Don't Let The Bedbugs Bite

    The manhunt for Bin Ladin was taking so long, I even entertained the suspicion that the White House was experimenting with the wisdom of appeasement. Sometimes when you are so big, so mighty and powerful, you tend to tolerate or ignore a bedbug's bite. You just scratch a bit then forget about it. What happens is that the bedbugs proliferate, and then they're all over the nooks and crannies of your dwelling. Of course, they cannot hide forever and when at their hiding places they are discovered, they are quickly given the quietus or SQUASHED!
    We were all jolted to the danger of these misinformed, brainwashed but apparently well-funded groups by the Twin Towers tragedy and other atrocities that they committed. The U.S.' initial response was and still is basically the path dictated by "lex talionis". If the battle merely involved the employment of military might, such a course would quickly and surely be resolved in our favor. But many analysts now see that we are in fact involved in a war of ideas. The Muslims' sacred book, the Quran, expressly prohibits the killing of non-combatants, civilians and innocent children, even the pollution or destruction of our environment.
    Undoubtedly, these so-called " terrorists" were misled and/or have not even read the clear and unequivocal prohibition in their sacred book.  Why not, therefore, provide strong incentives to and request or urge the Muslim intelligentsia, the educated Koran scholar and/or erudite Sufi to sweep away the phantoms of prejudice, the murky mists of misinformation and misunderstanding from the minds of their brothers, so that we may all be able to live in peace in a civilized world?

GISING BAYAN

     Below is a song in Tagalog, the melody of which follows closely the aria "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot:-

       Gising Bayan! Bangon Bayan!                            
       O Princesang nadungisan, h'wag magtulugtulugan,

       Daing at taghoy ng masa sa lansangan sana'y pakinggan.
       Di mabilang ang mamamayang walang hanapbuhay at matir'han,
       Kailan kaya sila makaka-ahon?  Lalo yata sila nababaon.
   
       O Bayang kinagisnan, dati mong sagisag ay Kagitingan;
       Dati ika'y nataguriang maningning na Perlas ng Silangan,
       Subali't nadulas ka sa putikan ng Kasakiman, tuloy nadungisan...
       BANGON NA, GISING NA, O BAYAN!                             


                                                                by Skep/vdeperalta
                       
                              .
                       

Gratitude In The Face of Adversity

    Shown on the TV's Filipino channel (TFC) a couple of months or so ago was the routine of a fisherman trying to survive and support his family from whatever he could catch via his diving and spearfishing skills. He makes about 40 Pesos (about one U.S. dollar) a day, with which he buys rice, some salt, or maybe the cheapest ramen noodles available to feed his wife, his 2 or 3 children and himself.  Then, the next morning (when or if he awakes), he must be up and about and go diving/spearfishing again. You cannot hear him gripe or groan that Vita is Dura. He sees the sun is up.  No storm clouds in the sky. In his mind, he could picture himself catching a big, big fish and bringing home maybe 80 Pesos (about 2 dollars) this time for his family. He steps out of his ramshackle barong-barong with his fishing gear onto the narrow alley where the strong fragrance of dried fish being fried by his neighbor reminds him that his wife also wanted to have tuyo once in a while. With high hopes, he hurries on. He has one whole warm sunny day for fishing.    THANK GOD!

A Plea for Moderation

     History is replete with accounts of mighty cities, kingdoms, empires that for a time rose to power then declined and either sank into the sea or got buried in the sands of time. Let not the United States of
America suffer the same fate. We can glean some lessons from the pages of history itself. Rome fell because it was not self-sufficient; it spread its military forces all over the world and could not protect itself against the invading barbarians; it became entangled in all sorts of excesses and I fear the average
Roman citizen then was mostly focused on self-indulgence, pleasure seeking, and acquisition of material possessions...wealth at any cost. Like in the movie,  GREED IS GOOD! In a capitalist-driven society such as ours, that motivation may be good for a while - to start the engine of economic progress. But without MODERATION, self-aggrandizement swiftly becomes uncontrolled and  like any over-speeding car will fall down into an unseen cliff or embankment, collide with another incoming vehicle or some immovable rock or barrier, and CRASH! There was a time when the U.S. dollar was worth more than the Canadian. Now, it's the other way around.  I also recall during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines sacks and truckloads of Japanese military notes were printed as currency. It  did not take long for that 'money' to become utterly valueless.
     May our leaders then be reminded that our nation's HUGE problems cannot be solved with political bickering nor in haste. We trust their decisions on these matters will be tempered with prudence, foresight, and moderation.

Let's Do It

     There is a spot on Earth where the world's three great religions coincidentally converge--Jerusalem.  Here Jews. Christians, and Muslims gather to worship God. On second thought, I suspect the convergence is no coincidence at all. Was it not Einstein himself who said "God is Subtle but not Malicious"? Simple common sense tells us it was not God's purpose to select one place that would be considered special, holy, sacred by these three differing camps so that they may squabble, fight, even kill one another over it. We all know His objective - That, despite our differences, we must find a way to live together in PEACE...   SO LET'S DO IT!

The Hand of God (A Layman's Perspective)

    There is a theory that man's evolutionary development may have been pushed or assisted by the influence of gamma or cosmic rays originating from supernovae or even from powerful magnetic solar storms or sunspots from our own sun. These gene-altering rays  impacted on or collided against and unhinged man's DNA or gene structure, somehow putting man's evolution on a fast track. I understand even the eminent science author Carl Sagan had adhered to this view.  In short, it is not merely the Darwinian "survival-of-the-fittest" imperative that led man to adapt and become what he is today. Since earthly life apparently could be traced back to exploding stars eons ago, it comes as no surprise to me that star activity continues to influence us. But where did the stars come from in the first place, and where did the idea or plan or scheme or design turn  to the reality of starbursts then all the galaxies, this planet and then man? To date, scientists are mired at the portal of the Big Bang or the Singularity or the first Black Hole, for they could not see or measure the metes and bounds of a Divine Creator. Yet, they agree that there must be an invisible Dark Matter as well as another undetectable Dark Energy which explains the existence and present state of our cosmos. Isn't it simpler, easier for us to accept and understand that we and the whole universe are-- in God's Hands?
     Imagine a creative artist about to do an art work, say, fingerpainting.  He puts four globs of multi-colored paint in the cup of his hand. The 4 globs equal the 4% (our entire visible universe) and the cup of his hand the 23%  Dark Matter that holds the visible universe intact.  As the artist spreads out his palm, the paint flows all over his fingers allowing him to paint and color his canvas, (which we now imagine approximates the 73% Dark Energy being postulated by the scientists and which also sort of explains why all the galactic material and star systems are rapidly expanding out and away from one another... or being daubed or spread out on the infinite canvas of  space...  God, the Creative Artist, is at work.

EASTER

     Each Easter morn I must recall
     A vict'ry can spring from a fall;
     So be not burdened, O my soul...
     There is still time for us to turn
     Egregious faults as keys to learn
     Repentance, and to Christ return.


                                                by Skep/vdeperalta