A Favor to the World

Too much has been said. All leads to the idea that no one wanted what happened last August 23, 2010. Still there are points that need to be reiterated over and over again.

ONE. Please stop blaming the police alone. The fact that they were there to gamble their lives is brave enough. They were there in their uniforms because they have the passion to serve and defend the people who need them. Their lack of proper equipment and training is what brought them down. They were not born with all the skills of being a policeman. They need to be trained. They need proper equipment. Sadly, our government failed to provide our cops sufficient training and equipment. And the media, ever so powerful, stirred up the heat.

TWO. Don’t speak as if the hostage-taker represents the Philippines. We are known for our hospitality and forever we shall hold such value. I strongly believe the hostage-taker himself didn’t plan everything that happened after sunset. He was just driven by his mind, operated by confusion and desperation. The authorities could have handled this situation using more logic and less violence.

THREE. To my countrymen: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! Stop posting and re-posting the pictures of those teenagers posing like tourists at the crime scene. Same goes to the policemen-playing-online-games images. Do we really think we need a joke right now? We’ve done enough shameful acts for all the world to see. They already know that we are not the brightest people in this planet. Let’s not give them more justification.

FOUR. The note entitled Postscripts to a Blood Bath is a hoax. Again, we can now stop defending our title as THE World’s Most Stupid People because the runners-up are way too far from our lead. This was posted a day after the devastating incident happened. A victim of a bloody hostage-taking will not log on to the internet and type a blog entry right after his traumatic experience. In reality, he will be under the care of the people in-charge because he was traumatized and he needs a lot of rest. Also, I don’t think these people can write English that well. Not that I am judging them or anything.

FIVE. Venus Raj’s answer is the not the best. We obviously expected more. There is a reason why it's called a beauty pageant and not battle of the brains. We can’t blame her if she thinks she is Miss Perfect and she can’t blame us if our lives isn’t as ideal as hers. She is not the only one who failed to deliver a satisfying answer to this question. What matters is that at the end of the day, she’s still number 5 among the most beautiful women in the world and for what it’s worth, she picked up our flag from the dump.

I am just a nobody but I’m pretty sure that the whole country admits we made a mistake and deep inside, we all feel terrible because of what happened. We are sad too and we wish we could all just wake up from this nightmare. I wish an apology could take away all the hurt, especially to the families of those who were killed. Other countries screw up too. I guess this is our time. It is during incidents like this that our country’s esteem is beyond low. This is the kind of situation that we needed to strongly speak those words that we’ve obligated ourselves to shout whenever Pacquiao wins a fight – we are proud to be Filipinos.

PHOTO FROM GOOGLE IMAGES.

The Starfish

I read that starfish do not have centralized brains. Nor do they have well-defined sensory inputs. What they do have is a "primitive" brain - a kind of nervous system which makes them sensitive to touch. This is called nerve pluxus, which enables them to do certain things without having a reason. But then, it cannot be denied that starfish are one of the most used decorations to beautify things. Thus, starfish will always be pretty and cute to the naked eye but will always lack a brain to ever think of something.

I don't intend to be rude but there are a lot of times where you'll get to meet women who are like starfish. Pretty to look at. That's all. Period.

One of the industries in our society that is infected by the Starfish malady is Showbiz. Pretty girls with flawless skins, big boobs, long-straight hair, pouting lips (natural or not) with very minimal plans of finishing a degree, thrive there. Ordinary men usually look at them from afar and have a small chance of meeting them. And if they ever do, it is such a disappointment on their part when a conversation is started. I've talked to several guy friends, one of which told me that it was like receiving a gift with an enticing wrapper only to find a picture frame inside. A picture frame, dude! A PICTURE FRAME! I can just imagine the thrill in people's eyes when they receive such an overused and lame gift as a picture frame.

"Starfish" are the kind of women who live life as if beauty, and beauty alone, define their existence. In our culture, most beautiful girls are expected to be clueless because the time that they could have used in reading books or learning are spent in front of the mirror, perfecting the coordination of every strand in their hair.

Nobody likes stereotyping but this is inevitable in our culture. Of course, there are still girls who break the conventional expectations. Most of the time, the starfish are the ones who enjoy being marginalized by men. They like it when they are put into the "male-built pedestal". I guess they must think that they deserve to be treated as princesses because they look like one. Sometimes, it's sad to realize that these girls only dream of marrying their princes, rather than think of a career that could contribute to the improvement of their being. It's sad to know that these girls are enjoying the male-built pedestal too much to even think that they can do better than what society is dictating to them. And even if they begin to learn, they would still choose to act dumb and be the damsel in distress. They need to be saved by their knight in shining armor, also known as the sea high-tide. This is needed so that after a harsh wake up call, they can forget about everything, go back to the world and operate like they used to. Standing around and looking beautiful.

I am not being insecure here, it's just that I get depressed when someone with the same chromosomes as me are being laughed at when they begin talking. Often I talk to myself and would label these girls as "starfish," but I make sure no one hears it. But I don't think one will get offended if you'll say that she's a starfish right to her face; she might be unaware of what you really mean.

And you know what scares me big time? Starfish are known for their ability to regenerate.

(insert suspense scoring here)

CREDITS: GOOGLE IMAGES

White Blank Page

It is the fear of a writer with deadlines; the fear of facing it over and over because it always brings you back to the start. Sometimes you are excited to see it, as if the answers will flash the right words any minute, with every blink of the cursor. But most of the time, it stares back for hours.

I call it the curse of the white blank page.

It is believed that when you stare at the white blank page for a long time hallucination can come and bite you. Today it is a monstrous spiky green thing that will poke my eyes anytime if I don’t stop staring. He’s telling me to paint this city dirty. * evil laugh*

Just as any other white things, we can’t wait to get this untainted thing dirty. With this one, it has to be the right words, with style and creativity. If words alone are powerful enough, how much more the right ones? Maybe that is why they are hard to find. Words can make or break you, depending on how it is aimed. The worst is that it stays with you even in your loneliness.

Writers have a big responsibility because words are their weapon of choice. They can make you laugh, cry, fall in love, scare you, and make you believe. They can bring you anywhere without leaving anything behind. They offer escape. A world that makes dragons alive and wishes comes true, where your imagination ends is the limitation.

Writing and reading is like breathing, once we learn we can never unlearn. Reading is a pleasure that we can experience in this lifetime, how much more writing? Being able to express yourself in a treatment of your choice, to share the things you like, hate and all the things in between. A gift given to many but not practiced by everyone.

Ugh, now what to write? Here I am staring at my white blank page, thinking of something interesting and waiting for the right words to come. Uhm…maybe something funny? About deaths and goodbyes? What about monsters and dinosaurs and cactus? Ugh, I hate deadlines. *fade out*

Conquering the Enemy

The leader of every nation has a big task on knowing what to prioritize and decide with conviction how they would approach problems in the society. People see things in different ways, good or bad, each has a different belief. Our views may not be the same, but our enemies are.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu: (Last verse from chapter 3)

故曰：知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.

If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.

If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

Since we are getting prepared to give our hopes to our new elected president, Benigno “Noynoy” S. Aquino III, still we need to see what we can do, and not what he would do. Promises are made to be broken, not always, but often.

The Philippines, unfortunately being one of the third world countries, still is rich in resources. Actually, we are one of the richest countries before, because our country is a tropical country. People tend to blame our past leaders why we are poor today, but the past is finished, we should look forward to our future. It’s sad to see other countries to be back on their feet after being down, but we can’t. (Ex. China, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia) And all their success is because of their leaders. Always remember, no leader is perfect, there is always imperfections.

Great leaders are made, not born, this is a fact. In the quote of Master Sun Tzu in his book, The Art of War, conquering the enemy applies not only to war, but to all things in life. Each individual’s way of life is different because we are the only leaders for our lives.

Knowing what we want to achieve in our life is often the question to initiate change. As individuals, understanding what we are against should lead us to the solution. It maybe business, spiritual beliefs, family, love, war and many other trials in life, but there is a solution.

WANG WANG

"Kayo ba ay minsan ring nalimutan ng pamahalaang inyong iniluklok sa puwesto?

Ako rin. Kayo ba ay nagtiis na sa trapiko para lamang masingitan ng isang

naghahari-hariang de-wangwang sa kalsada? Ako rin. Kayo ba ay sawang-sawa na

sa pamahalaang sa halip na magsilbi sa taumbayan ay kailangan pa nila itong

pagpasensiyahan at tiisin? Ako rin."

-P.Noy's Inaugural Speech

I’ve read a couple of reactions from people on social networking sites saying that the strict ban of the wang-wang (car siren) is not really a big deal. Well I beg to disagree. I’d like to believe that the strict implementation of the wang-wang ban is the start of a better Philippines. It’s a step towards the end of corruption in the country.

Why do people put those annoyingly-noisy-things on their cars anyway? Those sirens were originally attached to ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars. Then they were attached to the cars of VIPs. These so-called VIPs attend many important meetings that are usually time-sensitive. They use the siren to avoid being held up by trapik (fact: there’s always heavy traffic in urban areas in the Philippines.. haha..). I think that people attach those sirens because 1) they don’t want to be stuck in traffic and 2) they just want to appear like VIPs. In a way, I think this is being corrupt. These sirens make people escape the heavy traffic that a lot of other Filipinos experience everyday. Doesn’t that sound like cheating?

I don’t really approve on the use of sirens by politicians either. I don't think they should escape the congested city streets. They shouldn’t think that they should be exempted from the harsh reality that is called ‘heavy traffic.’ They were elected by the citizens therefore they must serve them. They should be humble enough to be willing to experience what the people who voted for them experience.

I hope that the wang-wang ban is indeed a start towards an improved Pilipinas.

Pinoy Pop Culture Icon: Yakult

When someone mentions the word “Yakult”, the first things that come to my mind are the following (in no particular order):

1) Family Kuarta o Kahon, that 90’s game show on Channel 9 hosted by Pepe Pimentel, who had Willie Revillame’s charisma but only a fraction of the hubris, and his (Pepe’s) Roleta ng Kapalaran;

2) Lactobacilli-Shirota strain, a type of microorganism created by a dude named Shirota, the active ingredient in all Yakult drinks, personified by little yellowish Smurf-like creatures whooping the bejesus out of “bad bacteria”;

3) Yakult ladies, those diligent vendors who I would have mistaken for Metro Aides if not for their icebox-full of Yakult products, which they sell near big establishments, particularly Nayong Pilipino and Manila Zoo; and

4) Gabe Mercado.

I don’t even know if it’s milk or yogurt or something entirely not dairy, but the fact that many people still drink – and enjoy – Yakult is a testament to its impact on the Filipino psyche. It advertises itself as a drink to improve the flow of digestion, but Pinoys have digested Yakult some other way: as baon for school or the office, as pasalubong, as a way to appease brats on the way to the church, or just a simple, everyday alternative to sodas, juices, and energy drinks.

The name Yakult is not just a brand anymore; it has come to embody the drink itself. Some copycats tried to get a piece of Yakult’s success by having more striking advertising machineries and other pautot (remember that blue genie-like moron, anyone?), but still Yakult held on. Maybe Yakult was more popular before than now, but its effects are definitely felt even today, not just in our stomachs, but in our cultural consciousness as well.

Everybody now: O-kay ka ba tiyan?