tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52640575350202584132024-02-07T16:27:13.518-08:00The Tale of the Untitledkizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-45075375374325888002011-04-30T09:48:00.000-07:002011-05-01T01:52:24.405-07:00The Heroes of Today<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Centaur, serif; font-size: large;">When people speak of a hero centuries earlier, chivalry comes to mind. They were known for exemplary traits. The public referred them as people who risked their lives fighting for their nations. These were the ones who braved the scorching heat of the sun, the longing from their families, the hunger, and restlessness as they battled for the greatest cause, which by then was liberty. They were heroes because they died so that the later generations will enjoy what was deprived of them.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Earlier in the past, when we spoke of a hero, many could still recollect the names of Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and the courageous couple Diego and Gabriela Silang. Nevertheless, not many of the populace may remember Tandang Sora, Gregorio and Marcelo del Pilar or Galicano Apacible. Perhaps, not many of the Filipinos may know how Pedro Paterno became the peacemaker of revolution or who constituted the 13 martyrs from Cavite, much less understand their cause.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Many decades later and hero has a new face.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos was toppled by EDSA revolution, his successor, the late former president Corazon Aquino was deemed a hero because she was a symbol of a new hope. She was perceived as someone who could bring back the suppressed freedom during martial law.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Centaur, serif; font-size: large;">Nonetheless, a change in regime also entails a change in the face of a Philippine hero.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It was in Aquino’s term when the OFWs were institutionalized as the “new heroes” when their billions of remittances help the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">ailing </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Philippine economy afloat.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Such notion was supported by her successor, Fidel Ramos, when he addressed the OFWs as the “new heroes of the Philippines.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But like the heroes in the past, the heroes of our time are vulnerable to death. Because of media exposure, <a href="http://www.pmm.qc.ca/english/spip.php?article13">Flor Contemplacion</a> was probably the first OFW casualty who had been explicitly described as the "modern day hero" as she remained strong until her execution in Singapore.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In Gloria Arroyo’s term, the OFWs being the hero earned a new mileage: “heroes of the new millennium”, referring to millions of Filipinos who left the country to seek for greener pasture, self-growth, and fulfill their destiny, which also equated to more billions of remittances. It was also in her time, when <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/20/iraq/main630757.shtml">Angelo de la Cruz</a> left for Iraq a poor man, only to come home a hero when he was saved from his captivators.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvymnY8C4qGaipBbxvqMmEASCeo0o1XgHOVD8NYQ89zvWlp_1eWfOKq8b0y8LLh3wsYwUezK0mI3PV9HjGg5J1hM7GrGxU2G8-B-O5ggSF9xnWXWJnlaD9jtfMvFaAndZP-BMpzQRPDE/s1600/heroes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvymnY8C4qGaipBbxvqMmEASCeo0o1XgHOVD8NYQ89zvWlp_1eWfOKq8b0y8LLh3wsYwUezK0mI3PV9HjGg5J1hM7GrGxU2G8-B-O5ggSF9xnWXWJnlaD9jtfMvFaAndZP-BMpzQRPDE/s320/heroes.jpg" width="314" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">While these industrious workers are toiling abroad, some local talents excel in their craft. Their excellence in their craft, though, did not contain within the Philippine archipelago. They championed even in the international community in industry such as beauty, sports, music, dance, and film. And each time a Filipino wins a competition abroad, the nation uses the word ‘hero’ to describe such victorious aspirant. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">No, nothing is wrong with that, after all, we live in modern times when we no longer fight for our freedom. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In an article entitled “<a href="http://rajarumugam.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/08/what-are-heroes-for.htm">What are heroes for?</a>”, the author, Raj Arumugam says: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif;">“</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><b>By their very achievement, heroes become exemplary, pointing out implicitly to the individual that each can achieve things just as they have done. These heroes point to possibilities: that one can become what one wishes to be</b></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;">.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If we apply such statement in our country however, one should not wonder why the names such as Manny Pacquiao, Charice Pempengco, and Shamcey Supsup are the latest additions to the list of modern day heroes, instead of names that would inspire Filipinos to excel in business, engineering, science and technology, innovation, and invention. Filipinos simply find relief and pleasure from entertainment and sports </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Centaur, serif;">than in academic excellence</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Centaur, serif;">.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">While there is nothing wrong in seeing a hero in the likes of these individuals, there is the danger of inculcating a wrong message in the young minds of today’s generation: that the easiest way to succeed is to be a hero of the modern Philippines.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Such is not impossible as Filipinos are known to worship the heroes, who are in turn encouraged by their own vanity and sense of self-importance as what Raj warned in his article. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It actually discourages self-fulfillment and sense of originality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Overall, I have nothing against using the word ‘hero’ to describe someone who continues to bring glory to our nation. My only concern, nonetheless, is how the impact of the said ‘hero’ is treated by his admirers. Does it inspire the person to excel in his chosen field rather than following the path of his hero? Or does the hero remain a hero in other people’s lives?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Centaur, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Sadly, many Filipinos fall in the latter category as they always need a hero. The heroic acts of their heroes cannot compel them to go out of their box and reach their own full potential. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Centaur, serif; font-size: large;">Whether we ascribe to the heroes in the past or the everyday heroes in the street, one thing should be remembered: we learn from them and we become our own heroes. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Centaur, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<br />
</div>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-39754747490185938572011-04-15T11:43:00.000-07:002011-04-15T13:03:03.348-07:00Manners: Do You Know These?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Every week on a Saturday, I often have a date with my best friend on Skype Messenger for a few hours to exchange news. She works in one of the international MNCs in Dubai, among the beautiful destinations known today for tourists and employment seekers. </span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">Though a nation of Arabs with Islam as her religion, Dubai employs many of our Filipino graduates, under-graduates, and even the unlettered, whether Christian, Protestants, and fellow Islam adherents.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif;">A clean nation with disciplined inhabitants, the Filipinos however, manage to showcase their lack of manners in Dubai. Apparently, being in a highly-advanced country does not afford these individuals some etiquette, especially if they are in the company of fellow Filipinos.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">Defined by the <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/manners">Dictionary</a> as social comportment, Manners are supposedly implied. They are cultivated at home by our parents or elderly. These are the polite standards that constitute our character; our being. It does not take an expensive education to learn how to give deference to the existence of others or to understand the reason why.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">For instance, when somebody is still sleeping when you wake up in the morning and do the necessary preparation, reasons dictate that you respect those who are still having their sleep by being discreet in your </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 18px;">actions and words. You would not want to wake them up with your loud noise. That—is a specified rule.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">Such is not the case among many Filipinos who are more concerned with their own interests like pursuing materialistic goals, often circumventing laws and doing other forms of violations. While these goals certainly improve their economic conditions, wealth and all material possessions cannot buy the owner some manners. These cannot make people humans.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">In her book “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy:_Who_Needs_It">Philosophy: Who Needs it?</a>”, Ayn Rand advocates that “reason is not merely a distinguishing attribute of man. It is his fundamental attribute; his basic means of survival.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">This means that if man would only use his reasons coupled with philosophy, he can think, act, and live. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">The problem with most Filipinos is that they often misuse their reasons in their endeavors. When they do their activity—whatever it is—they do so without regard to others who also own similar rights. Ironically, they dismiss the old axiom that their rights end where the rights of others begin to exist; which only supposes that our rights are never absolute.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">Many Filipinos in Dubai rent a bed space for their housing accommodation, despite their high salary. Maybe it’s the expensive rental fee that keeps them from having their own private place. Or perhaps it’s the Filipino culture of wanting to be around fellow Filipinos that they’d rather huddle in a space as small as a room.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">Unlike in our country, the rooms in Dubai are further subdivided to accommodate many, and at the same time, allow each bed spacer some privacy despite being in one room with technically, six or twelve bed spacers (this holds true even in condominiums, apartments, and pads). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxFg5iUMmPjX6VYGrEpqPv_SxWzLdNQg2A9o1-peAWkulse3b75z8ViSPfmMZy1yEWkzDyy_Diq5PlCZCsstpxoiMMMcaGEZau3OO4b6XEp2FyZ-epS0HuEW7klQMc94hV2zikWaWDvY/s1600/noise+manners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikxFg5iUMmPjX6VYGrEpqPv_SxWzLdNQg2A9o1-peAWkulse3b75z8ViSPfmMZy1yEWkzDyy_Diq5PlCZCsstpxoiMMMcaGEZau3OO4b6XEp2FyZ-epS0HuEW7klQMc94hV2zikWaWDvY/s1600/noise+manners.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">A few of my friends in Dubai complain of the noise from fellow Filipino bed spacers especially in the morning when they have to come-and-go out of the room, in the course of preparing to go to the office. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">Also, when they engage in conversations with their fellow bed spacers late in the evening or sometimes after midnight, they talk like they own the whole room or like they are having a party. They do not consider that others who are in the same room may already want to have their rest, but cannot do so with their loud noise. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">And to think that they all pay the same rental fees.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">A similar thing can be said in using the Television, DVD player, and Videoke, which usually starts in the morning </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 14px;">of Friday or Saturday [Dubai’s weekend] to late in the evening.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">There are also situations where Filipinos talk to someone on their mobile phones with high volume of voice so that everybody can have knowledge of their conversations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">If you try to confront them about it, they would apologize, yes, but this does not stop them from committing the same act. Others would claim they are just curing their loneliness or the longing for their loved ones back in the Philippines. If you persist with your complaint, they would accuse you of being insensitive, inconsiderate, and incapable of understanding because maybe, you don’t have a family or are never close to them when you were still in the Philippines or wherever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">In another scenario, despite the written reminder posted conspicuously about the house rules, many Filipinos ignore them. These range from maintaining cleanliness in the kitchen, toilet and bathroom, to using the facilities available like TV, Refrigerator, and Stove.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">In “What Makes Man Truly Human” book, the author, Michael Morga said that we, humans are only considered to have reached our full humanness—and thus become truly humans—when we became aware of and learn to use our physical potentials, cognitive abilities, and human sensitivity. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">Of course, to make ourselves truly humans, we should also develop these traits through many years of learning and training which start at home and continue outside during our interactions with different institutions and sectors in the world; and with fellow human beings. It is during this time when we incorporate philosophy in our lives; a time when we became acquainted with manners.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">The attitude of Filipinos described earlier is not exclusive. Nor can it be said that it is the place that makes them forget their manners. In the Philippines, similar stories abound in boarding houses, apartments, dormitories, and in work places, especially, in the BPO industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">At times, they happen even at our very own houses.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 115%;">Morga stated, nevertheless, that throughout our lives, not all humans make themselves truly humans as many fail to procure the requirements of becoming one. This means that, some people, including Filipinos never learn to understand the truth about human sensitivity, particularly, in practicing manners.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua', serif; line-height: 18px;">Photo Credits: http://ow.ly/4BgMq </span></div></div>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-17259018740086009812011-03-22T10:32:00.000-07:002011-03-22T11:51:40.718-07:00P-Noy And The Fable Of The Mermaid And The Drunks<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAz2QiyucPHpB6K0C_rkEGZ1WgPE2MNFRni3d89Oo0Dk8Ak_IkwrMrTPxA6hojat55gAoQWdjwFnbJSfn5ehtNqUc_8TKK-qmcd-jLlhmoWawteHGK9hsoce0uGqYlT2mnihG5F2V7_N0/s1600/mermaid-of-the-lake.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 374px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAz2QiyucPHpB6K0C_rkEGZ1WgPE2MNFRni3d89Oo0Dk8Ak_IkwrMrTPxA6hojat55gAoQWdjwFnbJSfn5ehtNqUc_8TKK-qmcd-jLlhmoWawteHGK9hsoce0uGqYlT2mnihG5F2V7_N0/s400/mermaid-of-the-lake.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586959273207067026" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Mermaids, though putative for their enchanting voice and a beauty like no other, are almost always ill-fated in folklores. They are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">soulless</i> creatures.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">The mermaid in Hans Christian Andersen’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Little Mermaid</i>, Sirenetta, roused by love, traded her voice for a pair of leg to be with the mortal prince in the human world. She must earn the love of her life, lest she will not gain a soul. In the end, her love, unrequited turned her into foam, however. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Such fate was told not of the mermaid in Oscar Wilde’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">The Fisherman and His Soul</i>, where <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>it was rather the young fisherman who fell in love with the mermaid and had to lose his soul to join the sea folk’s kingdom underneath the sea. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Though his love was recompensed, the fisherman was forced to abandon his love and the sea kingdom to be with his soul again because of a condition that wasn’t revealed to him until it was violated. In the end, the mermaid died of a broken heart. The fisherman chose to die then and there.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">The tragic ending of mermaids in literatures might be because such creatures, though created by imaginative human minds cannot co-exist with mankind, even in an imaginary world.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">In Pablo Neruda’s <i>Fable of the Mermaid and the Drunks</i>, the mermaid was interpreted in three levels by the greatest minds in our time—man vs. animals, man vs. woman, and man vs. nature. The mermaid portrayed the animal, the woman, and the nature, while men played the drunks. In all three analyses, man is the cause of the beast and mankind’s suffering, including women’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">During the months that the revolutions are taking down dictators in the Arab world one after another, and followed by three consecutive tragedies that devastated Japan, it dawned on me another analysis of the mermaid. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">She was the collective citizens of a state, particularly of the Philippines.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">All these fellows were there inside when she entered</i></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">utterly naked.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"> </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"><br /><span class="apple-style-span">They’d been drinking and began to spit at her,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">recently come from the river, she understood nothing.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">She was a mermaid who had lost her way,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">the taunts flowed over her glistening flesh</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Obscenities drenched her golden breasts."</span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">I see P-Noy and his government as the drunks who betrayed Filipino citizens when it was declared publicly that his government shall follow a “voluntary repatriation policy” for OFWs in Japan. P-Noy’s regime also crowed that those who cannot afford to buy their own plane tickets to evacuate from radiation-stricken Japan should settle for a flight from C-130 of the Air Force.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">While it is not uncommon to use a C-130 aircraft during rescue operations, using it in a situation like this is uncalled for especially when P-Noy had just spent more than P12 million for his trip to Indonesia and Singapore together with 53 crew members, including the salingket Mar Roxas.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">P-Noy’s thrift policy is inappropriate. I deem it as boastfulness notwithstanding that he unabashedly offered $14 million assistance to the Japanese Prime Minister, who instantly and wisely declined; and not to mention his increased pork barrel as the president.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If P-Noy could easily issue a huge cash of that amount to someone or to another government, why couldn’t he issue the same for OFWs in Japan who remit $880,000 yearly? <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">What was it for him with such arrogance? In Pablo Neruda’s fable, the barbaric greetings continue:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black">"A stranger to tears, she did not weep,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"> </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"><br /><span class="apple-style-span">A stranger to clothes, she did not dress.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">They pocked her with cigarette ends and with burnt corks</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">And rolled on the tavern floor in raucous laughter</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">She did not speak, since speech was unknown to her</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Her eyes were the colour of far away love</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Her arms were matching topazes</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Her lips moved soundlessly in coral light"</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">In today’s circumstance, the OFWs cannot rely on their government at a time when the latter is expected to make a decision in their favor. Truly, while Senator Franklin Drilon admitted that the available financial resources— which were previously denied by P-Noy when asked by media on how he should respond to the OFW’s equally dangerous situation in Libya—were not enough to shoulder the chartered flights for OFWs in Japan and Libya, not all are willing to go home.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">This should lighten the burden of OWWA and aid in ensuring that those who want to come home should be accommodated.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">But no, we cannot expect wisdom in P-Noy. He has since been caught always with his rigmarole remarks each time his governance encounters events that could supposedly display his competent leadership. He has every opportunity. Yet, he disappoints each time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">The combined dollar remittances of OFWs in the Middle East and Africa were $3 billion, an anchor that keeps Philippines’ economy lofted.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Because the government cannot provide jobs not only for sustenance, also for self-growth of Filipinos nonetheless, the country is being depleted of talents, thereby, missing development opportunities and slacking further backward.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Worse, the drunks in the government persist intoxicating themselves with the spoils from the mermaids’ toil abroad, with no regard for their welfare. They keep on receiving without the intention of giving.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:black">Neruda’s fable has a melancholic ending.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black">"And ultimately she left by that door</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"> </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"; color:black"><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Hardly had she entered the river than she was cleansed</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Gleaming once more like a white stone in the rain</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">And without a backward look, she swam once more</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><span class="apple-style-span">Swam towards nothingness, swam to her dawn"</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">History tells of Filipinos who swam to nothingness, which is the destruction, which is the death. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Was it the mermaid’s beauty that maddens the drunks to violate her? Could it be her voice then, which myths said that when heard in a chant, may bewitch men and make them succumb to her every wish that made the drunks to rather abuse her to death?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Photo credits: http://ow.ly/4jKby<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px; "> </span></p>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-12392264485892734162011-03-05T23:08:00.000-08:002011-03-07T02:24:15.167-08:00Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?<span class="Apple-style-span"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzDEGNfJdVafxMzATHYnwlwkwHVY9uC2IAePYQZuckUJPCb0UpGAyJgM2z4HvsiCkuIOshlhoIT4sdLzHqzU8DrkJNVAQ6uWu-rN3Zy1hsPs3_3y0xiaP1FN8bMbaMdS8YEHJ4NKOfl9Q/s1600/womenday.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 388px; height: 278px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzDEGNfJdVafxMzATHYnwlwkwHVY9uC2IAePYQZuckUJPCb0UpGAyJgM2z4HvsiCkuIOshlhoIT4sdLzHqzU8DrkJNVAQ6uWu-rN3Zy1hsPs3_3y0xiaP1FN8bMbaMdS8YEHJ4NKOfl9Q/s400/womenday.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580860980479505586" /></a><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; "><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Having had a very old tale of mankind's creation astutely asserting a woman coming from a man’s rib passed on to many generations until it examines our comprehension ability today, entails two interpretations:</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">That a woman complements a man. And that a woman is seen as a weaker vessel.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">What a woman can do in a man’s life is best described by an American actor and singer, Groucho Marx, when he said:</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">“Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.”</span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Stories of men who find their wives complementary to their lives call to mind a classic song of Bryan Adam’s <em>Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman:</em></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><em>“To really love a woman</em><em> </em><em></em></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">to understand her </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><em></em></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">you’ve got to know what’s deep inside </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><em> </em><em>hear every thought see every dream </em></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">and give her wings when she wants to fly" </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">A woman decides not by impulses, but with after careful discernment. In every decision she makes, there are emotions </span>invested. A woman nourishes. A woman nurtures. That’s why her understanding is beyond a man’s.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><em>“You've got to give her some faith</em><em> </em><em></em></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">hold her tight </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><em></em></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">a little tenderness </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">you’ve gotta treat her right </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">she will be there for you </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">taking good care of you”</span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">That’s why our planet earth has a gender [Mother Nature]; because a woman’s love resembles that of the nature’s: unselfish.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">She puts the interests of her loved ones ahead of her own.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">When a woman’s emotions are hurt, she may shudder with pain. Nonetheless, the same excruciating pain becomes her motivating factor. She will falter many times, yes. But she will never abnegate in fighting what she feels she deserves. In what she believes are her rights. </span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">That’s why names of typhoons, cyclones, and hurricanes are feminine. Because a woman can storm out anytime to fight for her family, friends, society, and the principles she dearly believes in.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Morbidly however, most men today see a woman as a weaker vessel from an unpleasant perspective. A woman’s natural compassion has been used against her.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Rampant worldwide are millions of deaths of women who asserted for equality of rights. More millions of women are burned with acid simply because of exercising their right to make a decision.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Horrible accounts of women who, because of ridiculous culture and religious beliefs have been castrated, tortured, prostituted, discriminated, and deprived of their much-deserved life persist even up to the present, a time when advances in technology are on the peak and which are thought to ameliorate a woman’s conditions.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Or at least liberate the minds of more men.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Thousands of terrifying news about physical, psycho-mental, emotional, and sexual violations against women and little girls moved many writers to pen stories about a woman’s afflictions from across the borders, motivated many lyricists to compose songs about a woman and her worth, and inspired thousands of artists to adapt into films the life’s journey of women.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">These also send governments and their politicians to <a href="http://ow.ly/48IMN">enact laws</a> intent on protecting women and mitigating the abuses hurled against them. Ironically, some religious institutions and governments were behind the massive killings of women and their children as what the pages of world history tell us and they are among the culprits aimed to govern by the said enactment.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Sadly, most men fail to understand what Bryan Adam’s song would like to convey:</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><em>“To really love a woman</em><em> </em><em></em></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">to let her hold you </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><em></em></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">till you know how she needs to be touched </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">you’ve gotta breathe her </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">and really taste her </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><em>until you can feel her in your blood”</em><em> </em></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">A woman is vulnerable, especially to love. But the analogy of her being a weaker vessel does not mean she is inferior. Having been created out of a man’s rib does not afford men the right to possess her.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">When Bryan Adams sings in conclusion:</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">“When you love a woman </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">you tell her that she’s really woman </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">When you love a woman </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">you tell her that she’s the one </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span">She needs somebody” </span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><em><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></em></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">The message is not really about needing a man in her life being equal to enslaving a woman and confining her to a house or a cell. Nor is it about a man earning the right to use a force, pain or intimidation against a woman to love him back. Neither is it to see her as a mere sexual object.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">The essence is about women's right to respect. Their right to life. It is about women, like all men, who are as well intellectual beings endowed with <em>equal</em> will. A woman, therefore, is never a possession.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Perhaps, what men ought to learn is to love women like their own bodies.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span">So, have you ever really loved a woman?</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p></span>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-89504188442863456862011-03-04T09:29:00.000-08:002011-03-22T11:26:26.249-07:00Silly Thoughts<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; "><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Resisting my mind is quite a battle I’d always rather end up giving in to an already due impulse than to endure a long thread of agony from brushing it off almost every chance of listening to it.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Quite many are the reasons why I shouldn’t write you another of my unsolicited <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2011/02/tale-of-300-threads.html">messages</a>. But I am twins with stubbornness, and writing is my way of depleting something that stirs bafflement, which does not bless me with peace of mind by the way.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Writing my mind off is my favored egress. Besides, my mind is being selfish on how I must structure my sentences to complete my <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentines-day-and-rise-in-teenage.html">tasks</a> tonight, whatever date tonight is for if there’s one thing that’s certain, this ridiculous squiggling won’t find its way to the <em>compose message</em> part of my FB only to be mocked and laughed at by you.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Too, my mind rather wants me to scribble words from a personal <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2011/03/rh-bill-to-whom-does-p-noy-owe-his_03.html">perspective</a>. So here I am writing you another of my silly thoughts.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Let me be straightforward thenceforth.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">I write because I want to say sorry. More than pissing you off, I might have frightened you. Frightened with how you must have been acquainted with my <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2011/02/hatred.html">reverence</a> to your written and spoken mind. Frightened you that I <em>almost</em> became your virtual stalker.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">The truth of the matter is that, I as well, find myself frightened to a possibility that the very reason of frightening you was a misreckoning of how I marvel at how your mind works.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">No, it’s not what you think it is, if that’s what your instincts told you. I simply take delight in individuals having minds like yours, nothing more. Nothing less to be aggrandized with either.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">But it scared you that you blocked me from <em>detailing</em> on your wall, which was already tantamount to un-friending me. </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Your silence is like a sickness that cripples even my bones. </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">It seems like you whispered to the winds how you detest every inch of me. And I feel <em>that</em> each time I gasp for air.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">My soul has been <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2011/02/reproductive-health-bill-bibles_26.html">agitated</a>, like Job's. </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">I thought that your “we really do need to put this behind us” last line in your message was true to its meaning in a positive way.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "> </p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Or did you unmistakably mean to say never talk to strangers?</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Still, my apology.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">P.S. Look, it's March, your month. Greetings on <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2010/03/woman-how-far-have-you-gone.html">International Women's Day</a>.</p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><br /></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Photo credits: <a href="http://ow.ly/47ZYg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="cursor: pointer; color: rgb(59, 89, 152); text-decoration: none; ">http://ow.ly/47ZYg</a> </p></span>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-60730325606363749472011-03-03T02:48:00.001-08:002011-03-03T19:09:13.610-08:00RH Bill: To Whom Does P-Noy Owe His Governance?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmAdl9iRiGg5GT3ZE8-kB2IYE6bBrk4h-pwpk9Xip4mZduCT0mTlWepw6Ke7nQ-Gb0VIccpQR5mwkWk7OklVCv0Cs5da05_2VbbzOZcjDNze-4ejiAg5ufkQFUIJCDDTquRhgcixhHzU/s1600/Noy.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmAdl9iRiGg5GT3ZE8-kB2IYE6bBrk4h-pwpk9Xip4mZduCT0mTlWepw6Ke7nQ-Gb0VIccpQR5mwkWk7OklVCv0Cs5da05_2VbbzOZcjDNze-4ejiAg5ufkQFUIJCDDTquRhgcixhHzU/s400/Noy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579841583575799602" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp/> <w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> <w:word11kerningpairs/> <w:cachedcolbalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont val="Cambria Math"> <m:brkbin val="before"> <m:brkbinsub val="--"> <m:smallfrac val="off"> <m:dispdef/> <m:lmargin val="0"> <m:rmargin val="0"> <m:defjc val="centerGroup"> <m:wrapindent val="1440"> <m:intlim val="subSup"> <m:narylim val="undOvr"> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true" defsemihidden="true" defqformat="false" defpriority="99" latentstylecount="267"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Normal"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="heading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="9" qformat="true" name="heading 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 7"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 8"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" name="toc 9"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="35" qformat="true" name="caption"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="10" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" name="Default Paragraph Font"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="11" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtitle"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="22" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Strong"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="20" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="59" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Table Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Placeholder Text"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="1" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="No Spacing"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Revision"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="34" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="List Paragraph"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="29" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="30" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Quote"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="60" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="61" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="62" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Light Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="63" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="64" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="65" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="67" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="68" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="69" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="70" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Dark List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="71" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="72" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful List Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="73" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="19" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >In addressing social, political, and economic issues, the Philippine president <span style="font-style: italic;">forgets</span> his discretion. In matters concerning making national decisions, P-Noy is not known to formulate his own.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Despite the supposed separation of powers between church and state, which ought to characterize the system of government in the Republic of the Philippines in lieu of democracy, the head of state continues to allow his mandate be besmirched by a religious sector, the Catholic Church to be exact.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Of late, the said church crosses the borders again and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">overuses </i>its powers to block the enactment of the <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2011/02/reproductive-health-bill-bibles_26.html">Reproductive Health Bill</a>, which when ratified could provide safe and efficient maternal healthcare among women, thereby abbreviating the number of maternal deaths; mitigate the contagion of sexually-transmitted diseases including AIDS, and avert the <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentines-day-and-rise-in-teenage.html">ballooning</a> of our population, among others.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" ><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >The constitutional doctrine of church and state separation clearly implies that there <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">is no </i>religion recognized by the state to be the national or official. This means that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">no</i> church in the Philippines shall use its beliefs or employ its powers to mold the minds of politicians during legislations as part of their functions. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Apparently, the Catholic Church does not respect it, in as much as it does not acknowledge its own blemishes. Instead, it professes dominance over the government by claiming divinity.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >No one—including any institution—should be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">above</i> the law. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >However, the way the incumbent administration is handling its national affairs, it impresses even to the international community that the president and his government is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">under </i>the Catholic Church’s laws, or another’s.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Also, the same doctrine signifies that the government must not favor a religion or church over the others in exercising its authority. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Certainly, the state’s executive fails to uphold this as it lets the Catholic Church’s self-professed morality impede the consummation of his presidency, while refusing to listen to the grievances of groups that represent collective opinion of the greater populace.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Where is the rule of law?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >It has performed a disappearing act a long time ago. Equality was lost among individuals and institutions as interests of the select few were given more emphasis over the others. The very principle of unity itself has divided the peoples. Many of whom cry for justice. While others pursue different endeavors with varied motives, sometimes, to the extent of trampling on others' rights.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >As the ensuing days project to unravel more hideous scenarios in the political arena in and outside the nation, the picture would likely depict a regular theme: a president <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">married</i> to the Catholic Church (Oh, why not when he even consulted during a retreat the Bishops’ wisdom whether or not he should gun for the highest position in the land).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Could it be the reason why the incumbent president acts like the CBCP’s puppy, este, the anointed?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Obviously, this term’s president is collared by the CBCP.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-line-height:115%;Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Photo Credits: http://ow.ly/4706Y</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi- line-height:115%;Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" > </span></p> <span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-line-height:115%; font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" ><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmKlDa4FUZkRRCl7Xd97r3JLyf60iMhHKnyMFDz5ZR7mA0C2vX2dln_9JpTuRXQrOL5JwT6dq5wD5nhKAjLRgaPV6cpSP1E-4Ts4f1ZP-Mv0-Jxp1np2-1mMTG1pqiHC-ckDF2VrVbXo/s1600/Noy.jpg"><span style="color:blue;"><br /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxmKlDa4FUZkRRCl7Xd97r3JLyf60iMhHKnyMFDz5ZR7mA0C2vX2dln_9JpTuRXQrOL5JwT6dq5wD5nhKAjLRgaPV6cpSP1E-4Ts4f1ZP-Mv0-Jxp1np2-1mMTG1pqiHC-ckDF2VrVbXo/s1600/Noy.jpg"><span style="color:blue;"> </span></a></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRyGZbreS83_xtraYCNg22sXgq90b4_eFwNYDuN4G-gA2-VeTI2v81XUfTg9iWc9alVR27R2u6ntWwK1s-unIFXruzGmgQr73R_RSSOVX27A9KIIXVYgSolLMpWd0p4Ue3CnhLC8kGd1M/s1600/Noy.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRyGZbreS83_xtraYCNg22sXgq90b4_eFwNYDuN4G-gA2-VeTI2v81XUfTg9iWc9alVR27R2u6ntWwK1s-unIFXruzGmgQr73R_RSSOVX27A9KIIXVYgSolLMpWd0p4Ue3CnhLC8kGd1M/s400/Noy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579804825908476098" border="0" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-68271014925917149382011-02-26T08:59:00.000-08:002011-03-02T22:41:23.230-08:00Reproductive Health Bill: the Bible’s Viewpoint vs. the Catholic Church’s<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1IG3OwwUOzOOYUThk-Q8UWjCdfJ6v_V4s2WrmE3khMLrlJZilggXTZV6Zgzcm34HakyfvRpXzLKvSZOyiOlJTVubFwqaEzURRbyVP9nBAGwqRl1K195zdCXrBxua4MCStAEzCSsodCQ/s1600/become-ordained-bishop-200X200.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1IG3OwwUOzOOYUThk-Q8UWjCdfJ6v_V4s2WrmE3khMLrlJZilggXTZV6Zgzcm34HakyfvRpXzLKvSZOyiOlJTVubFwqaEzURRbyVP9nBAGwqRl1K195zdCXrBxua4MCStAEzCSsodCQ/s400/become-ordained-bishop-200X200.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578044882424892530" border="0" /></a><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><br />“You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”</span></b><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.”—Romans 14:10-13. </span></b><b><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;" >New Revised Standard Version Bible (Catholic)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Christianity is as old as time. Early records pointed out to middle 1<sup>st</sup> century as the time when Christianity started out as a Jewish sect. History has it that beginning in what we now call today as the modern Israel and Palestine, the said religion quickly spread to regions in Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Egypt like a resilient virus would. Then suddenly, by the 4<sup>th</sup> century, Christianity dominated the Roman Empire and thus, Christians—as its adherents are called—began to flourish.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >The Wikipedia defined Christianity as a “religion . . . as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings” or what we know to coin, the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >The gospels are among the highlights of a religious mass served in a Catholic Church. Church leaders such as the Priests, Bishops, and the Pope preach the Bible as the ultimate instrument from which all other teachings and principles are rooted. It supposedly professes morality, and prescribes life as sacred deserving of respect.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Now having said all these, it is likely odd that the Roman Catholic Church itself continues to violate its very own teachings. The most recent of which is the Reproductive Health Bill of the Philippines, which seeks to institutionalize the access to information and methods of birth control and healthcare— maternal care to be specific—but which is continuously thwarted by the Church to the extent of threatening to excommunicate the country’s head of state, His Excellency Benigno Aquino III should it be enacted.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >The debate on the morality of the use of contraceptives is as ancient as Christianity itself. Since its recognition as an institution, it consistently rescinds any artificial birth control methods to be disrespectful and “morally unacceptable.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >It teaches to its adherents that any action designed to stymie procreation is “intrinsically evil.” Thence, to the Catholic Church, the sexual intercourses between marriage mates should remain open to pregnancy; period.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >As a Christian, I do wonder where such teaching is founded as I have been mentally trained since childhood that God, the omniscient Supreme Being is interested in the welfare of mankind. He [God] does not command that which He [God] already knows would be detrimental to mankind’s health and spirituality such as abusing or overusing one’s body of its functions.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >As a woman, I consider conception as among my inherent functions and the forbiddance levied upon the use of contraceptives compelled me to do [I haven’t opened the Bible in ages] a Bible research, after all, it is where the Catholic Church should base its teachings.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Surprisingly however, while the life of a child [and the unborn embryo] is excogitated as precious to God, nowhere can one find the commandment from the Bible that Christians should procreate as well. Consider what the book of Genesis 1:28 chants:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.”—New King James Version<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Or Genesis 9:1, which chimes:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >“So God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: ‘Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.’ ”—New American Bible (Catholic)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Except for the Bible verses mentioned above, there are no more extant Bible verses that would cement the claim of the Catholic Church that sexual intercourses should gear towards propagation, or conception for that matter. The same commandment was not repeated to Christians. Thus, it is only politically correct to conclude that the holy Scriptures do not condemn birth control.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >With such revelation, it is consequential to inquire how the Catholic Church formulated such teaching. In an Awake! magazine published on September 2007, a featured article entitled: “The Bible’s Viewpoint: Is Contraception Morally Wrong?” states:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >“Catholic sources explain that it was in the second century C.E. that professed Christians first adopted a Stoic rule according to which the sole lawful purpose for marital intercourse was procreation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Therefore, the Catholic Church’s stand on contraception is rather philosophical than Biblical. That such teaching is instituted on human wisdom, instead of divine. That such age-old man-made tenet survived many centuries, and elaborated several times by Catholic theologians until 13<sup>th</sup> century, when Gregory IX legislated “the first universal legislation by a pope against contraception,” as what the New Catholic Encyclopedia says.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >As opposed to the Catholic Church’s teaching of declaring sexual intercourse to be an instrument of propagation, the Bible stipulates cultivation of sense of responsibility in each individual. Consider again a Bible text found in 1Timothy 5:8, saying:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >“But if any man have not care of his own, and especially of those of his house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”—Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (Catholic)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Being responsible entails more than being provident materially, though it is the principal task. In a separate article ‘Family Planning—The Christian Viewpoint’ from another publication of Awake! magazine, it reads:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >“Responsible Christian couples, in <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentines-day-and-rise-in-teenage.html">planning the size of their families</a>, take into consideration the mother’s physical well-being as well as her emotional, mental, and spiritual welfare.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Simply put, as children are presents from God, along with such presents emerge tremendous responsibility. Caring for the child soaks up a lot of time that when a baby is closely followed by another, a mother sacrifices not just her time, but also her personal development, rest, recreation, and involvement in Christian activities as mandated by the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >The article continues: “The State of the World’s Population 1991 says: ‘Children born into large, closely-spaced families have to compete with brothers and sisters for food, clothing, and parental affection. If these children survived their vulnerable childhood years, their growth is more likely to be stunted and their intellectual development impaired. . as their prospects in adult life are greatly diminished.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >I hate to infer that majority of Filipinos’ mediocre mental capacity might also be alluded to the nation’s ballooning population.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >The Reproductive Health Bill stanchions among others, the employment of contraceptives such as condoms, birth control pills, IntraUterine Device, Vasectomy, Diaphragm, and Sponges, and legalizes the reproductive health education among the age-appropriate students.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >The Catholic Church believes that birth control pills are abortifacient. How preposterous and prejudicial such teaching is when birth control pills work by interfering with a woman’s normal hormone levels in such a way that the egg prevents from maturing and being released, although there are indeed pills designed to cause abortion and not to prevent conception like the Mifepristone and Misoprostol!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >A similar mechanics work for other contraception methods encompassed within the RH bill.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >In the website prolifephysicians.com, abortifacient is defined as “a drug [and or device] that kills a newly formed human being, whether by directly killing the baby or by preventing implantation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >On the other hand, the same website defines conception as “when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte.” Meanwhile, the Pharmacists For Life International organization says conception “does not refer to the process of implantation of the newly created human embryo” that happens 7 to 8 days after conception.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Contraception is defined by Dictionary as "deliberate prevention of conception or impregnation by any of various drugs, techniques, or device; birth control,” while contraceptive refers to a drug or device that prevents conception, which begins in fertilization.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Thus, contraception prevents the fertilization of the egg and consequently, the woman's conception.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >The keyword is prevention. Contraception is designed to prevent the conception of an embryo <i>when </i>fertilization occurs. Abortion happens <i>if</i> there is conception or <i>after </i>conception occurs.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >At times, the Catholic Church fails to understand a simple statement as that. Despite being written in elementary English, the Bishops and the Pope after many years of burning their brows about theology are a disappointment to humanity. They erroneously lay claims to righteousness.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >As the American Standard Version Bible puts it: “Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand.”-Romans 14:4<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >As an institution of faith, it does not belong to the Catholic Church's leaders who are themselves imperfect human beings the right to render judgment against their followers merely because the latter chooses to heed what the Bible really teaches. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Mankind does not exist to propagate only. If couples choose not to include pregnancy in constituting a family by employing any of the contraception methods, that is their decision to make, and no one reserves the right to judge them.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >-----xox----<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Update:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" > Also from the magazine Awake!, a list of popular contraception methods that are readily available in the market and how each works is provided and which is also listed below:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Sterilization. </span></b><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >This contraception is done in men and women involving surgical procedure. In men, a small incision is made in the scrotum and the tubes carrying the sperm are cut. In women, the fallopian tubes are tied or cut for prevention of egg from passing through the uterus, where it can be fertilized.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Advantages</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >: It is the most effective of all birth-control methods.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Drawback</span></b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >: It is permanent.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Birth Control Pills</span></b><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >. These pills including the progestin-only minipill work to interfere with a woman's normal hormone levels to prevent the eggs from maturing and being released.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Advantages</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >. Highly effective.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Drawback</span></b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >. Some physical side-effects but have nothing to do with abortion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >IntraUterine Device</span></b><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >. Now, this is a device made of metal or plastic which is inserted in the uterus. Doctors say it works by preventing the fertilized egg from clinging itself onto the wall of the womb.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Advantages</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >: Reliable<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Drawback:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" > May result sometimes in bleeding or pain, and <i>could </i>be<i> </i>abortive.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Diaphragm and Spermicide</span></b><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >. While this may be unheard of, the diaphragm is a dome-shaped rubber cup stretched over a flexible rim. It goes hand in hand with spermicide, a sperm-killing jelly or cream that is applied onto the cup before it is inserted into the vagina.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Advantages:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" > Safe and reliable.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><b><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Drawback: </span></b><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Should be used each time the couple engages in sexual intercourse. It requires skill and diligence in inserting before the intercourse. It must be left within for the next 8 hours after the intercourse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Condoms. A condom is a sheath made of rubber and fits over the penis to prevent semen from entering the vagina.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Advantages: Safe and effective not only for controlling birth. Condoms also serve as protection against the contagion of STD, particularly the AIDS, which is slowly afflicting many Filipinos.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Drawback. Unfavorable among many because of the interruption of sexual intercourse.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Bell MT","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Photo Credits: http://ow.ly/44bAs<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Sources:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Awake! publications issues September 2007, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-add-space:auto;line-height:normal"><span style=" font-family:"Bell MT","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Wikipedia<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi- line-height:115%;Bell MT","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" >Websites as mentioned in the article<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><br /></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Bell MT","serif"font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Bell MT","serif"font-family:";" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-24809476291755787792011-02-19T23:39:00.001-08:002011-02-27T00:19:10.341-08:00Suicide—A Culture Of Death<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9h4Xv6LgFfDvYfryNmNSbNB36UVh8nT1JD4fqYwYx_lOChft2sQkSdecfkNQKml28Asj5ILwtSeXeMcJotSonvh8NRpVEyCLjf_BfzfjJbk0MV-vZIo24myYgmCGScFB4gN-EFwDcOE/s1600/Honourable+Jubie.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9h4Xv6LgFfDvYfryNmNSbNB36UVh8nT1JD4fqYwYx_lOChft2sQkSdecfkNQKml28Asj5ILwtSeXeMcJotSonvh8NRpVEyCLjf_BfzfjJbk0MV-vZIo24myYgmCGScFB4gN-EFwDcOE/s400/Honourable+Jubie.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575673955712201138" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; "></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 21px; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Chiller;color:black">"The man who, in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a week."</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: Chiller;color:black"> </span>–Voltaire<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; ">"Each way to suicide is its own: intensely private, unknowable, and terrible."—<span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">Kay Redfield Jamison</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 21px; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:Chiller;color:black; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height: 115%; color: black; "></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">All too commonly, when suicide, known as the act of voluntarily taking one’s own life becomes a news item, the populace would suppose the root cause to two posits: either the victim was in despair or he was trying to redeem his honor—or what was left of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Regardless, today’s people who suffered from depression or suddenly bombarded with a critical situation prefaced the suicide with notes expressing their deepest desires to conclude life’s harsh realities. And as one expert puts it, a suicide is similar to “treating a cold with a nuclear bomb.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Emile Durkheim, a famous French sociologist cited during his glorious years the four basic types of suicide.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><b>Fatalistic suicide</b>—this refers to the consequence of inflicting too much emphasis on “societal regulation” constitutionally restricting one’s freedom. Victims of fatalistic suicide felt they had no conceivable life as it was often characterized by “pervasive oppression.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><b>Egoistic suicide</b>—this scenario occurs when an individual lacks integration into society or when there is too much individualism. People who committed egoistic suicide were loners maintaining neither dependency on nor connection with their community during their lifetime.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><b>Anomic suicide</b>—the term anomie was borrowed from Jean-Marie Guyau, a French philosopher, and Emile used it to mean a “condition where social and or moral norms are confused, unclear, or simply not present,” which could result to deviant behavior like suicide.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><b>Altruistic suicide</b>—from the word altruism, Emile accentuated suicide with value orientation and social behavior or altruistic regard for others. It is a suicide done in honor; in taking account of the interests and welfare of other individuals or members of community or groups.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">A perfect example of altruistic suicide was manifest in World War II when Japanese Kamikaze pilots along with religious extremists blew themselves up, resulting in death of their enemies as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">In a world divided by cultural differences, suicide is understood from different perceptions with varied motivations. It is a term even people of ancient times were not estranged from. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">A news article from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Harvard Mental Health Letter </i>adumbrated culture to “influence the likelihood of suicide.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Many view suicide as a crime, like in Christendom, especially by the 6<sup>th</sup> and 7<sup>th</sup> centuries when Roman Catholic Church issued excommunication order against those who committed suicide, thereby, denying them of funeral rites. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">The same notion holds true even at the present.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">There was also a time in history when attempted suicide reaped death penalty, as was the case in the 19<sup>th</sup> century England, when a certain Englishman was hanged for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">attempting</i> to cut his throat, and thus, had the authorities to complete what the man failed to do.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Some perceive suicide as a coward’s escape such as in Hungary where the locals resort to suicide as easily as changing underwear for virtually any reason, all too often leads to ending a predicament.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">In Asia, in the south, specifically in India, where Sutee—a religious custom in which a widow throws herself into the funeral pyre of her husband—which is supposedly abolished by the government, is still not extinct by itself. Such is betokened in how Indians in modern era react whenever a widow practices the culture:glorifying the tragedy.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">In East Asia, particularly in Japan, suicide has an extremely different point of view; it never condemns suicide. In fact, its culture is marked by “highly ritualized and institutionalized form of self-disembowelment.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Known by its term <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">seppuku</i> (or hara—kiri in referring to suicide in a speech and is performed by civilians), it had its roots in feudal Japan from 1192 to 1868. To its citizens,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> seppuku</i> or technically cutting one’s belly was a suicidal art. An artful act in which the person felt honored in its commission.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Banza</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">i is the term applied to members of Samurai as part of its military tradition and which is governed by code of conduct, upholding particularly virtues such as loyalty, honor, obedience, duty, filial piety, and self sacrifice.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">In the book Bushido—The Soul of Japan, the author, Inazo Nitobe wrote: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">“</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif";mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;color:black">An invention of the middle ages, [seppuku] was a process by which warriors could expiate their crimes, apologise for errors, escape from disgrace, redeem their friends, or prove their sincerity.”</span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">It has a similar connotation to the time of Silla (one of the three ancient kingdoms of the modern Korea) where, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Hwarangs—</i>an elite military organization— would wear makeup and perform a massive ceremonial <i>banzai</i> with a dagger expressing protest and withdrawal of support from the ruling monarch.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">A similar concept still remains true until today.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine says “suicide is a result from a person’s reaction to a perceived overwhelming problem.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">In an Awake! magazine, there’s an article entitled “Why People Give Up on Life,” where a psychiatry professor of John Hopkins University of School Medicine, Kay Redfield Jamison was quoted saying: “much of the decision to die is in the construing of events.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Today, when a person faces humiliation or feels his dignity and honor had been stripped of him, a seppuku is the ultimate solution. And such is regardless of the presence or absence of the guilt. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">To many, whether the situation is militaristic like the ancient samurai or non-political, suicide allows the person to redeem the honor he lost in trying to save others. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">To most, it is deemed honorable to sacrifice one’s life in upholding the code of conduct, however that conduct is viewed.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">References:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Awake! publications</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 16px; ">Bushido—The Soul of Japan</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">The Harvard Mental Health Letter</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Wikipedia<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Sociology Index<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">And more from <a href="http://www.google.com/">www.google.com</a> SE<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; font-family: Chiller; font-size: 16pt; "><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"">Photo Credits: http://ow.ly/44bzL </span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-68352606383464931562011-02-16T06:02:00.001-08:002011-03-22T11:27:30.487-07:00Adulation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr5eiKk3RWt1lLWPVHpZVoRelKRTdDD2O_noZFTfnfnaj67pYXPBJAUPCwYkqeBj26XRHJbfkhhgeNIiKQ029ILtW9yVrGKsQHfXnfHxVklYpHoZ4jVQ6jjfpmunBSzYWaarR4cfgrn8I/s1600/heart-in-sand.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 305px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr5eiKk3RWt1lLWPVHpZVoRelKRTdDD2O_noZFTfnfnaj67pYXPBJAUPCwYkqeBj26XRHJbfkhhgeNIiKQ029ILtW9yVrGKsQHfXnfHxVklYpHoZ4jVQ6jjfpmunBSzYWaarR4cfgrn8I/s400/heart-in-sand.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578256150331387058" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJOmTbFMJTjN-xHK_CwkoYC1XTqo3w_8O_GturinmXPwkgAFFCpkEXqS-QKa2YmHEy9iE786MagmwQEhqDKNkNlYU11lbgpoL3B7BCWNYYRKaJIqod7ENMPdUD4jX0dPMQ6s3Ai3V7DA/s1600/heart.jpg"><br /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><u><br /></u></span></div><br /><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;">Your stare glared at me with all the loathsomeness in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;">As if my very existence is the genesis of every plague hurled.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;">The coldness in your silence burns the sensibility in me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;">As if a dead river, all reasons fail to stream in serenity.<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Garamond, serif;font-size:12pt;color:black;">Photo credits: http://ow.ly/44aFR </span></span></p><p></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Garamond","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Garamond","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-15442236919184506592011-02-14T08:16:00.000-08:002011-03-02T22:43:39.293-08:00The Valentine’s Day And The Rise In Teenage Pregnancy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFk5IInJuVVuPbAWR8-kj22lUVCyIeXyByOTlrNBK7Px33A4dLZKV92Ii247HPCbDGtJPt064J3a_3cdJwgUCrTKo-crnzK3ek9GbchLQ_HAlh0dZuikty9zEQ3L8nClHGzP8Jv5eB2yQ/s1600/pregnant-woman+cartoon.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 335px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFk5IInJuVVuPbAWR8-kj22lUVCyIeXyByOTlrNBK7Px33A4dLZKV92Ii247HPCbDGtJPt064J3a_3cdJwgUCrTKo-crnzK3ek9GbchLQ_HAlh0dZuikty9zEQ3L8nClHGzP8Jv5eB2yQ/s400/pregnant-woman+cartoon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573580601547324546" border="0" /></a><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify;line-height:normal"><span style=" font-family:"Garamond","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><br />Valentine’s Day is conceived to be a day of celebrating love. It is a day when people express how much they appreciate another person’s presence in their lives. To some, a Valentine ’s Day is spent by sending flowers, cards, and chocolates. Others greet the day with an <i>I love You</i> declaration to their beloved. Mostly though outline the occasion with sex. And that holds true even among teenagers.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify;line-height:normal"><span style=" font-family:"Garamond","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >In a brief conversation with a male friend, he said that most of them male species look forward to making out on this particular day, after all, sex, or lovemaking is the highest expression of love. Or is it actually?</span><span style=" font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >In a news item from a mainstream newspaper, teenagers today are bombarded with formidable pressure from internet, media, and peers to engage in pre-marital sex than they were a decade ago. Each year, many of these teenagers look up with their partners to be one in flesh especially on Valentine’s.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:.5in;line-height:normal"><b><span style=" font-family:"Garamond","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >“Some 16.5 million Filipinos belong to the 15-24 year old age group. We are forced with a glaring truth that at a very young age, a lot of young people today have children of their own. 30 % of all births belong to this age group; and by the age of 20, 25% of the youth are already mothers.”</span></b><span style=" font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Also in that survey, around 64,000 of teenagers incur abortions every year. In a separate report made by World Bank, the Philippines leads 10 countries having a soaring number of teenage mothers with a ratio of 7 pregnant women for every 10 teenagers that are younger than age 19. World Bank attributed teenage pregnancy to higher incidence of poverty, while the former news item argues that pregnancy is spearheaded by gratification of sexual urges.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >The pressure to indulge in sexual gratifications forced upon these teenagers is further aggravated by media marketing hyping up the business niche, creating a necessity out of a senseless tradition. Most of the promotions spearheaded a month before Valentine’s insinuate or focus on one thing: sex.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >By itself, sex is not a harmful activity. In fact, it is deemed as an instrument of procreation; a gift shared specifically by two individuals bound by mutual love, respect, and sense of responsibility. Nonetheless, when it is practiced by young ones such as teenagers, sexual activity poses a huge problem regardless of the presence of love and all traits. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Yes, in today’s age and technology, pre-marital sex is among the highlights of a teenage life. Youths of the present generation are more aggressive in their behavior and emotions toward the opposite sex than the youth of earlier years.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Whether teenage pregnancy is compelled by mere gratification of sexual urges or necessitated by poverty, both call for immediate solutions if we want to save the future of the next generation. But no, I am no advocate of a solution putting so much emphasis on technically stopping sexually-active teenagers from indulging in pre-marital sex as this could be hard, if not impossible, to achieve, especially if their sexual experiences are marked with favor (For lack of another term).</span><span style=" font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Education is a powerful tool. Personally, I don’t understand why <a href="http://nowiengage.blogspot.com/2011/02/reproductive-health-bill-bibles_26.html">sex education</a> should not be integrated as a subject or lessons taught in school. I believe that if students are just aware of how puberty can change their body and their reactions to stimulants, and how naked sex (unprotected sex) can lead to unwanted pregnancy, then they would be careful in dealing with their romance. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Couples will not, for instance, do a trial and error sexual intercourse with one another. What if on their first attempt on a Valentine’s Day, the lady is fertile? But how can they know about the role of fertility if it is not taught inside the classroom? </span><span style=" font-family:"Garamond","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:#333333;" >Of course, sex education must be coupled with other lessons such as presenting the consequences of unwanted commitments such as early motherhood and the economic benefits young adults could enjoy if they are careful in planning their engagements.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Church, however, despite the separation of powers, continues to mingle with political affairs of the state. Particularly, the Catholic Church remains to be reluctant in acknowledging the potential of sex education because it fears it might encourage young ones to participate in pre-marital sex. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Goodness! It is because of celibacy that taints the reputation of priests and church. It is because of its so-called advocacy of no condom for a contraceptive that compelled a few priests to knock-up women. What an irony for a church imposing a no pre-marital sex policy and no condom for contraceptives among its constituents or believers when the priests are the first to violate such implementation or become the victim of its stupidity!</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="Garamond","serif"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >The Church does not support the use of condom as it is a curtailment of life. Is that so? Isn’t using condoms an exercise of being responsible? Biblically speaking, nowhere can you find a verse excluding the use of condom as part of family planning.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="Garamond","serif"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" > </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="Garamond","serif"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="Garamond","serif";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >In contrast, even the ancient Romans had their own version of a condom in the form of sheep guts. The Mosaic Law does not apply in our times. But the Reproductive Health Bill, forever pending in the hands of our politicians and which is thought to institutionalize sex education in schools and buttress the use of artificial contraceptives such as condoms is on the verge of being forgotten, if not dismissed.</span></span><span style="Garamond","serif"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" ><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Moving on, poverty indeed has a role in teenage pregnancy. Parents may not have the time to educate their young ones about sex because they are more concerned about earning for a living. Most often, these kids have become a prey of sexual maniacs in the neighborhood or have chosen to allow others to exploit their body for a meager amount of money. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Mostly, kids are not given guidance on their exposure to media that has itself been used by companies in hyping up their niche even to the point of suggesting and using explicit contents. Many of these kids, boys and girls mimic what they see on televisions and movies when it comes to expressing love through sex or foreplay without the knowledge of their parents.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Seriously, Valentine’s Day has been characterized by sexual activities among others. Today, many people fall victims of a wrong notion of love conveyed by companies and businesses through media and the teenagers in particular, are the helpless victims. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" >Nevertheless, this is not to say that the occasion itself is the sole culprit of today’s escalating number of teenage pregnancy as these individuals can always have sex on any given day. But many of our teenagers choose Valentine’s Day to lose their virginity. And they do so with strong resolve and without knowing anything on its consequences.</span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-line-height:115%;font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:Tahoma;font-size:8.5pt;color:#333333;" >Photo credits:</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-line-height:115%;font-family:"Garamond","serif";mso-bidi-font-family:Tahoma;font-size:8.5pt;color:#333333;" > http://ow.ly/44aIZ </span></span></p><p></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Garamond","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Garamond","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Garamond","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;mso-bidi-Garamond","serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-44978463173616549342011-02-11T22:26:00.000-08:002011-03-22T11:27:10.787-07:00The Tale Of The 300 Threads<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OFgemlQksU1roE9_86fyAx9brjSGl7RaZ4pxbxx22fp8bi8RDUcJ-Qa919SxU_CpCW4dnOzGyzL9jo1sqAO6RRDjNKvrUhRRYFxwHOZY25e8ACvx_vndJ00GoGWV4EXiT59xjVCNHrg/s1600/20090402_588dd08c69287ade1ad8xTPOPJPrwQif-9061.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OFgemlQksU1roE9_86fyAx9brjSGl7RaZ4pxbxx22fp8bi8RDUcJ-Qa919SxU_CpCW4dnOzGyzL9jo1sqAO6RRDjNKvrUhRRYFxwHOZY25e8ACvx_vndJ00GoGWV4EXiT59xjVCNHrg/s400/20090402_588dd08c69287ade1ad8xTPOPJPrwQif-9061.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572686966317891858" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><u><br /></u></span></div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">Dear You:<br /><br />I don’t know how to begin this letter without wasting your invaluable time because, of late, I’ve been a nobody’s fool at atrophying someone’s energy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I’ve got half the mind to impulsively send you many replies I mentally phrased while I scrambled on my keyboard doing one of my everyday objectives: incorporating creativity and substance between sentences to constitute infrastructures that eventually become the pillars of essays, press releases, feature stories, e-books, reviews, and content articles for somebody’s or something’s credits.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />And the other half to convince myself to stop liking you.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Many times did I find myself editing my works because my fingers were typing what my mind chimes in response to your message rather than what I ought to opine to complete the thought of my piece, from which I milk for a living.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I was honestly caught off-guard with your message not because I don’t receive messages on FaceBook too. But because your message came by surprise.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />If there should be a person to apologize, that must be me. I am sorry that it took me this while to compose you an apology epistle. Abashment took over me. What you wrote on my declaration on AP’s wall was a wakeup call for me:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />That wall proffers an avenue for AP crowd members, whether haters, lovers, or neutrals of its mission and purpose. It should not in any way be employed to express emotions, invidiousness or adulation. Even love.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />My behavior could qualify for a nuisance.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I am uncertain you have read the more than 300 threads of comments that preceded my pronouncement, of which you were one of the tags. If not, please allow me to explicate how that happened.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />It all began in you.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Previously there was a post on AP about the intellectuals in the country. You asserted there were only 209 to that date. I countered. But then your comment referring to the number of intellectuals lingers on my mind and when I saw another member added by EB, I refrained from keeping silent. My fingers then were very eager. And so was my mind. I wrote:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This makes 210 if I were to quote IP. ^^<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />What followed was totally unexpected. The contents of the threads were a blend of senseless and senseful opinions of ranging topics until you were the center of it. Believe me, I didn’t have the slightest notion that somebody would respond, much less prolongate it for after all, there was no proper precedent. I merely remarked having a new member.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />But yes, I should not blame you. Well, I’m not blaming you. I am placing the blame on me. The thread must not be a ground for another statement. That was the mistake. It should stand alone until it dies a natural death.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Looking back, I realized two things from the 300 threads, nonetheless.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One, my post about you[r mind being beautiful and sexy] was not the first on AP’s wall. Another member, EB, had been writing on AP’s wall about you all along. And who knows maybe more members also did the same before I joined the crowd.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Two, personally, I would say any posts about you had been prolific. The 300 threads only betoken one thing:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Your name alone can launch stirrings among the crowd’s members, trolls and intellectuals alike.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now having said all these, I really am at a loss for words on how to conclude my note without you hating me, especially if I would say:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I still like you.<br /></span>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-81079366823953049662010-03-08T02:56:00.000-08:002010-03-08T08:09:59.497-08:00Woman, how far have you gone?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkl-wfznK6kvqekJXwCE-U_UpfGj1CHadi98hDSsnOyxrl0UkSyA_9l-vp_ieDSd2M3rGnGcwh9HJpVPeZKdWs0YRwr6iKIFRmDhln2vIrdfA5J5J_Ei-aaW9mqlgwkMLx312CdCyqDKo/s1600-h/International+womens+day.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 323px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkl-wfznK6kvqekJXwCE-U_UpfGj1CHadi98hDSsnOyxrl0UkSyA_9l-vp_ieDSd2M3rGnGcwh9HJpVPeZKdWs0YRwr6iKIFRmDhln2vIrdfA5J5J_Ei-aaW9mqlgwkMLx312CdCyqDKo/s400/International+womens+day.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446295911824552498" /></a><br />More than 150 years ago, a protest against injustice toward women had a Declaration of Sentiments penned in America, saying, ‘the history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward a woman.’<br /><br />Little progress was made since then, if at all. But the United Nations’ admission on its publication The World’s Women 1995 that men and women live in different worlds with different access to education and work opportunities and in health and leisure time, encouraged many States to pass laws to protect the rights of women.<br /><br />Nonetheless, laws are not capable of changing hearts, from which injustice and prejudices are rooted. While the legislation, often aimed at stopping sexual exploitation of children and women, is founded on purest intentions, it is in itself, ineffectual.<br /><br />Laws, mostly inadequate, do not prevent violence. What does is when cultural and social values—usually based on deep-seated tradition—change. For instance, in Middle East, tradition dictates that women should be used by men, rather than loved. They should work than being cared.<br /> <br />Unless men start to change their perception, a woman will continue to have no voice, with no rights, and with little amelioration to her situation. Must I say that the Philippines is among the countries that had an awakening?<br /> <br />Hardly. But it is getting there. In politics, we had our first female president by the name of Corazon Aquino. The second, which is incumbent, may not be an epitome of a good leader, but had somehow produced evidence that slowly, respect for women’s rights is established.<br /><br />In sports and entertainment, women are given the opportunity to lead and excel in many countries. But this does not imply that women have succeeded in their fight for women’s right as there are still more work to accomplish not only in our country but in Africa, Asia and some parts in Europe as well.<br /><br />Education must start at home. Men should learn the best way to treat women from their fathers. Unless an immediate and concerted action is initiated by all, hardly can peace deign on us.<br /><br />Today, I am one with Gabriela in pursuit of advancing women's right. Today, I join the celebration of International Women's Day.kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-15214311986979704612009-10-01T07:59:00.000-07:002011-02-12T18:08:27.028-08:00Why should there be a Student Publication?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBp-6Pd9NmEoSX4yRUfuuyhqqjskUSIKhfCP8ttS-T6BKbsnBfpJUFt65eRK83i7wRt9WCFNAvO-uUjAbV4C3emaTpFHkZFugjJSzPQXrhfNbzLaxCBSWpbnqnQhDfLk4Jwoxy60Ba0p8/s1600/free-press.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBp-6Pd9NmEoSX4yRUfuuyhqqjskUSIKhfCP8ttS-T6BKbsnBfpJUFt65eRK83i7wRt9WCFNAvO-uUjAbV4C3emaTpFHkZFugjJSzPQXrhfNbzLaxCBSWpbnqnQhDfLk4Jwoxy60Ba0p8/s400/free-press.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572990089900544658" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsV1BkhBLPi_4i-ntSeHuD_kXrnUy74ppZHbrbbxwxctkSDVkMaKxqsUDSXoWflVBnJecWbxzldenE6ZW6XKQi4aNHWMpbMNq_8xQGSIfdFkcGAPElXsgNzo21PmZyKU87Nllq5timSY8/s1600/today%2527s+carolinian.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "></span></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsV1BkhBLPi_4i-ntSeHuD_kXrnUy74ppZHbrbbxwxctkSDVkMaKxqsUDSXoWflVBnJecWbxzldenE6ZW6XKQi4aNHWMpbMNq_8xQGSIfdFkcGAPElXsgNzo21PmZyKU87Nllq5timSY8/s1600/today%2527s+carolinian.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">It all began in writing out one’s thought that makes others be conscious of their environment. Whether the issue is socio-political or cultural, journalism provides voice to the neglected.</span></a> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In a large scale, the community is educated by the information that a page of a certain publication contains. For example, others may find it mundane to memorialize national events such as the EDSA Revolutions, for after all, the country succeeded in ousting an executive leader, or failed.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">However, by analyzing how the public gained an advantage from marches that seem to go on forever, we are reminded of the power of expression and its effect.Such knowledge can be obtained from reading the publications.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Or on a larger scale, wars in the east are of little effect on us because we are not a participant to that battle.Little do some people know that our country can be affected in all aspects by just one decision of our Government. But how do they know about it if not through the paper and ink that answer the H and 4 Ws?</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Where does education start? How do we begin digesting information that would make us better persons? Should publications exist only outside the campuses? Are students equipped with the right tools to face the world after graduation by obtaining 1.0 average?</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">People from National Publications are seasoned writers who started from journalism works that their respective Alma Mater find it imperative to have. Student Publications are not only a training ground for the application of Communication Arts, mechanism and technical skills, they also serve as a tool to advocate awareness and expressions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Deliverance of Important news event is not only its primary function; student publications exist to advance student’s rights and responsibilities and promote their general welfare.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Having a publication as a school’s arm for information does not just produce bunch of writers and reporters, student journalism also features creative works in the form of poetry, short stories and stage plays most of which gained fame and awards.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In some cases, reading school papers can be a very effective way of choosing the right leader to represent the student body, and become a person-for- and- for-others.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Killing a student paper or closing it down is a curtailment of student’s development as a whole.</p>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-84829135016992434072009-06-24T21:31:00.000-07:002009-10-01T07:51:51.219-07:00The Philippine's Con-Asses<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOzqQoVVk4wcZ3f1ZwHh2aE4zMm_DZCF0GcoFJsA8XzJysshOw_IG3s-TM3pEemeTMyrCE5tI45xOB3p27RGDM88oghv6arD2scYQzS8C15txKWkFjRweGicbyfoSXr9A610OXXFJxErk/s1600-h/conass.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOzqQoVVk4wcZ3f1ZwHh2aE4zMm_DZCF0GcoFJsA8XzJysshOw_IG3s-TM3pEemeTMyrCE5tI45xOB3p27RGDM88oghv6arD2scYQzS8C15txKWkFjRweGicbyfoSXr9A610OXXFJxErk/s400/conass.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351118424539012722" border="0" /></a><br />I personally acknowledge that for a law to be efficient it must be able to address the needs of the people whether immediate or indirect. Also, I believe that not every law can survive the varying needs of people and time. If a law becomes inefficient, it needs to be changed.<br /><br />While it holds true that many countries have successfully amended, altered or replaced old laws or provisions from their system of laws, to have the same political activity in a country in whose culture corruption has long been embedded, the results could be severe turmoil.<br /><br /><br />Perhaps, some politicians are sincere in helping us-- the poor, the oppressed, the neglected-- however, most of them have ulterior motive.<br /><br />While almost Solon is busy fattening their wallet as one of the privileges in being an incumbent, millions of children die of hunger and pestilences.<br /><br />While they are proud to showcase their prowess in initiating debates and counter-arguments, millions have died because they cannot afford the health care services in their own community.<br /><br />While politicians enjoy the luxuries in life and at their offices, the frail bodies of Juan, Pedro and Maria along with Basilio, Crispin and Sisa found shelter at the outskirts, under the bridge, on the cold concrete or at the sidewalks.<br /><br />Politicians can afford to send their family abroad for a vacation. They even send their children to the foreign universities for further enhancement. What about Crispin and Basilio? Fortunate would they be to graduate from elementary.<br /><br />They say that Con-ass gives betterment to people's lives. I say, they seek to strengthen their power and riches. They call to effect change via con-ass, I think they want to perpetuate their political positions.<br /><br />So I resolve, that until honesty is their intention, con-ass can not bring forth changes to improve the quality of life and health of Filipinos.kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-1164638610940306622009-05-15T21:37:00.000-07:002011-03-06T04:14:22.457-08:00Random Thoughts<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMfzZyKimw5srpgKF9GAGkVw1wDcK8Qe6GhJ3U3X09KJFAEf91VzEpYw2ye20jL8vH_DrZ4y-hKqIfzhzoL6pthDrCmZ_QrX99qb0N46mXRWuNdBk-1fAxNBaiNvoSYWvsulVXfYU-EqA/s1600/HollyHob%257ELR.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 228px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMfzZyKimw5srpgKF9GAGkVw1wDcK8Qe6GhJ3U3X09KJFAEf91VzEpYw2ye20jL8vH_DrZ4y-hKqIfzhzoL6pthDrCmZ_QrX99qb0N46mXRWuNdBk-1fAxNBaiNvoSYWvsulVXfYU-EqA/s400/HollyHob%257ELR.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572814317050082098" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> My friend, who was an editorial board member of the student publication in one of the prestigious and sectarian Universities in Cebu, advised me that her company, to which she serves as a copy writer for almost a year, will furlough a fraction of its employees because of global recession। Among those who will find themselves cramming for another source for bread and butter, by middle of this year is <span style="color: rgb(217, 149, 148);">she.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">In today’s era, programmers, web designers, system and web developers are given top priority.<span style=""> </span>With few exceptions, BPO and IT –related companies are inclined to maximize the talents of their employees. In order for one to be hired, the person must be equipped with different skills to perform in several facets of the office; and not just to perform, but to perform very well.</p> <h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(217, 149, 148);"><span style=""> </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:";font-size:11;">We are living in a world where the fittest survives. People must persevere in upgrading and honing their skills. Suffice it to say that one college degree is no longer in the mainstream if not supplemented with short courses or another four-year degree for every few years, another innovation is introduced to the public, creating another department in an office.<o:p></o:p></span></h2> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>However, technical skills are not the sole standard for keeping a job. At times, the guts or the attitude could hand someone a career. This is especially true for a person who is very adept in maneuvering circumstances that would work to her advantage. This is not to say that it is not a righteous act for who am I to render judgment? Stepping on to something or someone just to gain an edge is not already new to this world.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span>At most time, so fervent is the career rivalry that even family members and relatives, close friends and club associates are no exceptions. How can people stomach to be in constant greetings with each other while secretly outsmarting each one for the most coveted career position? Most truly, even at work, at school or anywhere else, politics delineate their relationships. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5264057535020258413.post-4415565822001325672009-05-12T21:39:00.000-07:002011-02-27T00:15:14.448-08:00River of Thoughts थेटेल ऑफ़ थे उन्तित्लेद<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCCLh5wgLKi2k3IRlrLLPimGySzdMMsZS9RKQtFEZzhj9L-5Y6foSni3dv9d8kZmHQHAklA8dpUCYpDm7Zgeu_pxUOZ92PTnsmIhP0cS_ZYBC5B6tpD6m8oSghAiUeIW-f4_dwdGw4N2Y/s1600/abstract.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCCLh5wgLKi2k3IRlrLLPimGySzdMMsZS9RKQtFEZzhj9L-5Y6foSni3dv9d8kZmHQHAklA8dpUCYpDm7Zgeu_pxUOZ92PTnsmIhP0cS_ZYBC5B6tpD6m8oSghAiUeIW-f4_dwdGw4N2Y/s400/abstract.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572816379813592290" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqR2SEVTc98dTJ16Xut0VzCt0OK1WZnz5SDNYLAMgx8yUHr3V6qm9knkpITNR8-6_M6ELK2Z1YRecFtUpq3mY4825TRgMN8L0SrQ0Zu24gpq-3MFoSBKRry080OIJKTcIH_rbdWcLK5s/s1600-h/P12-05-09_12.47%5B1%5D.jpg"><br /></a>How do I begin? Myriads of words tickle my brains as I rummage my keyboards with hope to accomplish something worthwhile. <div><br /></div><div>Like an interminable river, bits of story flood my heart preparing to stream. The clock says it’s almost half an hour away from 4 in the afternoon and yet, here I am looking at things in retrospect.<div><br />It has been like forever since I last find myself speaking my mind. When I took a test for student publication’s editorial board during my University years, I was elated to qualify. I thought it was the end of my ordeal; however, the panel interview that followed was just a prologue to my anguish.</div><div><br />No, question and answer moment does not frighten me. In contrast, I love it; starve for it every second the clock ticks. Attention-seeker that I am, opportunity such as that is welcome. But seeing the not- so- hideous face of a brainiac, poised as if a lion waiting for the opportune time to devour its prey cowers the tigress in me.</div><div><br />Years changed and this genius became a respected somebody in his field in Thailand while I find myself changing careers. Although the blunder I committed marked me for as long as I breathe, this does not however taint my enthusiasm for poetry, literary manuscripts and creative writing.<br /><br /></div><div>And while our technology reaches farther on, journalism did not miss its ride; rather, it evolves with time. From the printed publications that storm our houses, schools, offices and other establishments, virtual journalism aroused socio-political and cultural consciousness in a far wider and deeper scale.</div><div><br />Today it does not take to be a professional columnist or writer to have one’s creations read, appreciated, criticized about, debated upon and even earn a friend, foe or fame.</div><div><br />Lurking on the web are sites that readily furnish virtual venues where frustrated artists, creative writers and poets exchange and even share their creativity via blogging, video sharing and photojournalism. So prevalent is this innovation of technology that even professionals enjoy its indulgences and spoils.</div><div><br />Looking back, I realize that although I did not see my name elevated to the editorial board of our student paper, I am still happy; happy that the terror editor who silenced my loquacious side earned many prestigious local and national awards with his bold and provocative literary arts.</div><div><br />The room now becomes dim as the silhouettes start to crawl on the floor. My senses are fully awakened, refreshed and filled with hope that while my terror interrogator’s name precedes prestige, here I am, struggling, trying and engaging in intellectual masturbation, enjoying my privilege to correspondence.</div></div>kizmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348190005044710641noreply@blogger.com1