It's quite easy to turn your back to the misery of others. But not so when misery hits you. Then you wish that friends wouldn't turn their backs on you. - "Love one another as much as I love you." - I've heard this spoken so many times, read it a thousand times over. I have realized that none can be more truer than this. God in His magnificent love has given us all of the earth... land - sea - air... under our care and management, for our living joy and pleasure. And too each other to love and care for. Every individual does not stand alone no matter how he says he does and can.. or tries. F...

AFTERMATH OF TROPICAL STORM ONDOY IN THE PHILIPPINES SEPTEMBER 2009 What's on my mind? How fragile life is. How things - possessions - memories - can easily be lost. How the unexpected can touch & alter people's lives. How miserable this world can be. And how we have contributed to this misery in some stupid way or ways. Are we learning our bitter lessons now? Or do we need another disaster or calamity to tell us to CARE FOR AND LOVE......... ourselves, life, people, Mother Earth, and our God BETTER! MUCH MUCH BETTER! Because these are the things which truly matter in life. Not our ...

I woke up to a fine morning, got up leisurely from my bed and sauntered over to the bedroom window ... looked out to the day-- it looked like it was going to be a good day despite the clearly overcast skies. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it’s a feeling one gets when everything within is peaceful, serene, and quite content. Not that nothing is bothersome or ‘kicking butt’ mine or somebody else’s, it’s just that some mornings do give us that ‘feel good’ feeling. Well, this is that particular morning. Apparently the neighborhood has had a good head start getting on with the day’s routine of chores. I ...

  - A wrinkled old man bent down over a heap of dry leaves and other debris and lit it up in fire. That done he stepped back and watched the flames gobble up and destroy everything it laid its consuming fiery hands on. Fire is dangerous and yet fire has many good attributes to it too – cooks our food, warms our cold bodies, heats up our homes in winter, and other beneficial things in the name of development and progress. I'm curious though, what about the fire in the souls of men and women? Is it a fire which consumes itself in its small narrow self-centered world? Or is it one which can scorc...

  I was rummaging through my old files today with the intent to trim it down to the barest essentials; the unimportant would go straight to the garbage bin when I stumbled on this very old article quoted in a daily local paper by a well-known columnist. It was entitled ‘THE STATION’ and written by Robert J. Hastings. To quote.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Life is something like this. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We see ourselves on long trip, but uppermost in our minds is the final destination. We fre...

  My neighborhood is an average one and small. This is a subdivision settled at the foot by the side of a mountain range in my city that nestles atop it - Antipolo. Here, where I have made my home, one sees about dozens of modest houses sitting side by side and housing families within carrying on with the regular routines of each day. A paved road ragged in some areas winds round the neighborhood up hill and down and leads out to the main gate passing the guardhouse where a sentry stands watch day and night. And mingled with the houses are trees lush and green dotting the place everywhere you ...

A lighted candle says this to us: "You have lighted me and now you gaze into my flame. You enjoy the warmth and brightness that I spread. I'm happy to be useful and to burn for your pleasure. Otherwise, i would just be lying idle in some box on a shelf. I only have a meaning - a fulfillment while I am burning, although I know very well that the longer I burn the shorter I become and the nearer I get to the end of my life. And when it is all over, I know that you will say.... 'The candle is burned out.' I know I have a choice of staying in a box and remaining unseen, untouched, and useless....

How do you spell the word -- 'give'? It's spelled as..... C-0-M-P-A-S-S-I-O-N. When you give, it simply means that you --- clearly see, can understand, can relate, do sympathize, do care, do love -- the other person ... who may not as bright, as well-positioned, as educated, as rich, as healthy, as well-dressed, or as beautiful as you are. You give because you see the other person's need to receive. And you respond as God so responds. Giving straight from the heart..... is the blueprint of GIVE and giving.      ...

Don’t be afraid to make honest mistakes. So you think that the world will stop on its tracks because you bungled up? Or that your friends will think you stupid or a loser? Or that you will disappoint dozens of relatives and other people who think so highly of you and your talent? Excuse me, but I remember when I was burning over some mistakes, my mom simply said to me that -- "...the best lessons come wrapped in blunders, mistakes, failures, and errors. Because only then will you be able to smooth the rough edges of your character, hone your talents to perfection, and grow into the person you ...

Hmm, I'm on a thinking and writing streak on this particular fine morning walk. Let's see what we've come up with this time. Rounding the bend I come upon.... - A young girl sweeping away fallen leaves … Quite in an efficient and meticulous way she sweeps the fallen leaves on the ground bringing them all to a mound on the shoulder of the road. What does she do with this? Well, maybe put them all in the trash can or light them up with a match to burn away in flames. I suppose she does this everyday. But it's only this morning that I see her outside her house. It always looks so quiet wheneve...

I'm taking this post written sometime back here now because it so describes what my thoughts are today. So here I am back at my computer over the familiar key board with the intent to write. Well, the intent to write and actual writing are two different things I’ve found out. You can muster up all the intent you may need to write but often it doesn’t usually fall into actual writing--- while writing sometimes doesn’t need serious intent. Strange -- but not really. It happens. :-) Now let’s get on with this and see what the Muses have been churning up in my recent brief hiatus. --------------...

  Unlike our moms & grandmoms before us, more women now are in careers. That's okay, very okay. Because a woman is a man's equal even in the workplace. She, given the same training, is equal to the task and may even shine brighter. She can hold her own, be brilliant, be tough. and too bring to the job this special something else which God gave to her -- a nurturing heart. So you see, the only difference is -- she wears high heels! :-)...

  Oh but there is so much we don't like about so many things -- in life, in people, in government, in structures and policies, etc. And we harp about them a lot, get so mad - irritated - disgusted - frustrated by them all.  Well, some serious venting can serve a good purpose too that's true ... but only if the venting is aimed at building up and not in tearing down. ...

  You know what --- If there is anything which we should learn --- it's to have a WISH LIST. Put in there all those things you would like to do in your lifetime. You could maybe set down a time frame, say ... things-I'd-like-to-do-before-I-reach-thirty or forty or fifty ... or maybe you could do a variation like 'something big-I'd-like-to-do-on-my-birthday', but whatever it is MAKE THAT LIST! :-) Somebody I love just did! 'Twas a lesson in happiness....

   Yes, Miko and Maxie live together in peace and great friendship. Sometimes Miko thinks he's a dog -- and Maxie thinks she's a cat -- a case of confused identity, we guess. But it's so adorable and amusing to see the two smash to smithereens those age-old tales about cats and dogs as 'mortal enemies'. That puts us humans to shame. We pride ourselves in being intelligent and smart -- exquisite creatures of God but we can't even learn how to live in peace with each other. Instead we feverishly build create invent or put up huge walls - barriers - boundaries just to keep other people at bay. W...