A quick post

I was checking the IP addresses of those who visited my website and I had an interesting discovery someone sent the Love Letter I made to someone... hahaha. I have to say that I am flattered but I also have to say that it is not just SOME love letter as my title would put it, it was really for someone siguro pag nabasa nya she'd know na sya yun or siguro pag malakas na loob ko i-eemail ko rin sa kanya yun... hehehe

Of this country and its (sad) state

A few days ago I was reading this article about Gawad Kalinga receiving the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Development and then just a few moments ago I was reading the plight of the 2004 Medical Board Exam topnotcher who went to the States to become a nurse. That and all other recent news items present the irony of our society, about how bad or good can things become. But somehow I am believing that things can be done the question is how?

The recognition of Ramon Magsaysay Foundation to Gawad Kalinga was just proper. A few years ago I read about an Englishman who came to the Philippines and was touched by the vision of Gawad Kalinga that he gave up everything in England, came to the Philippines to help out. I believe at that time he was waiting to become a naturalized Filipino Citizen. This phenomenon is not just for Gawad Kalinga, there are many other organizations of this nature that vowed to help out this country. When the new Corps Magazine comes out, I wrote a feature about Project ISLAM who built up a Muslim Community that has changed the lives of many of our Muslim Brothers. This is just to show that a lot can be done if only we decide to do things rather than just complain. Of course, I must admit that there is pleasure in complaining but I hope it does not end there. Let us take the case of the Medical Board Topnotcher, I do not know why he decided to become a nurse abroad but I felt bad that he decided to do it. I'm not even a topnotcher of any board exam and yet I still know that I can do a lot of things to improve my life in this country. So I wonder, is the situation of the country really that bad that our best brains no longer have the confidence of landing good jobs even with their credentials?

The examples of Gawad Kalinga and the Topnotcher are extremes of a maxim. Gawad Kalinga still believing that this country will prosper despite its problems while the other has totally decided to leave this country for greener pastures. The question then is where in that maxim do we stand? Let us examine our options: the country is in a bad state, our government is plagued with various controversies, politicking here and there, public funds being malversed and integrity being questioned; then we have a people that is in the midst of poverty, cynical people who has lost hope on the good things in this country; then there is this promise of a good future abroad, the unknown world that seems to shine better than our own household. There are still other realities we just have to weigh our options and choose what to believe.

In the end how we choose will determine the fate of this country. This country will still be our country and we will always be known as Filipinos even if we prosper in other countries and be their citizens. Our skin can never deny what country we came from nor will it hide the realities that our country is facing. In the end we will always be Filipinos and our country will always be Philippines. I guess my bias is obvious. I pray that when we set out to plan our lives, we take into consideration our heritage, our being Filipinos and the roles we have as its people. Going back to my original question in the beginning... HOW? Maybe you have suggestions....

Some Love Letter

I wanted to tell you how I feel but I do not know how to begin. The confusion that I am experiencing is something that I can not understand. I just know that it is from my heart and it is that feeling that keeps me alive these past days. The loneliness that I feel every now and then is overshadowed by the mere thought of the wonderful things that I remember about you. It is an irony that even if I try to remain within reason, the irrational part of me overtakes the very being that I try to uphold. I end up giving it all up and allowing myself to be swallowed by the vast emotions that my heart constantly whispers into my system.

It is not always that people have so much effect on my. Although I try my best to reach people in a deeper sense, it is not always that it goes to that. But you were different. You were somewhat of little flicker that kept on growing and growing eventually becoming a brushfire that has consumed my very existence. In the simplest way of putting it, you made my spirit alive. Every night as I try my best to get away from all the stress that contends me each day, I smile to the heavens realizing that you are in my life. The very thought of you makes me want to go on with what I do ignoring the frustrations and other dillemas and just continuing to believe in the beauty of what life has to offer. It is in the assurance that you are just there somewhere prods me to live life to the fullest, love the world and thank God for everything. My heart dwells on the thought of you and it lives in the belief that it is for your taking.

I say this now because I may not be able to say this to you. If the time comes that the opportunity will present itself for me to say all this to you then I would gladly say it but if not, this will become a testament of how my heart loved you dearly and that how you brought life to it. I do not know the future. Although I am hoping that it will be something where we will be together it is never a certainty, what is certain is my heart that hopes for certainty. I love you from the bottom of my heart.

The language of a loving heart

Today I will write about love. I guess love is all around me these past days and its inevitable, I can not brush it off. As I was roaming around the library the yesterday looking for books I can read, I chanced upon this book entitled The Greatest Letters of all Times. It was an old book, hardbound and by the looks of it is old. I was not able to find out when the book was published but I was able to browse through its content. It was a compilation of letters written by the great people of history from Napoleon Bonaparte to Victor Hugo, Dostoyevsky and other great men. The topics ranged from pleading for mercy, to waging war and of course love letters. Of course I immediately went to the section on love letters and I was touched by the love story of two greatest poets as illustrated in the love letters they sent to each other: Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett.

Robert Browning first heard of Elizabeth Barrett through her poems. Elizabeth then who only had admiration to Browning because of his works was immediately impressed when he sent her a letter telling her of how he was touched by her poems. From this initial exchange of letters, Elizabeth Barrett became Elizabeth Browning even against his father's liking. She was never forgiven by her father and yet the love story that she shared with Browning is considered as one of the most celebrated romance of all time. With this feeling Elizabeth got the inspiration to write her most popular work ever, 43 of Sonnets from the Portuegese and it read:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints!---I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

The language of the heart does transcend time and it pierces through the soul of anyone who has known love. I personally feel that the poem is what it is now because it is clearly the language of a loving heart, a heart that was freed and dared to give everything for love.

Amusing Blogs: Gael's Letters

This blog is a creation of a Bratmate's wife. By bratmate I mean that our fathers are classmates (by classmates it just means that they graduated in the same PMA Class) in the Academy. I drew the sword in their wedding and although we are not exactly close, the fact that we have something in common kind of makes me relate to the things that she goes through. What is special about this blog is that it is addressed to a young child who just turned one year old recently. The blog basically tells the different things that happen to her, as a military wife, a mother, a working mom and simply being herself. What amazes me is the amount of love that is shown in each of the entries. The way she tries to make do out of her cicumstances and yet be optimistic of the things that are to come. Her frustrations are so natural and yet her reaction is something that not many people can actually apply in their own lives. Here is a woman who simply wanted to enjoy life and is doing it despite of the realities that she is faced with. Perhaps what makes this blog very close to my heart is that to some extent it mirrors the same feelings that my mother had raising me and my other siblings. The blog clearly exposes the human spirit at its best conquering the daily difficulties that each of us face.