish to share, hoping that this will answer those above posted questions.

Posted at 08:02 AM in Adventures, friendship, mystery, occupational hazards, Religion, Revelations, Science, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/24/2010

STORYTELLING

I grew up here in Tagum with my siblings. We used to have our place in Apokon Road. Many things have changed in the past 4 decades. The place called Gamao, the hub of adult night clubs is now occupied by a great mall. The place where our house used to be is now a public road that connects Apokon Road and Macasero Street going to the abandoned sports Gallera of Tagum. I also noticed the different hobby that kids are enjoying nowadays compared to ours in the past. Kids today are more inclined to computer games and other electronic game boards other than the physical game.

I remember that gas station located at the place where the Jolibee-Pioneer Avenue Branch is now situated, it was called Jetty. It was our hub for playing scooters- built of wood with wheels from waste wheel bearings of motorcycles. Bicycles were for rent during those days. At 25 cents an hour, we sweat it out just to learn how to ride a bike.

But another very fascinating hobby that I remember during our childhood days was the storytelling sessions that we had as kids back then. It was not the storytelling done by our parents but by our own peer, a kid, he was 3 or 4 years older than most of us. We all get excited when we altogether sought some place to begin our storytelling sessions. Sometimes we do all these sessions on the grounds below our neighbors' houses. We placed empty rice' sacks on the ground and together sit on them and with our unusual silence, we intently listened to our master storyteller. Sometimes we would go to some nearby rice paddies and under an old Mango tree where Purok Basakan is now located and there as a group, we would spent hours of listening to our great storyteller. His stories were uncommon, he wowed us his listeners by making each one of us as heroes of his unfolding stories. We all literally gasped as we listened to those imaginative adventures, carefully narrated by our master storyteller. Television sets were very foreign to us back then. The transistor radio was the popular gadget during those days but all of us could attest that nothing could equal to those drama passionately told by our great story teller.

He was able to elicit laughter and tears as his story unfolds with all the elements of storytelling carefully laid out until the end. After the story telling sessions, our storyteller would then drew some sketches on the ground, employing straws of coconut leaves, giving us those rare animated pictures about the drama and the actions that was told awhile ago. Ayek, our great story teller. We owe from him our great stamina of learning new things. It was his innate gift that we all kids back then had lavishly enjoyed. Ayek is now a public school teacher and all members of the gang have all settled down. We cherished those great memories as kids in Zafra and those animating storytelling, real adventures that not even our present dvd movies could outdo. Thanks to our pioneer mentor Sir Oscar "Ayek" Edig.