Rumination Trio

1...2...3...4... 

     The 3rd quarter has finally exited the curtains of ICT IV! And it's really a refreshment about HTML tagging! Although I had been to a lot of extra-curricular activities, it is certain that 3rd quarter widened the breadth of my knowledge. And I'm feeling hippie-excited-hyper for the last quarter especially it's about Photoshop! ☺

     I had been to 986268 streaks of luck these days. Moreover, we had this really nice project. We were grouped randomly and we got to research more on the Economics and Commerce of Vigan City. And unfortunately/fortunately, 2 words weighing the same though, they chose me as the leader. Pressure, it is. But after 1440 minutes, we became close enough to go on to a venture of getting to know more on the social economic status of Vigan. To make our project more off the edge and unique at some point, we decided to interview some of the Bigueño vendors proving that hard work and endurance s really within them. After getting to know more about them, we took pictures and documented them in order. It was a nice experience!

     This quarter had just 101 highlights, not like the others. We were engaged with a mountain of activities. I attended the DSPC, Pre-RSPC, YLEAD and RSPC. These made me meet awesome friends and seriously helped me with whatever endeavor I will take in the near future.

     Time really flies so fast. I really had to say this even though it's SO cliche. 4th quarter is in the air. I'm excited for whatever it is!

“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,

And all the sweet serenity of books” 

                          That being said, I shall grab a book and read... welcome last quarter!

(Shatter Me-inspired)

Get Used to Climate Change

     "Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."

          —Physicist Richard Feynman in the final report on the Challenger Disaster

     Life has had to deal with environmental change, especially climate change, since the beginning of its existence on Earth. Species adjust or go extinct, and both have happened. For life-forms with our kinds of cells—eukaryotic, the kind with distinct organelles—the average existence of a species is about 1 million years, and, on average, one species goes extinct a year, at least of the species we have named and know, including those we know only from fossil records.

     Early man was part of this dance between life and environment. Homo erectus, the first of our kind who left Africa, would likely have migrated as a matter of course. They may not have thought of it as migration in our modern sense; they were going where the environment, including sources of food and water, was better. Environmental change and moving along with it were only natural.

With the beginning of civilization and the construction of buildings that could last a long time, and with investments of time and effort in agricultural fields, as well as the discovery of specific sources of minerals and the building of mines to get them, people's lives changed in ways that led to a desire for constancy. Establishment of property rights and national boundaries (beginning with tribe-established land boundaries) augmented the need and desire for constancy of place and of environment. One can argue that it is our species that most needs and most desires constancy and has therefore formed worldviews that not only require environmental constancy but have turned it into a fundamental belief, a folkway, a series of myths.

     The more technologically and legally advanced a civilization, the greater the need and desire for environmental stability, for a balance of nature. Hence, our modern dilemma vis-à-vis climate change. Rather than claim the world is constant except for our sinful interference with it, we need to acknowledge and work out ways to live with environmental change. This can include doing our best to stop or slow that change, as we do in the short term with agricultural irrigation, stabilizing the "precipitation," so to speak. But the harder we work to force environmental constancy onto our surroundings, the more fragile that constancy becomes and the greater the effort and energy it takes. The use of groundwater for crop irrigation illustrates that fragility. Large aquifers that took many thousands of years to develop are being depleted for crop irrigation over comparatively short times—decades or centuries.

Excerpt from The Moon in the Nautilus Shell: Discordant Harmonies Reconsidered, by Daniel B. Botkin. 

The Magic of Christmas

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!” 
― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

“Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer.... Who'd have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously? ” 

― Bill Watterson, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes

“And when we give each other Christmas gifts in His name, let us remember that He has given us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans--and all that lives and move upon them. He has given us all green things and everything that blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel about and all that we have misused--and to save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down to earth and gave us Himself.” 

― Sigrid Undset

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. 

― Charles Dickens

Every day is like Christmas for us because Jesus is so good to us every day, but this time is extra special because He pours out His love in extra measure. We feel His love from loved ones, acquaintances, and even strangers. There's just something about Jesus' birthday that turns people's hearts and minds to peace and love and goodwill. It brings out the best in everyone because it brings Jesus out, and He's the best!

— David Brandt Berg 

What is the real essence of Christmas?

     We always say that LOVE is the real essence of Christmas. Yes, but with whom? In the Philippines, it's already a tradition to celebrate Christmas as the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We welcome it with festivity and grandeur. But why do we celebrate such? Is it for getting-along-on-the-go? Like selfie purposes? Or get together parties? Such reasons are not sufficient to uproot the importance of Christmas. It is a season of love-- love of God and love of each and every one of us.

            Last Sunday, when we were in Tagaytay, we visited Little Souls Sisters Convent and had mass. In the homily, the priest shared something that really made me smile for long. It is when he visited a three year old girl who has severe and communicable illness. At first he wavered. He even wore gloves because he was afraid he might get infected. When he saw the girl, he was surprised because in every move that she makes, she keeps on whining and whining. But he was really scared. (And so do I, if I’m in his place). He went again on the other day. But this time, he’s really determined to see her and heal her. Because on his way going there, he saw Jesus. Jesus who is ideal and perfect. He saw Him healing the weak with no hesitations. Jesus, the only one we say perfect, cured the sick because of his powerful love. This incident should serve as a lesson for us. A lesson that will mold us to be better persons.

            This Christmas, we should all indulge its real essence. Share peace and love to everyone.  And if you want to keep Christ in your hearts this Christmas, “feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.” 

            Have a merry and productive Yuletide and a prosperous New Year! May the odds be ever in your favor! 

Equality: Shaping the Connection

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

     We are bounded with diverse denotations of equality. All around, it is a notion, an abstract, with a magical touch that has inspired millions to revolt in the past. Philosophers and revolutionaries have used this concept liberally to win over the hearts of the common citizenry. Thus, democracy in government and standard of living can be appropriately implemented only when there is equality in social, cultural, political and in general society. 

   As a teen born in the mid 1990's, I have already witness the significance of equality and unity in our social order. And I personally believe that the genuine victory that we all long for can be achieved through one voice- democracy. That Philippines will rise in breaking barriers when all of us will be given EQUAL opportunities. 

   Such noble persons also come to my mind when heard the word racial discrimination.One is Martin Luther King, Jr. I even got my introduction from him. It was stated in his well famed speech, "I Have A Dream", the Emancipation Proclamation decree that served as a beacon light to millions of Negros who were slaves in the flames of withering injustice.

It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. 

    In that sentence, right after  declaring the main idea, Dr. King continues to broaden the appeal of the speech to include all people, not only the blacks. With this single sentence, he shares his dream throughout the world and hopes that one day, every thing, every person, all and sundry will be integrated for a great tomorrow.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

     What awaits us in the future? Will there be peace? Prosperity? Love? And equality? Just like the ending of his speech, can we attain the freedom ring? Could we utter the words, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" The sequel relies on us.