Overcoming Fear

I like being scared.
It brings me back to my humanity.
It causes me to tremble and pray.
It humbles me and refreshes me of my vulnerability.

I like being scared.
Because I remember Jesus when I'm scared.
I remember why He died
And I remember that He rose again.

I like being scared.
Because by being scared, I remember why I shouldn't be.

Strangers in a Restaurant

Last night, while I was eating dinner, I saw a guy pacing back and forth outside the restaurant. From the looks of it, he was waiting for someone. A girlfriend maybe. Or a mistress. I don't know. But it must've been someone dear to him.

I looked at him while I was eating my tender pork grills, wondering how his life has been up to that point. Was he a successful business man? Did he have children? Was he happy?

I guess I'll never know.

I left the restaurant right after I finished finished my meal, rushing past the waiting man. Culminating our meeting with a small nod.

I might never see him again. Which made me wonder of the many things that could've happened if I tried to talk to him. He could've been a good friend. He could've needed my help. He could've helped me with MY personal problems.

Could've, but no.

We were confined to the fact that we were two complete strangers. Bound to meet on opposite walls of a fastfood joint in Cebu on a cold Sunday night. That and nothing else.

Which made me think of everyone else in the restaurant that night. Will I be able to see them again? Will I know them once I see them? 

And then I thought of everyone I've known. Were we, at some point in time, unknowing strangers in a restaurant? Did we order our meals right beside each other? Did we even have an inkling that we were to become acquaintances? Friends? Lovers?

I guess not. But now, we were.

I didn't chat them up. I never offered to buy them food. And yet, here we are. Acquaintances. Friends. Lovers. All because we were bound to be.

And if that man were to be my friend, then he will be. But I'll never know until then.

So as I got into my taxi, I looked at the man for what might be the last time. I wondered if he had a dog. Or if he liked the color blue. Or if he was in love with whoever he was going to meet up with.

I guess I'll never know.

This House Believes That You Make Me Love You

Madam Chair, I would like to preempt all arguments from the opposing houses by saying that I personally DON'T CARE about whatever arguments they have. They are all MOOT. So sit down, Opp Whip. It's not even past the first minute yet.

Thank you.

So first of all, we set this debate up in my heart. Where all my love is stored. It's not about you. It's about me. So yes, in my heart. :) And the standard of this debate is whether or not this is really love. But we all know it is.  

POINT! What if it's just puppy love?

Shut up. It's not puppy love. And I never took your point. Sit down and be touched.

First argument: 

"You MOVE me"

Yes, I am the Paula Abdul to whatever you do. I'm that much of a fan. You touch that tender part of me whenever you tell me about your day. How you helped your friend staple her testpapers together. How you found an injured kitten and nursed it back to health. How you single-handedly lifted a tractor off a three-day old baby rhino. YOU. TOTALLY. MOVE. ME. 

And the best part is, I'm not white-knuckling throughout the entire story. I ACTUALLY enjoy listening and being touched by you. Promise. Cross my heart. I don't pretend I'm interested, like I do when I'm in my Filipino class. I'm honestly, and sincerely interested in listening to you doing stuff that'd normally cause me to slap the bejeezus out people if they start at it again.

With my other friends: 

Shut up! I don't want to hear about that time you didn't "know" about the long exam your teacher was to give you so you had no idea about the lessons but you topped the exam anyway.    

But with you it's like this:

WHAT?! YOU TOPPED THE EXAMS??!! WITHOUT STUDYING?!! NO FRIGGIN' WAY?!! THAT'S AWESOME!!!

And personally, I think that's a pretty good sign that I'm like, you know, TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH YOU AND STUFF. :D

So yeah, teehee, moving on...

Second Argument:

"You UNDERSTAND me"

That in itself would make ANYBODY fall in love with ANYBODY. Understanding someone, despite everything they've done, and being cool with it means they're willing to accept them and reciprocate their feelings WHATEVER their past may have been. 

POINT! That's not mutually exclusive on your part. 

She can be understanding to everyone. 

Does that mean they deserve her, too?

May I remind you, Mr. Smarty Pants, that the debate here is whether or not SHE'S MAKING ME LOVE HER and not whether or not SHE SHOULD BE WITH ME, or SHE'LL END UP WITH ME or any other inevitable situation. So regardless of how applicable it is to any other human being, what matters in this debate is whether or not what she does contributes to my feelings towards her. 

But---

  

Third Argument:

"I simply LOVE you"

This should've been my main argument. But for drama's sake I've put it last. 

And it's all the argument I need.

It's simple as that.

I love you and that's all that matters. The fact that it's true means that you do make me fall in love with you. And the motion stands. It doesn't really need to be pointed by extensive prongs. And you CAN'T, actually. Because if you CAN, then it'd be either of two things:

a.) It'll take forever. If you're love were true, then that list would never end. 

b.) It's not TRUE love. If you've actually quantified your love for someone, you've limited it to your mere human logic. It's not infinite anymore. There are boundaries to your affections. And I don't think that's love. Well, true love that is. 

And the only way to en-capsulize all your feelings is to merely state the truth of its existence. To say that I love you and I love you NO MATTER WHAT. The next argument would merely support it, and so will the next and the next and so on. 

So, yeah.

I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT.

End of story. Gov wins.

The Demise of Modern Man

Considering how we live in an ecosystem bursting with interdependence, it cannot be avoided that along with interdependent sociological processes, the development of social issues and problems become intertwined and causal. Some issues may be often the cause while some maybe the manifestation of the effects of the former. 

In some paradigms, man can be seen as the main perpetrator of all these social issues. While some say that although mankind has indeed given considerable contribution to the development of such social conflicts, the main reason why these issues progress into more tangible effects is the reaction (and the magnification of these reactions) of the environment and the receiving end of mankind to such instigations.

Let me put it this way, multinational corporations may keep on abusing the environment, but the fact still remains that as long as the international community patronizes the products of these companies, they still remain capable and still have the “need” to abuse the environment.

So with that, the rise of capitalistic mindsets bring forth an age wherein the need to help the status of our environment takes the backseat over the need for more profit and economic progress. With increased usage and marketing of natural resources, the influx of money increases. Such negative correlation is brought forth by the functionalist perspective.

And so, with the lessening of the environment, more and more people experience a decrease in nutrition and increase in poverty. With the loss of pure natural resources (which we all know, are the best sources of healthy living), the nutritional status of those affected become worse. They no longer have clean water to drink, nor do they have fresh air to breathe. They soon develop typhoid fever, tuberculosis, e. coli or whatever new epidemic we are having nowadays. What’s worse is that they no longer can afford proper medicine for their illnesses because they have no more resources to generate income on. They fall faster towards the depths of poverty. They lose the resources that give them good health and sufficient earnings.

And soon, after the grassroots become impoverished, the government soon experience setbacks. Their people are sick, poor and in need of their help. And they have little money to use, because the people that pay their taxes (which is apparently the lifeblood of the nation), can no longer pay as much as they used to, because they simply aren’t earning as much as they used to. The government then becomes lame and immobile.

And with the inability of the government to fix the basic problems of society, collateral damage is inflicted on other vital sectors of society. Gender and overpopulation issues are by far the sectors that receive the most damage. Overpopulation becomes affected in this because numerous legislations that bring about laws that uphold the rights of the family to choose their size and dynamics depend on how the government executes their passing and regulation. If we have a government that fails to function at its core, the implementation of these rights to a well-planned out family slowly descends into obscurity.

Same goes for gender issues. Numerous activist groups fight for more laws that enable women to live equally among men. But when the mindset of the populace is fixed on merely surviving on a day-to-day basis, these advocacies fall short of being heard and acted on. In fact, there may come a point in time wherein the public would see these groups as unnecessary extremists rather than much-needed advocates.

And so comes an inevitable option for some sectors in society: wade in water of blurred development or fight the system and make drastic change. Although most political analysts prefer to not do both choices and instead find a more proactive approach in changing society, this is rarely the case of today’s problematic societies. They would choose to become one of two things: terrorists or the terrorized. They either become the passive victims of shootings or the active shooters themselves.

It cannot be ignored that more and more separatist groups form under the premise that they are for change and development. And although one can see the nobility in their means, their Machiavellian approach to achieving change cannot quench the thirst for peaceful and harmonized progress. It will only lead to further destruction (to the environment, even) and ultimately perpetuate the cycle of regression our world is experiencing.

One problem clearly leads to another and another and another. And it’s very distressing. But what bothers me most is that mankind----despite numerous failures to base on----continually fails to tackle and defeat the issues at hand. They fight fire with fire. A problem with another problem. The highly-developed mind of modern man sadly cannot see that the fire they are fighting is the same fire that when controlled and handled correctly, can bring us the warmth and comfort of communal development.

Salute to the Brown Man

-found this somewhere in my computer. I'm not sure who wrote it. I hope it was me. If it wasn't, I'd wish it were.
*UPDATE* My friend said I wrote it. (Sorry, I have REALLY bad memory). So YEY! :) 

He was not so tall. And he was brown. And he lived on the mountainside about 2000 years ago.

He needed to eat. And so barehanded, with no complicated tools, he built some terraces. He irrigated them, and they stood the test of time.

He built a steadfast government of 7107 islands, he made a language unique than anything else in the world. He built monuments, painted murals, wrote epics and sang anthems.

The mind of the brown man is golden, and his skin is a testament to his perseverance.

And so today we honor the skilled inventive race of the brown man.

Today we honor the skillfulness of the small but ingenious band of pygmies and the morenos.

Today we give accolades to the Imagineering, the ingenuity and the creativeness of the brown man.