FILLED WITH TROUBLES...OVERFLOWING WITH SUCCESS

I hope in You, O LORD;
And you, O LORD, will answer me.
Psalm 38:15

Life is full of troubles but the flames of hope burn in the hearts of the troubled man. In his battle, hope shall never vanquish his heart. Hope remains as long as good people still inhabit the earth, as long as the good remains in us and as long as God is with us. Wars and troubles may plague the earth; however, hope will remain in the hearts of people. Consequently, a better tomorrow is evident.

Hope will never diminish as long as good people still exist. Hope likewise, is strongly present in this people. They are the promoters of peace and unity. They are the shedders of love and good will. With their presence, hopes won’t be useless and the chance of a better tomorrow is greater.

Another reason not to quit hoping is because we all know good always prevails over the bad. As long as we are fighting for the good, in every challenge we shall prevail. Good people are magnets of good things—things which are blessings from God for being good. Thus, we should never lose hope for God is forever grateful to good-hearted people.

Most of all, we should never lose hope because God loves us all. He didn’t send these trials to make us live like hell. Instead, he sent these trials for us to learn from them. These trials are great gains for us. It reveals lessons to make us stronger. Hence, we shall never lose hope for God’s actions all have a cause.

“The rainbow always comes after the rain,” as what they say to signify that for every obstacle lies a lesson for us to learn. As long as we’re with the right people, making the right decisions and possessing strong faith in God, we should not quit hoping for this lessons will make us stronger in facing our lives and their trials. Our lives maybe full of troubles; nevertheless, our hearts shall overflow with hope—the hope of a better tomorrow.

Manfred D.

WARM NOTE FROM MY BROTHER

You played a big part in my success. From the enthralling "Transformer" booklet way back on my first grade, to the choose-your-own-adventure when I was barely able to read, to that black venerable medical dictionary which I occasionally finagled on my way to school and eventually made me "Best in Science", you introduced me to the wonderful world of reading and sustain my fascination to it...

And when technical books are not enough to answer life's questions, you're always there to compensate their limitations. I may be your mentor on anything computers but needless to say that it all stops there.






For everything else, the role is reversed. And with that, I couldn't thank you enough.

Vani



(My brother in Chicago with his new light blue Scion cT.)

TWO TAKES ON SILENCE

WAITING IN SILENCE
Theresa Lora Z.

Silence is not merely the absence of noise. It is the home of our secret desires and goals. We aim for something we greatly desire but we keep it in ourselves. My greatest desire is found in the silence of my heart. I crave for their attention. I long for their love. I aim for my parents’ time. I just keep all the emptiness I feel inside me. I don’t want to force them to love me. Well, here I am ……just waiting in silence.

______________________________

THE DEAFENING SOUND OF ISOLATION
Manfred D.

Silence is the feeling of emptiness within. It’s the feeling of being alone. A silent heart is due to lack of a companion. It’s the isolation of oneself from his peers—like a bird away from its flock. No matter how deafening the surrounding may be, with the lack of belongingness, silence is still heard within. The only remedy for this pain is the creation of new friendship.

Rafael Antonio is my nephew, seen here when he was about five months old.

THE WAY, THE TRUTH & THE LIGHT

Why Our Better is not the Best

“It is our pleasure to serve you.” This is a common slogan we often see on some business establishments. They try to give their best service possible in order to attract customers. Of course, it is their pleasure to serve the people since the customers will pay them in exchange of the service. However, their effort to give the best service always comes out better only and not the best. This is also true to many of us. Like the business establishments, we try to help others but expect something in return. The true essence of service is not present in our work.

The true essence of service is to give the “best” that one could give so that everyone will benefit from the fruit of ones labor without expecting something in return. Despite the fact that we give something for others, if we do not do it for charity, then it is never the best that we could give. The best in our work only comes out when we do things for others and when we do it selflessly. On the other hand, when we try to help others and try to do our best, but expect something in return, that deed cannot be regarded as the best but rather only better. Our best only comes out when we do things in the essence of service. We can never do the best in our work unless we learn to do things selflessly.

Mediocrity is one of the reasons why we cannot do our best. Mediocrity in our work means we do our work but does it with a “just enough-pwede na ‘yan” mentality in order to pass a certain standard. If we will have such mentality then we tend to do things which are just enough for ourselves, disabling us to serve others. We can never serve others if we are doing things with a sense of mediocrity for a mediocre act is just enough for ourselves. Mediocrity can never benefit others but rather harm them. If our best can only be done when we serve, then an act of mediocrity hinders us from doing our best for it loses the essence of service. An act that does not benefit and help others can never be called our best.

Egotism is another hindrance for us to do our best. Egotism is to exalt one’s self or to think that one is of greater importance than other people. An egotist can never serve others unless he learns to humble down himself. He can never serve others for he looks down on other people and never reaches out to them. A person who exalts himself is full of pride and does not cherish charity in his heart. A person who does not know how to serve and exalts himself can never do his best, for serving others is doing our best. Thus, we can never do best in our work unless we learn to humble down ourselves.

Reservation is the last reason why we cannot do our best. Reservations are our blind spots – things about us only others know. We cannot see these attitudes in us because the reality that we possess them hurts us, and when others try to confront us about such attitudes, we try to be blind about the reality because it hurts us. Reservations separate us from the people around us. It separates us from the people who confront us for we cannot accept the truth and we do not want to change. We cannot serve other people when we separate ourselves from them and when we separate ourselves from the truth. Unless we accept the truth and we see our blind spots, we cannot serve the people around us. Hence, reservations hinder us from serving others and hinder us from doing our best.

Jesus Christ in the Bible is a great model of a man who does His best in His work. He healed the sick, fed the hungry crowd and made many more miracles; but he never asked something in return. He lived a life of service and overcame mediocrity for He has always done His every work with compassion. He has never been an egotist for He loves us all and He always humbled down Himself. He never also had any reservations for he accepted His fate and consequently saved us. Jesus was a man of great service whom we should follow. We should make Jesus Christ, therefore, our model in order to overcome our mediocrity, egotism and reservations to strive for the best in every thing we do.

The author of this essay, Jeff F., is finishing his degree in computer engineering at MIT. The impassioned guy in picture is Dick T. and his infamous Mark Anthony's speech. Both are my English students who graduated last March 2008.

SR. STO. NIÑO DE CEBU

A Little Boy with a Big Heart

Merciful and gracious is the Lord,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness – Psalms 103:8

Biology defines the heart as a chunk of flesh which pumps blood to the whole body; but is this the only definition of the human heart? Actually it’s not merely an organ but a big bag which overflows with goodness. It may be as big as the person’s fist but its true size is measured by the kindness it possesses and shares. The true size of the heart is not seen but felt.

A young boy possesses a huge heart of this kind. He’s from a craft shop in Belgium and survived several tragedies including a great fire that turned his skin into black. He’s a little boy who stands a couple of inches tall. He is Sr. Santo Niño. He’s a small kid who helps his people conquer their fear, inspires them to unite and provides them an undying hope for a better tomorrow. Although he’s literally small, the size of his heart is immeasurable. Truly, the Santo Niño is a little kid, who despite his small stature has helped his people in numerous ways.

Apprehensions are normal for us humans. One display of Sr. Santo Niño’s great heart is his ability to rid us of doubts. His believers possess great faith that everything will be in order in his name. They turn for him for the assurance of their travels, safety from calamities and healing of maladies. These heartfelt prayers are granted in exchange for the faith they offer. This is evident as his old believers remain devoted and their number has multiplied over the years. His believers feel secure in their daily lives because of his presence. Their great faith in him gives them the strength to face all their fears.

In our struggles today unity is the key for our success. Another display of Santo Niño’s grate heart is its compelling gift that drives us to unite. Every year a festival is offered in his name, the Sinulog. This festival not only shows choreographic grace but a great deal of coordination as well. A successful performance requires coordination. This is true to our lives too. If we attain coordination which is unity, we can achieve grace which is progress. The Sinulog festival does not only provide entertainment but an inspiration as well. When unity is apparent, his mercy will surely be granted and success will be achieved in any field. Through the Sinulog festival, Santo Niño inspires his people to unite.

Today people are bombarded by various problems. The best showing of Santo Niño’s immensely great heart is the hope he provides his people in times of these problems. With the emergence of various economic and political problems, it’s a puzzle how people survive. Some may find other reasons but it’s in him where his believers find shelter and hope. Their faith keeps them going on even with all the problems they face. They make sacrifices because they know that mercy will be granted for doing so. It is what gives them hope, the hope to go on. With Santo Niño’s presence, his people find the hope to keep living their lives even with all its miseries.

Sr. Santo Niño de Cebu plays a big role in Cebuano culture. He deserves this importance not only for what he has done but because of the fact that he is the child version of the savior Jesus Christ; this importance, however, is not visible in his small physique. If a stranger, who doesn’t know anything abut him, happens to see the small child, he would probably ignore the little boy. But if he’s told of his story, the stranger would be amazed by everything he has done. With this, one can really say that Sr. Santo Niño truly has a big heart. After all, the true size of the heart is not measured by what is seen but felt.

This speculative essay is written by one of my male student writers Manfred D. It pays homage to Sr. Sto Niño whose fiesta we celebrate every January. The accompanying pictures are Dalaguete's Utanon (Vegetable) Festival, a take-off of the Sinulog Festival.

UNSHACKLE ME: FREE AT LAST!

Why We are not Better

You and I are almost the same. There are no many differences. Only that we have different insights and expectations in life. If only humans have common mind that thinks as one, for sure we can come up with better lives. I do agree with the good Cardinal Fulton Sheen when he said that “humans cannot be better because we do not have the will to be better.”

Living life is fulfilling its purpose. But wait! Does living make its purpose be fulfilled? We tend to look onward to the positive side of life but still we cannot do better because we cling on the opposite side – the negative side. We cannot accomplish nor can we improve ourselves to become better. We set divisions among ourselves. We often think that others can do more because they are better. Well, what is now the difference among us all?

Nothing less and nothing more – that is human characteristics are given to us by God equally. We cannot say that they are better for they have more than what we have. We have equal characteristics. Only that we do not use them to their fullest.

Being true to ourselves makes us more realistic. Seeing life as it really is, gives us the chance to know ourselves well. It is true that we can lie to others but not really to ourselves. Being true to what we feel frees us from worries and burdens.

But we humans are often blinded by external factors. Even if we already see a solution to solve a particular problem, we pretend not to see it. It is also the same when we hear the truth. We prefer to be blind and deaf. We are all great pretenders.

We must therefore open our eyes to the reality. For when it is when we open our senses that we are free from the shackles that locked us from within. It is only then that we can start doing good, even going beyond and live real lives.

This didactic essay was written by another student of mine, Rochelle G. The flow of thoughts is sensible and reflects this young lady’s maturity. The pictures were taken during the search for Ms. Intramurals 2003. My student, Gladys, won the search. With her is John Rey, the reigning Mr. Intrams.