It's SummerTime!!!

Lately this March, the sun rises in the early hours of the day and sets very late. The day seems to be longer than ever. It is even getting hotter too! Can you feel it? It’s summer! Summer is on the air! Splashing at the beach could be one of the perfect getaways. Going to Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines or to other cool places could b e fun too! During sunny days, it would be nice and cozy to sit under a shady tree while enjoying an ice cold drink, right?

Different activities can be enjoyed during summer. But, it is also a perfect time to do things that are useful enough and might still be enjoyable. Here are just some of the stuffs we can do for the summer that are useful enough:

1. Save for the rainy days. Summer jobs could be available in these times. Part time jobs like fast food crew, office assistants, and internet and shop attendants could be obtainable by now. In just for months, you’ll be able to save money future use or even to support some of your basic commodities. To earn during summer is not limited on working for companies or for employers. You could also put up a small business like selling ice candies, banana cues, shake, hamburger or almost anything under the sun!

2. Learn new skills and knowledge. Summer lessons like karate, swimming, cooking and others will be fun also. You are not just enjoying, but also imbibing new skills that can somehow help you in the future. Just like the cooking class, you’ll be able to cook for your family with mouth-watering delight. Or learning how to swim could somehow make your vacation at the beach more enjoyable. During emergency times, like when the ship that your are aboard sinks, so, your skills in swimming would be very useful by then.

3. If you are an incoming freshman in college or in high school, summer could be the best time to comply with your requirements in enrollment to a school. Instead of cramming up, why not do it while there is still time. Don’t just wait for the deadlines. Do it before to avoid the rush.

4. Cleanliness and order is always a must in every home. Yet, during school days, we got so busy. We do not have time to arrange our things and even to clean our rooms. Now, this summer, we can now put off that dust and trash. Do the choirs and even redecorate your house. Who would want to stay in a house with crawling insects around, right?

5. Lastly, relax. We may not know it, but stress can lead to something serious. Try to stop and relax once in a while. Though there are a lot of activities during summer, but do not forget to relax and enjoy. Give yourself a break. And try to strengthen your body by eating the proper diet and doing some exercises. So that, when you get back to school, you will have a sound body and lessen those absences caused by sickness.

Boredom during summer can be felt by some. But enjoying activities like summer jobs and lessons could somehow vanish the boredom within us. Instead of just sitting around staying idle, try to do something useful. As what they say, time is precious, so don’t waste it.

Loneliness

Have you experienced being alone and lonely? If yes, have you overcome such state? How?

Loneliness is a state of someone living in solitude or with no companion. There have been different reasons why loneliness exists in a person’s life. It could be due to financial matters that some have to work far from their families. Or when, someone has not found his or her partner in life yet. I can relate to one of these. My father and sister are both working abroad. Saudi Arabia is my father’s destination, while my sister’s is in Dubai. Probably, both of them feel lonely to be miles away from us. It is really difficult to be away from your loved ones. Yet, my family overcomes this loneliness by staying in touch always.

Have you heard about the saying, “No man is an island”? This relates that no person can exist alone. Man has to interact with others as to live normally. That is why; it is difficult for us to live alone. We find our life so lonely and gloomy if we have to live in solitude or be away from people.

Loneliness could be difficult to overcome. In one point of a person’s life, he should be strong enough to surpass this stage in his life. He may find various ways to beat loneliness. He may do it by making himself busy with work or even with hobbies. One can even express his feelings through creative writing. One example of these is the poem written by E. Commings. The title of his poem was, ‘Loneliness’.

‘Loneliness’ by E. Commings was an intriguing creation. Commings made a poem that is so unique one cannot understand fully what it tries to imply. Various readers may have different interpretations on this poem. As one of the readers, I find his work an abstract. Though there is just a bunch of letters, there is a deeper meaning behind those. For me, E. Coming’s poem is about a fallen leaf. This shows the parting of the branch and the leaf. As the leaf falls, it becomes farther from the branch. If we are to associate this with man, we can find loneliness among people who part ways like when one has to leave like the fallen leaf.

Why didn’t Commings use ‘l’ instead of ‘L’? Probably, Commings also made use of how letter ‘l’ looks like. The ‘l’ in his poem looks like the number ‘1’. They look similar, right? Since, to be lonely means to be alone or in solitude or to be the only one.

There may be a lot of symbolisms that Commings put forth in his poem. There may be meanings in its structure and the style. Yet, what I can explain is the ‘l’ and the fallen leaf. As what I have said, for every reader, there may be various interpretations and understandings.

Every one of us may experience maybe at least once in a lifetime. Yet, it is for us on how to overcome it. We may be as creative like E. Commings. Poetry is a work of the hand that makes art out of words.

LoOK iNtO My EyEs...

[the look]
When you speak, do you have the habit of not looking at the eyes of your chat mate? Or are you the one who looks directly into his or her eyes?
God blessed us with everything. He gave us the trees, the air, the sun, and all the things necessary for us to live. The most important and special among these blessings are our bodies. God made us a very unique shell for our souls. He gave us an intricate body that helps us to do our duties.
One of the great features of our shells is the sense of sight or our eyes. Scientifically speaking, the eyes, together with the brain, make someone to see things. The eyes make us see the glamorous dress we are wearing, the picturesque scenery where we spend our vacations, and the color of the sky. Without our sense of sight, all we can see is darkness.
A lot said that the eyes are the windows of the soul. And I do believe on that. With just a look of the eye, we can determine that someone is nervous, scared, angry, telling the truth or happy. Just like the poem by Sarah Teasdale. With just a simple look of someone, he can already express much affection to the speaker instead of the physical way like kissing. The other men in the poem kissed the speaker but the effects of their kisses did not last that long rather than the look of Collin. His eyes are more expressive than a kiss. There was even a song about the expressiveness of the eyes to show love to a person. It was sung by Christian Bautista, a well- known balladeer and an international artist. The song goes like this, “No one ever saw me like you do. See the things that I can add up to. I never knew just what a smile is worth. But your eyes say everything without a single word. ‘Cause there’s something in the way you look at me. It’s as if my heart knows you’re the missing piece. You make me believe that there’s nothing in this world I can be. I never know what you see. ‘Cause there’s something in the way you look at me.”
The song shows how powerful a simple look of someone’s eyes could be. Without uttering words, the eyes can just say everything. Love can also be expressed in someone’s eyes. You will feel that there is something in the way he or she looked at you.
There was also a song, “my eyes adore you”. The speaker just cannot help to look at his lover. His eyes just adore him or her that much. Simply, his or her eyes just expressed his feeling of adoration to that certain someone.
The eyes as mentioned are the windows of the soul. If you want to express something to someone, try to look at her or him in the eyes. Your eyes may show sincerity to what you say or do.

ThE WeLL miGhT RuN DrY!!!

“You’ll never miss the water until the well runs dry”. I can always hear or see this saying in advertisements of the Metropolitan Cebu Water District or MCWD.
Water or H2O is composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen, covalently bonded together. It covers up 70% of the earth's surface and . And it is known to be the universal solvent. It is called as such because it is a strong solvent that can dissolve almost all kinds of solutes.
Water has always been important to men. Water is needed by the human body to sustain life processes. Without water, dehydration may happen and might stop the functioning of body organs. It might even lead to death. This is how important water is to men.
Water’s usage does not limit to drinking only. Water is also a source of electricity to some barangays. Just like the barangays located near the Maria Christina Falls.
Hygiene is one thing that water contributes to the society or community. Water is used to clean things against dust or dirt. It is used to wash the dishes, car, laundry and other things that require cleaning. Of course, humans are included in these things. Humans also need water to be clean and to avoid body stench. Cleaning one’s body can also avoid diseases. So, proper hygiene is important everywhere.
Like humans and animals, plants need water too. Water, together with sunlight and other factors, helps the plant to make food for itself. This could benefit the consumers, especially the herbivores. Since their food depends solely on plants. Without water, there would be no plants. And without plants, there3 would be no animals. Then, without the existence of all these, there would an extinction of human civilization.
We can now see the importance of water. Water fills up the majority of the earth. Yet, majority of this water are salt waters that cannot be used for human consumption. Water that humans consume are water that came from the under. There would be a possibility that these would dry up in years. Rivers are supposedly the source of drinking water. Yet, humans have been so crude and pollute it. Are we still going to wait until the well runs dry to stop polluting our water? Don’t let it happen when you have to be forced to drink the salty sea water. While we still have water, try your best to conserve it.
Some ways in conserving water is by the use of containers instead of a hose in washing dishes or the car. When you see your faucets dripping every now and then, call the plumber right away. Then, you may also want to use pails instead of a shower in bathing. There are so many other ways to conserve water.
Let us not pollute our environment, our waters. Because, you will never miss the water until the well runs dry. You might regret in the future wherein you have to cross miles just to acquire drinkable water. In Filipino, “Nasa huli ang pagsisisi”.

Controversial Speech

Pope Benedict XVI had his speech on his meeting with the representatives of science at the University of Regensburg last September 12, 2006. This speech was entitled: Faith, Reason and the University Memories and Reflections. His speech created chaos among the Muslims.
In our English class last semester, we were tasked to read exhaustively a copy of his speech. Then, we were to react and understand his speech.

These are summaries to some parts of his speech. We have to react about it also.

A. Purified Greek Heritage
Why purified Greek heritage? Christianity has been a religion for some time. The Christian faith has a touch of the Greek culture through its philosophies. Or simply, faith has been mixed with philosophy, in which came from the Greeks.
Yet, as the time of the Reformation came in the sixteenth century, the term dehellenization emerges. Dehellenization means the removing of the Greek culture from something. The Reformists at those times demanded that the Greek culture should be removed from the Christian faith. Or, it is to remove philosophy away from faith. According to them, faith is no longer appeared as a living historical Word but as one element of the philosophical system.
I do believe that faith should not be mixed with philosophy. Faith is no longer faith if you have to find reasons on why you have faith on something. Faith must not be correlated with philosophy.
B. Kant’s Critiques
The modern concept of reason is based on the synthesis between Platonism and empiricism. According to Kant’s critiques of Practical Reason, these two concepts made up or are divisions of practical reason. Platonism is about to reason out with the use of mathematical formula or simply, it is the rationalizing of things. It is just like explaining things with the use of proofs that could state the truth. Empiricism in the other hand is by giving out of reasons using the unscientific way. This explains what science cannot explain and what people cannot see. Just like questions in the creator of the planets, why are they made, and others. Simply saying, faith is a tool in empiricism. Faith is used in explaining things that we can barely explain.
Man cannot live in this world with science alone. Man cannot be complete without having faith in something. How can he see life if life for him is only filled with science and facts, and not by with faith and trust? I strongly believe that people to exist, science and faith should exist all along.
C. Byzantine Emperor
There was this dialogue edited by Professor Theodore Khoury by Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian. This was about on the subject of Christianity, Islam and the truth of both. This dialogue was set down by the emperor and was given in greater detail than that of the Persian. Specifically, it talks about the image of God, and of man and the structures of faith in the Bible and in the Quran.
In my opinion, this dialogue must give importance to both sides. It must clearly show Christianity and Islam, but not to compare the two. These two religions must not be equated since these are two different and distinct religions. Religions must not be compared.

LoVE...a choice

[Love: An Act of Will not of Heart]
The heart has always been the symbol for love. During Valentines Day, you’ve got to see a lot of hearts around. You might see it on the walls, the ceilings, on televisions, and so forth. What is in hearts that it was used as a symbol for love? Does this mean that the heart is responsible for a man to feel love and fall in love? Is to love an act of the heart or of something else?
Biologically speaking, the heart is one of the vital parts of a human body. As one of the organs of our circulatory system, the heart is responsible for pumping blood to all other parts of the body. In this case, the heart tends to circulate the blood all over the body systems. Life is not possible without the heart. Without the heart that circulates the oxygen enriched blood, all body parts would soon not to function. Now, we can see the importance of the heart. But, does this mean that love is an act of the heart?
Have you experienced to fall in love? Probably one of those feelings that you will feel is the fast beating of your heart. Or may be you feel like floating in the air or feel like so inspired everyday. But, does this mean that love is an act done by the heart?
Some say that the heart is the seat of emotions. Meanwhile, your brain would be for intelligence. But is this really true? Well, may be not. The brain is responsible for your intelligence and even your emotions. So, we can say that love is an act of the brain, right? Yes, most probably. The brain is the one which process what you feel and what you think. We can say that to love is an act of will and not of the heart.
In the bible, specifically the first Corinthians 13, love is described, “Love is patient, kind, without envy… love excuses everything, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” To love is a will and not just an impulse that sparks just like that. Every one of us is equipped with free will. God gave us free will to make us choose who we love and how we love. If you think you love someone, let it be. You have your will. And nobody can ever dictate who you will love. The choice will be within you.
Love has no exact definition. Yet, it can only be described. Some would describe love as how it is depicted in the bible. Others may also describe it in another way. Since to love is by will and by choice and no one can dictate you how to love.
Hearts are mere symbols of love. But to love is an act of the will and not of the heart. It is your will to love. It is your option. No one can dictate to you, who to love. It is just a matter of choice.

Shattering Glass...

Jeraline Gumalal is a good friend of mine. I was tasked to write about her for Tambuli. I would like to share to you more about her.
An artist. A softball pitcher. A guitarist. What more can we say for such girl with multi-talents?
Jeraline Ebarola Gumalal or simply, Jerah, is a girl of many talents. Yet, she is often misunderstood and ignored for the promising acts she has done. Why can't we fully understand her and seek her true perceptions?
Jerah, as what most people don't know, is a philosophy-enriched individual. She sees things in its deepest sense. Her philosophies keep her going through her everyday life.
“Today is my big fight and I shall win it”, Jerah encourages herself as she steps out of the door. She regards every event of her life as a big competition. The competition may be tough, but she plays it fairly and sees to it that no one gets hurt every time she takes a step. She was really born as a fighter. Since a year old, she learned to live without her parents and siblings. She tried to live as a normal child and only stayed with her lola. At an early age, she had been an independent individual. She admitted that it took her a hard time to be the person she is now.
'Pretender' is not part of Jerah's vocabulary. She has a saying that goes like this: “Be yourself! It's a good back-up on shattering glass.” 'Shattering glass' is her expression of letting the people know who she is. So, she is really not a 'plastic' one.
Jerah's love for art is a big part of her life. She put her whole self every artwork she made. She doesn't paint or draw just for nothing. Every artwork is an expression of the artist.
“Counting your blessings can help you view life in a better way.” Everyday, Jerah never forgets to thank God for all her graces in her life. Like the man without shoes, he is more fortunate than the other without feet. The man should be grateful enough that he has feet for him to walk in his journey of life.
Every time we fall, for Jerah, we are no loser and are worth dying for. Remember what Jesus has done for us? He died on the cross to save us from our sins. If you feel that you are down and worthless, try to think again.
Though Jerah haven't been recognize that much for her great works, popularity for her is nothing. Trying best on everything she does is the only one that fills her mind.
Who is Jerah? A passionate artist, a witty softball player and a melodic artist.