all we need is love

all we need is love, blog 13-May-08

last friday's clp was about how is it like to lead a christian life. it talked about the different attitude and disciplines a christian, one who truly loves god, should imbibe and practice. for some strange reason, my mind was wandering off somewhere. i don't exactly remember where it wandered off,but my mind wasn't paying 100% attention to the speaker for sure.

however,the speaker threw us a question that really struck me. if god really loves us and if we really are faithful to our christian duties,then why are there rich and poor people? why are there people who suffer?

the answer is simple..

love.

yes, you read it right.

love.

this gives us a reason to be compassionate and be more giving and loving to mankind.

whenever we see beggars, especially children or the elderlies who ask for alms in the streets, don't we feel a tinge of awa inside of us?

when we see or hear of stories of violence or racism on television, don't our hearts bleed for the oppressed?

pain and suffering happens to "humble" other people and make them realize that inspite of their life's misfortunes, they can still consider themselves lucky because they're not in the same situation.

thus it is called counting your blessings.

that's why i was so proud of our country that although we are in a 3rd world country ourselves, we still took time to send an aid to cyclone-stricken myanmar to extend all the support we can. i mean,we don't have much, in fact, we have our own trials to face as a nation. but the truly essense of giving is in sharing what's excess,but sharing what we already have and never minding we will somehow lose a part of it.

i believe filipinos are generous, compassionate and empathic people. i just hope we can practice these virtues and set our differences aside for once.

love is the answer.

health is wealth

thank god dad is finally out of the hospital. although he didnt get his clean bill of health so to speak,i'm still happy he felt better and his health improved even just a bit. boy,he lost a looooot of weight. he practically is skin & bones. the doc diagnosed him to have heart failure. for one,this could be due to his excessive alcohol intake way back. his heart has weakened and is not able to pump blood and other liquid in his sytem,thus resulting to water retention in his legs (knees below). we always encourage him though to be active because he has led a very sedentary lifestyle since he retired. the doc was honest enough to tell us that he will never be able to recover his cardiac strength. oh well,we thought that it was too late anyway,so mom & i will just extend all the help we can to give dad a comfortable life.

after what happened,i'm so proud of myself for having subjected myself into our company's annual physical exams a couple of weeks back. i have to agree with the cliché that prevention is way better than cure. it's always wise to detect any ailment in its early stage than having to fight it while you already acquired the disease.

i'm glad mom is still healthy inspite of her age because she regularly exercises and does lead a very active lifestyle. i just pray to god that he blesses my mom with more years so we can still spend more time together. i still want her to see me walk down the aisle and eventually my kids *sigh*

lesson learned.

the movie fan in me

once i arrived from work last night, i popped "little children" in my player. i've read a number of threads about this movie -- how the actors gave a superb performance. it was truly magical! their acting really gave the emotions away.

what struck me was the part where sarah (kate winslet's role) was discussing the book "madame bovary" with her book club, she said of the character's adultery "no, it's not the cheating. It's the hunger, the hunger or an alternative and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness." i'm not exactly sure if this was her way of rationalizing her infidelities, but she sure made an impression on this. good point!

overall, the movie was fantastic! dark and disturbing, yet can poke every single issue a community faces -- adulterous relations between neighbors, dysfunctional married relationships, temptations, lousy personalities and a "cancer" in our society. it showed how a "perfect" and peaceful family can be ruined by sheer temptation.

i recommend this to everyone who can spare 2 and a half hours of entertainment. a lot of topics were covered that can make you go hmmmm...

this IS my calling

i used to be a member of Youth For Christ of the CFC Family Ministries. When I started college,I stopped attending meetings for some strange reason. is it because of my school load? or my cousins just stopped attending because their being a "youth" has expired? or i didn't know much about the company i was with,which made me feel a bit old? maybe a little both of each.

for quite some time now,i've been having this insatiable desire to strengthen my faith further. one way of doing this, i believe, is by surrounding myself with people who would want the same thing. nothing beats doing an activity with the same goal in mind,and doing it with new people wo can later on be your friends.

this time, i can be mature and independent enough to be active in the organization. i do not need a companion to persuade me every time to join the gatherings. although i invited cha,i know that if ever she decided not to pursue this endeavor,i would perfectly understand and that i will go on being a loyal member of the ministry.

i know god wants me in this.

he wants to know if i will really hold on to him now that the going gets tough.

but for me...

god is good... all the time!

resilience

Mons Tantoco’s Philstar column this Sunday is just so overwhelming. She interviewed foreigners who have been living or have lived in the country and asked what they like most about us Filipinos.

She spoke to ambassadors from Britain, Israel, Pakistan, Mexico, New Zealand and Sweden, and the General Manager of Shangri-La Mactan. They almost come up with a consensus in saying that Filipinos are generally jolly people, hospitable, always come with a ready smile, optimistic and resilient.

Resilient. I like that.

It only goes to show that Filipinos easily adapt to the environment or situation they are in. Most of the time, the Philippines undergoes tough times, economically and politically speaking. It’s a way of life for us. I mean, we never fail to appear in the Top 3 most corrupt government every time they conduct surveys against our neighboring countries. This scares the hell out of foreign investors, thus pulling down our economic ratings. Not only that, kidnappings and other forms of destabilization proliferate in our motherland. Wherever you look, you can see families living below the poverty line. What’s sad is that they continue producing offspring without having means to fend for them, let alone send them to school.

Inspite of it all, we face each and every day with our heads held up high, thanking and praising the good Lord above, and telling ourselves “kaya ko to.” Hey, we don’t have perfect lives, nobody has, but we are still indeed blessed. Favorite pa rin tayo ni God. He blessed us with so much strength for us to continually fight our daily battles.

I just hope we Filipinos don’t just give up on ourselves just yet.

There’s still hope.

Have faith.

And act… FAST

scary

Last night started the campaign for saving mother earth from the uber harmful global warming. It is indeed a big threat to planet earth as we might be wiped out of the map if the glaciers in those cold places (like Antarctica) melt that will eventually lead to the rise in sea level. Needless to say, since we will be experiencing “high tides” on a regular occurrence, the possibility is high that our lands will be submerged in water. This will mean zero habitat, zero life.

So let’s do our share in saving mother earth. Let’s conserve energy, as it is one of the factors that lead to global warming. So less energy consumption, less Meralco bills (kaching!). Also, let’s not use plastic bags and invest instead in eco-friendly shopping bags (thanks to Anya Hindmarch for introducing eco-friendly bags). Screw designer bags, go for canvass statement bags. This means, we do not have to “recycle” (as if we do) these plastics. Even if we do, the plastic materials aren’t really meant for recycling because they aren’t biodegradable. I also think that each one of us should turn green thumb and start planting more trees. Trees absorb the harmful carbon dioxide that depletes our ozone layer (gee, thanks to elementary science).

I hope it’s not too late yet. If everyone could just cooperate and do everything we can to save the world. If we don’t do it NOW, we might not wake up to a beautiful world we now live in.

the present is a gift

we just buried my late uncle yesterday. it's our first "dead" after my lolo died in 1992. it was hard for the santos clan to deal with it. everyone was in denial,everyone was in pain,but everyone saw it coming. that he will eventually lose the battle. he succumbed to septic shock a.k.a multiple organ failure.

i'm one of those who can't bear seeing cadavers,let alone viewing them in a coffin. this one was different. since the dead person is my tito,i was not afraid. i even watched him while his lifeless body was being covered with white cloth. i was even the one who chose the casket he'll lay in. i made sure he lied in a nice viewing box . after all,it was the last time people saw his face. i kept telling him that i hoped he liked his bed. i also couldn't help but look at him everytime i had the chance because it was the first time i saw him that handsome and peaceful.

we battled fatigue and sleepless nights during the wake. but what's worse was the emotion that overpowered us. we kept exchanging tito mon stories -- how everyone treated him, how he remembered everyone's birthday and how he asked everyone for his final request. funny how he asked my cousin to buy him a black belt, my tita for a basketball jersey,another cousin for a watch and my other uncle for a bottle of orange soda. ha! we never realized that was his last.

oh well, everyone has his time. some may pass tragically, some peaceful. so i guess it's true when they say "carpe diem." seize the day. you will never know when it will be your last. that's why it's called the present, because it is indeed a gift.

rest in peace, tito mon. find your way back home. i prayed to god that he welcomes you in his kingdom with open arms.