..... Back then, we had to do house chores before we could go to school and had to hurry back home to accomplish household cycles.  My assignment?  Well,  mother would beat us if we could not wake up early to deliver  those pre ordered pan de sal in the neighborhood before school time.  Then, in the afternoon I had to chop kangkong leaves or cook for hog's meals. These days however, kids have to be dragged from bed just to take a bath and have their prepared meals. 

     ..... It was rude for children to join adult's conversations.  These days, unless children go over board with harsh words, they are  smart when they can get along well  with adult's conversations.  And the surprising  thing is, sometimes,  they know something which adults seem to forget or not know all.
 
     ..... And kids these days express themselves like adults.  With a dreamer's way to discuss  Ellaine Roosevelt's "the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams", I told  my nine year old girl "someday Kwon Sang Woo will look for me".  To my surprise,  without hesitation she  said  "come on mom stop dreaming.  To dream is not bad but please don't expect too much.  You might just end up broken hearted". 
      

      Ask anything about anyone and this woman I am talking about,  can  tell one.  Of course to others, she is the  tsismosa type.    But is there anyone who is not tsismosa?   Anyway,  for those who really care and know  about her (including Mr. Unique), she is brave, frank and honest.   A woman who  seems to have no hang ups.  And all of these  according to her,   " because there's nothing  to keep worrying about the future.  Just be yourself,  believe in HIM and there will be  better and brighter future".

     Amidst criticisms and social pressures brought by financial struggles, she stood still.   " We have to  be beautiful inside and out so that others will not see our  struggle"  she  constantly told us  when  together with another mommy,  I would start feeling down and upset over budget.

     And  how could I contest her words of wisdom?  Apart from keeping   the "most friendly service provider" award she once received, she is  a living legend.  

     Indeed, everything in  our hearts  really come  out.  She is friendly in  many  little ways ---  bottle feeding  strayed kittens,  accompanying  wild clients  until they calm down.   She may not have all the money, power and fame but definitely she is SOMEBODY --- someone who have set a good example.

   

    

     I would have joined todays' group of volunteers for the information dissemination about R.A. 9679. had my schedule allowed.  The activity is full of fun.  There were also irritating moments especially when  target group (private and mestizo employers) provoked us with sarcastic comments.  Maybe, for those among the target group who did not really have idea about said act, extending consideration is just and fair.  Those who ignore their personnel's benefits however, are really horrible. 

     Some  laws and government programs, no matter how good they were crafted,  become useless because either somewhere during implementation, they  could not sustain or right  before it could kick off it  was already rejected by the  target group.  The sad thing is, rejection originated from their mistrust of the government.   When mestizo employers  complained "another law, another gasto", we definitely knew they did not only mean to be rude.  They meant disgustment.

    

    

     Unless it was  to  reward my daughter, I decided to watch only K-series and movies until my colleague lent me "Complicated" and "Fireproof".  Those films  taught a lot about the art of listening and how it can affect our relationships with everyone we deal with.

    Connecting the lines from  "Fireproof",  the film taught that   because  "marriage is like a fireproof  in which  sometimes people get burned",  then understand by heart that  "fireproof doesn't mean that fire will never come but that when it comes  you will be able to withstand it".  

    Just like how it is to make  marriage work, it takes a lot of courage to keep any relationship.  However, until we listen and understand ourselves,  know what we really want and accept our limitations, we can have the courage to withstand anything and keep a relationship.
  








 
     

    

     Everyday life is now a matter of "haste and hurry" that even kids' complain, "my schedule is stressful".

    Seeking best gets more tough and at times, even leave us frustrating and stressful mischance.  However, whatever chasm there maybe, we can only retreat but never give up.   Being down does not mean getting lost.  It means change of phasing.  And until  the battle is over,  then we say,  "I gave all  best I could".   As the film during last Monday's sharing conveyed, "if we fall one hundred times, then we rise up one hundred times or more because even if we do not have the best of everything in this world, we can always make best of everything we have".

    
    

    

     "Life is not  waiting for the rain to pass by, it is dancing under the rain", my boss shared.   Those were cool words.  We have to persevere to survive hard times.   Sometimes,   believing that something is right to do, we find ourselves wrong.  It's sad and unbelievable,  yet true.  However,  there is no point of dwelling on negative things as this will keep us away from other beautiful things. 

      As Barry Manilow's song had it,

         ..... "We dreamers have our ways of facing rainy days and somehow we survive
                 we keep the feelings warm, protect them from the storm until our time arrives
                 then one day the sun appears and we come shining through those lonely years

                 when friends are hard to find and life seems so  unkind,  sometimes you feel afraid
                 just think beyond the clouds and rise above the crowd and start your own parade
                 cause when I chase my fears away, that's when I knew that I could finally say:

                 I made it through the rain, I  kept my world protected
                 I made it through the rain, I kept my point of view
                 I made it through the rain and found myself respected
                   by the others who got rained on to and made it through" .....

       There is sunshine after each rain. 

               

                

    

     Without being recognized, a spouse of an officer who transacted as Attorney In Fact of a niece, met this frontliner noted as rude and "pabalang".  The frontliner must have been lucky  that the case  was just charged to experience  so that on the following visits of the officer's spouse she need not feel uncomfortable giving all the special treatment she accorded. 

     It's nice to be important but it is important that we are nice.  Admittedly, being nice to everyone is not simple.  But if we simply believe that each person we come across with is fighting his own battle, we can make a difference.

     Not everyone is someone (like the officer's spouse).  Thus, rather than simply  believing within ourselves that we are someone (in this case, the frontliner),  it is  reaching  out  others that we become SOMEONE. 

     As we become busy beating with the demands for something we work for, we tend to believe that it is someone or something that can make us happy.  We unconsciously rely with something for us to be happy and misunderstand our efforts as sacrifice because we love that something or someone.  And because we do not have control over anything, we sometimes do not get what we work hard for.  Lucky are those who can easily take  frustrations, but this  is a big blow  for those who think happiness is with something they have worked for.

     "Happiness comes not because of the absence of any difficulty but the mastery of any difficulty", a friend shared in her posts.  For as long as we  learn from any difficult situation, believing HE is there, we can find happiness.  Happiness is not with others or anything, it is within ourselves. 

    

     Dreaming of what may seem an impossible dream, seniors will say "ay! taas na ang lubi" (coconut tree has grown).  A young colleague on the other hand, while dreaming, said "taas pa man ang lubi" (implying to reach the grown coconut tree).  Whatever perspective it maybe, both statements are definitely true.

    I was thinking why we use lubi (coconut tree)?  The coconut tree which  starts with something unique - neither a seed nor a branch,  if planted today and taken care of, will  definitely bear plenty of fruits tomorrow.   All  parts  of a coconut tree is useful.  Was this how the   idiomatic expression "taas na ang lubi" or "taas pa man ang lubi" started? 

   Everyone, no matter how unique one is from the other is actually the same.   One may have been born with inherited privilege yet, everyone is fair --- no one holds time and nothing lasts forever.   And like climbing the coconut tree, nothing is impossible.  However, not all dreams really come true.  Perhaps, because we don't hold time.  At any perspective though,  everyone is important and everyone can become useful.  Because we are gifted a countless fold than  the coconut tree, we have to use these gifts to  find life's meaning.