I attended the week-long National Accreditation for Officiating Officials Visayas-Mindanao Cluster in Dilopolog City, Zamboanga del Norte last November 23-27, 2009.

Victory Moment

Lesssons Learned from Bagyong Ondoy

Ondoy is considered the worst storm that hit Metro Manila in 40 years and that it was equivalent of one month’s worth of rain falling within 6 hours. The result, landslides and raging flood reminiscent to the great biblical flood during the time of Noah. During which, not a few died, lost loved ones, their own homes and valuable properties.The factors to consider and blame are:
1. An extraordinary weather incident
2. Climate change via global warming
3. Lack of civil defense planning and vigilance; inadequate weather bulletins and alerts from PAG-ASA
4. Poor waste management. If the creeks and rivers had not been clogged, they would have allowed for released waters from the dams and floodwaters to have somehow drain faster.
5. Environment degradation
6. Wild and unregulated property development

Metro Manila settlers themselves contributed to the disaster. That is, from the plastic bags they throw into the sewers to the trash in the streets everyday. The sewers and drain systems are like veins in our body. If you feed it with junk, it will give you a heart attack.

The garbage was the doing of the common people. These were thrown into the waterways because that was the easiest and quickest way to get rid of them. The result, because the trash clogged waterways, the latter is made shallow and narrow. Eventually with the storm “Ondoy”, nature took revenge. Waterways overflowed the banks and entered the homes, yards and streets and to the very people where the garbage came from. As the trite adage says, “the trash you throw into the streams will come back to haunt you”.

While the flood was heavily accompanied by mud washed down by rain, landslide continue to occur even after the storm Ondoy. This is because there are no more roots of trees to hold the soil together. Those people responsible in cutting down the forest must have been the first to be buried alive by landslide but they are accordingly merely watching high and dry from their mansions and condos. These people who got rich by illegal logging assuage their feelings of guilt by donating some of their ill-gotten wealth to the relief organizations helping flood victims.

“We benefit more from our failures than from our successes; that crises teach us more important lessons than we can possibly learn from books and classrooms. As someone puts it, one of the things that hits you most forcibly and offers ideas of value is failure and suffering. Success and happiness give out great feelings but it is affliction that enlightens and prepare us best for the future.” -- Ramon J. Farolan, Phil. Daily Inquirer Columnist

Your Thought and Mine

Your Thought and Mine

by Kahlil Gibran

Your thought is a tree rooted deep in the soil of tradition and whose branches grow in the power of continuity. My thought is a cloud moving in the space. It turns into drops which, as they fall, form a brook that sings its way into the sea. Then it rises as vapour into the sky. Your thought is a fortress that neither gale nor the lightning can shake. My thought is a tender leaf that sways in every direction and finds pleasure in its swaying. Your thought is an ancient dogma that cannot change you nor can you change it. My thought is new, and it tests me and I test it morn and eve.
You have your thought and I have mine.

Your thought allows you to believe in the unequal contest of the strong against the weak, and in the tricking of the simple by the subtle ones. My thought creates in me the desire to till the earth with my hoe, and harvest the crops with my sickle, and build my home with stones and mortar, and weave my raiment with woollen and linen threads. Your thought urges you to marry wealth and notability. Mine commends self-reliance. Your thought advocates fame and show. Mine counsels me and implores me to cast aside notoriety and treat it like a grain of sand cast upon the shore of eternity. Your thought instils in your heart arrogance and superiority. Mine plants within me love for peace and the desire for independence. Your thought begets dreams of palaces with furniture of sandalwood studded with jewels, and beds made of twisted silk threads. My thought speaks softly in my ears, “Be clean in body and spirit even if you have nowhere to lay your head.” Your thought makes you aspire to titles and offices. Mine exhorts me to humble service.

You have your thought and I have mine.

Your thought is social science, a religious and political dictionary. Mine is simple axiom. Your thought speaks of the beautiful woman, the ugly, the virtuous, the prostitute, the intelligent, and the stupid. Mine sees in every woman a mother, a sister, or a daughter of every man. The subjects of your thought are thieves, criminals, and assassins. Mine declares that thieves are the creatures of monopoly, criminals are the offspring of tyrants, and assassins are akin to the slain. Your thought describes laws, courts, judges, punishments. Mine explains that when man makes a law, he either violates it or obeys it. If there is a basic law, we are all one before it. He who disdains the mean is himself mean. He who vaunts his scorn of the sinful vaunts his disdain of all humanity. Your thought concerns the skilled, the artist, the intellectual, the philosopher, the priest. Mine speaks of the loving and the affectionate, the sincere, the honest, the forthright, the kindly, and the martyr. Your thought advocates Judaism, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. In my thought there is only one universal religion, whose varied paths are but the fingers of the loving hand of the Supreme Being. In your thought there are the rich, the poor, and the beggared. My thought holds that there are no riches but life; that we are all beggars, and no benefactor exists save life herself.

You have your thought and I have mine.

According to your thought, the greatness of nations lies in their politics, their parties, their conferences, their alliances and treaties. But mine proclaims that the importance of nations lies in work – work in the field, work in the vineyards, work with the loom, work in the tannery, work in the quarry, work in the timberyard, work in the office and in the press. Your thought holds that the glory of the nations is in their heroes. It sings the praises of Rameses, Alexander, Caesar, Hannibal, and Napoleon. But mine claims that the real heroes are Confucius, Lao-Tse, Socrates, Plato, Abi Taleb, El Gazali, Jalal Ed-din-el Roumy, Copernicus, and Pasteur. Your thought sees power in armies, cannons, battleships, submarines, aeroplanes, and poison gas. But mine asserts that power lies in reason, resolution, and truth. No matter how long the tyrant endures, he will be the loser at the end. Your thought differentiates between pragmatist and idealist, between the part and the whole, between the mystic and materialist. Mine realizes that life is one and its weights, measures and tables do not coincide with your weights, measures and tables. He whom you suppose an idealist may be a practical man.

You have your thought and I have mine.

Your thought is interested in ruins and museums, mummies and petrified objects. But mine hovers in the ever-renewed haze and clouds. Your thought is enthroned on skulls. Since you take pride in it, you glorify it too. My thought wanders in the obscure and distant valleys. Your thought trumpets while you dance. Mine prefers the anguish of death to your music and dancing. Your thought is the thought of gossip and false pleasure. Mine is the thought of him who is lost in his own country, of the alien in his own nation, of the solitary among his kinfolk and friends.

You have your thought and I have mine.

Zwani

Myspace Welcome Comments

Zwani

Myspace Welcome Comments

Myspace Graphics and Myspace Layouts

Myspace Graphics and Myspace Layouts

Myspace Graphics and Myspace Layouts

Sand and Stone

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND, AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE

Parable Of The Pencil - Pencil story

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box.

"There are 5 things you need to know," he told the pencil, "Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be."

"One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand."

"Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you'll need it to become a better pencil."

"Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make."

"Four: The most important part of you will always be what's inside."

"And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write."

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

Now replacing the place of the pencil with you. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God's hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you'll need it to become a stronger person.

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what's on the inside.

And Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.

Allow this parable on the pencil to encourage you to know that you are a special person and only you can fulfill the purpose to which you were born to accomplish.

Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot make a change.

Love and Time

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.

When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said,
"Richness, can you take me with you?"
Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help me!"
"I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you."
"Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder. So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Realizing how much was owed the elder, Love asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who Helped me?"
"It was Time," Knowledge answered.
"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"
Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."

Alexander Fleming

I happened to stumble an inspiring story today, a story of one of the greatest scientists in London.

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."
"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.
"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly.
"I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of."

And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.

Someone once said what goes around comes around.

Teacher under interrogation

Teaching is one of the toughest jobs on earth. No wonder some teachers feel like giving up to a profession which is not only physically and mentally demanding but also emotionally disheartening.

With so many work to accomplish, not to mention the regular teaching work and lesson planning, we can't help not to answer some of the big questions concerning us.
1. Do you plan to slow down in the coming year?

Being young and vibrant is a blessing. I can imagine my old co-teachers complaining their back pains and sore throat and other muscle pains caused by old age. It's good to know that I am young and I still have the energy to teach. I am given the proper motivation for my work. I guess, I just need to maintain my pace and passion in teaching students and I should not let it die down on me.

2. Do you consider yourself a workaholic?

I could say I am. Specially this month and this coming September, I don't know how to define the word "rest."

3. When you need more time, do you tend to cut back on your sleep?

Not anymore. I learned so much lessons in the past. I realized sleep is very important. I can't afford to cut back on it. Time management is still an effective way to beat any deadline.

4. At the end of the day, do you often feel that you have not accomplished what you had set out to do?
Sometime I feel like I am not accomplishing anything when I don't plan out my day. Iused to list down on paper the things I want to accomplish in a particular day as "To-do-list." If I fail to make a list, I am sure nothing will happen.

5. Do you worry that you don’t spend enough time with your family or friends?
Yes, I really worry not spending quality time with people whom I care and love. I hope I can be with my family always. But to my friends I can spare some time specially when they invited me to a party.

6. Do you feel that you’re constantly under stress trying to accomplish more than you can handle?
I have this mentality. I just don't know how to avoid stress.

7. Do you feel trapped in a daily routine?
Yes.

8. Do you feel that you just don’t have time for fun any more?
I still find time to enjoy and have fun while working.

9. Do you often feel under stress when you don’t have enough time?
Nope.

10. Would you like to spend more time alone?
Yes, I truly need time to contemplate on my life. I will explain later.

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Inspiring Myself

My conscience talking to me:

Some people have different things that can inspire them greatly in times of depression. If you have certain things that can make you feel better, why not write them out and place those papers around your home. This way you can see these inspiring thoughts at all times.

You need to remember that everyone has bad days. No matter who they are and how much money they have. A person will never be in his life happy all the time. It's not normal, and you can't ever expect it. That's why you need to remember inspiring thoughts at these low times.

Perhaps you have a favorite book that you enjoy many quotes from, maybe even the Bible. Even if you're not a very religious person there are some very good inspiring comments in the Bible that everyone can enjoy.

Think of something you've accomplished in the past. Be it a simple thing like a story you wrote or a poem. Even though it may never have been published when shared with friends they really enjoyed it. This should inspire you to perhaps even write another one, and get you out of that mood.

Movies that you always find that make you happy can have some inspiring thoughts in them to make you feel less down too. Placing that movie on and watching it, or just the scenes that always make you laugh or smile can be enough of a push to bring you from a down mood to an up mood.

Finally, you need to keep in mind that you are no different from anyone else. We all experience these feelings of being down. Just don't let them get too bad before you seek out a friend to talk to. If you ever get close to thinking of hurting yourself call your friends up and chat, they will help you out.

Culmination Program for Nutrition Month 09

JPENHS Fire Drill

Fourth Year Acquaintance Party 09