Morning Trip...

Fresh from our island getaway at Bantayan Island, Cebu

Valedictory ... from YOUNGBLOOD of INQUIRER.net

YOUNG BLOOD
Valedictory
By Tara Yap
Inquirer
Last updated 01:25am (Mla time) 04/17/2007

Sometimes I imagine speaking in behalf our graduating class. But since this is not going to happen, I might as well share with everyone what I would like to say:

Mr. President, members of the Board of Regents, distinguished guests, members of the faculty, students, parents, my fellow graduates. It is my distinct honor to be standing here today. As an undergraduate, although that description will no longer fit me once this ceremony comes to an end in three or four hours -- giving this speech is not only a difficult and monumental task, but also a thinking process.

My presence here is an irony in itself. I've never really believed (and I still don't to some degree) that a college diploma is the ticket to success. Or to put it differently, that a college diploma would guarantee one's survival on the rocky road of life. I have survived some difficult ordeals in my young life, without a degree to help me through.

Come to think of it, some of the most successful people earned no college degrees. Thomas Edison was one. He went to school for a total of three months, but was brilliant enough to invent the light bulb and phonograph, among other important inventions.

There is Bill Gates, a Harvard dropout who went on to found Microsoft and has become the world's richest person for more than a decade now.

In this country, we have more than a handful of examples. I'd leave out our 13th president and his dead best friend, although they both carved a niche in Filipino movies. But I do remember a prolific writer, who was so prolific that his poems, plays, novels, short stories and historical essays made him a National Artist for Literature. There was also the journalist-turned-senator-turned-diplomat whose name may ring a bell to our generation, thanks mainly to a Manila-based rock band.

But we are a people who have become so obsessed with diplomas that they have become fixtures in average Filipino living rooms. This no longer surprises me. After all, we live in a country where more than half of the population lives in dire straits, a stark reality that our leaders deliberately ignore, especially that narcissistic woman at the Palace by the river. To put it simply, we've been stuck in poverty for as long as anyone cares to remember and we've pinned our hopes either on the heavens or nonsensical noontime game shows.

It's all about resilience, many people say. Yes, we are a resilient people, and we have shown this time and time again. I do not only mean by Lapu-Lapu, who defended Mactan Island against Ferdinand Magellan and his minions, or Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio and their heroic sacrifices. I also am not referring only to Ninoy Aquino, who came home from exile in 1983 only to be greeted by bullets, or to those who cast off 14 long years of tyranny and made it possible for us to breathe the air of freedom again. Neither do I limit myself to the thousands who survive the flashfloods and landslides, or to those who live near railroad tracks or underneath bridges or sleep on cardboard boxes.

I am not about to put down our people's resilience, but resilience these days means exile -- banishment from our 7,107 islands! For the last 30 years, we have something in common with the wandering Jews -- the Diaspora.

The statistics are shocking. One out of every three Filipinos wants to leave this country and try his luck in lands far different from our own, be it Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, England, Australia, or the United States. Worse, he is ready to trade his citizenship in a jiffy.

A friend once called this phenomenon a "negative exodus." I don't have to look very far to confirm it. From where I'm standing now, I see more than 500 of graduating students from the College of Nursing. I don't know how many true Florence Nightingales are in your batch, but I'm certain that, with one or two exception, your reason for taking up the course is financial security. And I bet that in three to five years, most of you will be working in other countries.

Sadly, those who will go will never look back or even want to look back. I've heard so many say, "This country is hopeless. I'm leaving soon."

This remark captures the apathy and cynicism that have overwhelmed our people. But then considering what has been happening to our country since the woman occupied the Palace by the river five years ago, who can blame anyone for not giving a damn? I mean, here's someone who claims that it is the will of God that she be the leader of our country. But how on earth -- or in heaven -- can God accept a cheater, liar and thief? That clearly contradicts the core teachings of Christianity.

But why are we all here for this occasion? Why have we sacrificed at least four years of our lives to get our diplomas? Why have our parents spent thousands and thousands of pesos for us? Well, our very presence here only shows that we are not pinning our hopes totally on heaven or some nonsensical noontime game shows. Rather, we are pinning our hopes on this thing called college education. There must be something miraculous or magical about it.

There is a common belief among us that education can lift us from our sorry state. Or if we are not that miserable, that it will allow us to enjoy a better life than what we already have.

Fellow graduates, it is not easy to step into "the other world," where there are no walls to protect us. But very soon, we will find out that we have left our comfort zones. There will be hundreds, even thousands, of occasions when we will wish we were still in our comfort zones, that we do not have to face so many responsibilities.

Our education should help us see and prepare for the responsibilities we will face in the years to come. If we want to deserve to be called graduates, we should never run away from responsibilities. And I do not only mean our responsibilities to our jobs or families, but more so to our people and our society. When we receive our diplomas, we should not only take it as a personal triumph but consider it as an opportunity to heal and rehabilitate our wounded nation. Let us do our part. Let us not give up on our country.

Congratulations to each one of us! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Tara Yap, 25, is a research assistant at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas. She's also a freelance writer and photographer.

Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

To subscribe to t

---

Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
Check out new cars at Yahoo! Autos.

Blaze of Glory, Pacquiao vs. Solis

I was watching ABS-CBN's ASAP yesterday afternoon, enjoying its star-studded presentation. I wasn't that excited to watch Pacquiao fight for one thing I dont like him in politics. and to my surprise, ABS-CBN break the news that Pacquiao victoriously win the fight by TKO while the delayed telecast is currently aired over GMA7. Is ABS-CBN authorized to break the news considering that GMA7 got the rights of airing the fight? all i know GMA7 did nothing to spoil its viewers on the previous Pacquiao fights, did ABS-CBN toed the line?

What Cellphones Could Do...

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELLPHONE COULD DO ...

  

 
There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies.

    
Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an  emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

    
  *I*

 
* The Emergency Number worldwide for **Mobile** is 112.* If you find

 

yourself out of coverage area of your mobile network and there is an

 

emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to

 

establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112

 

can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. **Try it out.**

   
  
  *II*

  
 
* Subject: Have you locked your keys in the car? Does you car have remote 
keys?*

 

 
This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone:

 

 
If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone.

 

 
Hold your cell phone about a   foot from your car door and have the person

 

at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on

their end. Your car will unlock.

 

Saves someone from having to drive your

keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away,

 and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you

can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

   
Editor's Note: *It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!"*

 
 
  *III*

 

 
Subject: Hidden Battery power

   
Imagine your cell battery is very low , you are expecting an important call

 

and you don't have a charger. Nokia instrument comes with a reserve

 

battery. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with

 

this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This

 

reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

 

 
AND

  
 
*IV*

    
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

 
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone:

 

 
* # 0 6 #

 

 
A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your

 
handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. when your phone get

 
stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They

 

will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the

 

SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.

  
 
You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either.

If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

    
Please spread this useful information around

 

Appeal to conscience... from YOUNGBLOOD of INQUIRER.net

YOUNGBLOOD
Appeal to conscience
By Reinna Maraya I. Bien
Inquirer
Last updated 01:25am (Mla time) 04/14/2007

This letter is addressed to celebrities running for public office:

What are you doing? Ego and lust for power aside, do you honestly believe you can significantly contribute to the well-being of the country? I mean, really?

If you want to help the poor, then start a non-governmental organization that will help them help themselves. Don't let them forever bank on the screen hero's promise of salvation.

You say you want to improve the condition of the Philippine film industry? Then make good movies, don't run for Senate.

Your heart feels for the Filipino sportsmen? Then impart your knowledge and skills to kids who have great athletic potential. Don't attempt to write laws when you don't even have a high-school diploma under your belt.

I'm sure somebody has said this to you before, but in case you weren't listening, let me repeat it: You don't have to be a congressman or a senator to accomplish all those things you claim as your reasons for running. Consider Bono, the lead singer of U2 and humanitarian extraordinaire. Over the years, the Irishman, who was recently knighted, successfully spearheaded a movement that erased the debts of some of the world's poorest countries. He has campaigned against world poverty, promoted fair trade, raised money for victims of hurricane "Katrina." He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice. And he has accomplished all these without holding public office. Why can't you be smart enough to follow his example?

Let me clarify that I didn't write this to belittle actors in general. I know there are those who took great lengths to prepare themselves before running for office (and by prepare I don't mean memorizing the "If you vote for me…" speech your assistant made for you, but actually studying and familiarizing yourself with at least the basics of public office). This open letter is an appeal to the conscience of celebrities running for high positions in the government who have no experience in public office or knowledge of the basics of legislation or public administration. Yes, you may have the purest of intentions, but be wise enough to realize that sometimes the desire to do something good isn't enough; you have to back it up with experience and solid knowledge, too.

I know that we are in charge of making our own destiny, but we can't escape the fact that the laws and policies our leaders make have a significant effect on our future. And as much as I admire your movies and respect your achievements as athletes, I do not want you running my country and my future for me.

P.S. I don't know if you came to the decision to run for office on your own or if you had people making the decision for you, but it's not yet too late to back out.

Reinna Maraya I. Bien, 23, is a writer for a PR agency.

Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Is there a bright side to surgery? ... from YOUNGBLOOD of INQUIRER.net

YOUNGBLOOD
Is there a bright side to surgery?
By Kenneth Raymond Diaz
Inquirer
Last updated 00:59am (Mla time) 04/12/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- For the second time in my short life, i have to undergo surgery. Thinking about it depresses me greatly. So to pump my optimism, I'm trying to figure out if there is a bright side to surgery.

My doctor calls the procedure a "radical neck dissection." They'll be making a cut starting from below my left ear and curving down to the base of my neck then back up to the other ear. Then they'll lift the skin off my neck and remove any bad lymph nodes they come across.

It has occurred to me that the procedure would make me look like a biology class experiment. I would be like the poor unsuspecting frog we plucked out from his happy corner of the marsh back in high school for the education of future doctors and surgeons. That experiment was an eye-opener for me. It convinced me once and for all that I could never be a surgeon. (I wonder now how my surgeon did with his frog. I pray he did well.)

To cheer me up, I try to convince myself that the procedure would be simple and straightforward. But when I first talked to my surgeon, he said it would actually take twice as long (about four hours) and be more extensive than my first surgery. The word that caught my attention was "extensive." Until then, I didn't know how an ordinary word could sound so scary. Four hours is a long time! And the chances of things getting screwed up I don't even want to contemplate.

After going back to my surgeon for a final talk before surgery, I received a real shock about the risks involved. I had heard that one side effect would be that the skin around my neck will lose sensation -- maybe for the rest of my life. When I asked him if this was true, he said that was "part and parcel" of the risks because some nerves will be severed when they lift the skin off my neck.

That was already bad, but when I asked if there were any other risks, he said that there was also the possibility -- though uncommon -- that the nerve that allows me to move my shoulders would also be severed. So what am I getting into? If numbness was bad, this is a lot worse.

Am I scared? No, I'm not scared. Terrified? No, not terrified. "Terrified" only half describes how I feel. (Maybe, terrified times two?)

But what options do I have? There are only two right now: (1) go through with the surgery and accept the risks, or (2) drop the whole thing and face the possibility of getting more seriously ill.

My mother has been urging me to take "herbal" supplements in the hope that it would cure my ailment. But let's face it, we really can't put our faith on such stuff, especially when their manufacturers claim they can cure all deadly diseases known to man. That is a lot of bull, and to me that makes their products no better than money-making schemes cleverly designed to give us hope and take us for a ride -- straight to perdition. To put one's trust completely on such things is to gamble with one's health. And since I am not a gambler, it has to be surgery then.

Then I asked my surgeon if any other possible complications could arise. He gave me a curious smile, and said no.

I had the sinking feeling that he was hiding something. Maybe he just didn't think it wise to tell me lest I get too much worried and call off the operation. Or was I just being paranoid?

As I sat there listening to my surgeon explain things, I wasn't even sure if I was hearing everything correctly. Part of me wanted to shout, to curse the world and to break everything in the clinic. Another part was slowly tugging me to a more passive yet curious state. I wondered what it would be like to shave with the numbness on my neck. (No more sting after putting on after shave lotion! Yehey!) How would I carry my backpack if I no longer have full control of my shoulders? Would it affect my basketball or ping-pong? It's a defense mechanism, I think, a mental anaesthetic to numb our feelings lest the pain cause us to lose our sanity.

Times like this make me evaluate the status of my faith, or can I really call it faith? I'm not even sure if I actually believe in what I say, how much more in the Object of my faith. So now that my circumstances call for me to re-ignite my faith, I'm not even sure if it is the right thing to do.

My motivations are suspect. Is it right to believe for the sake of my own sanity instead of believing purely for the sake of believing? Is it right to believe because it feels good to believe instead of believing because you are convinced of its truth? Is it right to believe simply because you fear the possible consequences of not believing, especially going to hell?

That's what makes faith such a tricky thing. The Bible defines faith as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." This definition has an element of irrationality. You can believe (or say you believe) in something and either be considered a saint (if they agree with you) or a lunatic (if they disagree with you). Hmmm ... saints and lunatics, they could be the same really.

I've successfully kept the surgery a secret for some time now. Only a few people know of it. After hearing that I am taking a two-week leave of absence, my officemates have been asking what I am planning to do. Speculations range from the benign ("You're going on vacation? Bring us 'pasalubong' ha!") to the imprudent ("You're resigning? When's the 'despedida'?") and the ridiculous if highly imaginative ("You're getting married? Where will you be spending your honeymoon?"). Truly, man's imagination knows no bounds.

Upon hearing the truth, the inevitable question is bound to be, why? But I hate answering all the questions, which usually leads to even more questions, and so on and so forth. That would make me feel some more like some specimen placed under a microscope for analysis.

And there's always the chance that people will look at me differently, like I'm some freak show. The scar on my neck could define who I am for them.

But now that I think about it, what's the use keeping the operation secret? Assuming I come out of it alive, people will eventually notice the scar. I can't hide it forever, and I can't hide from it forever.

That's why, amid the depression, fear, paranoia, doubt and confusion, I need to find out if there really is a bright side to surgery, the proverbial silver lining in every cloud. Or if there is even a higher purpose to all this, real or imagined. I need to find a way to get through it intact. But up to now, I'm still trying to figure it out.

Kenneth Raymond G. Diaz, 24, is a software developer for an IT company in Cebu City.

Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Preaching... from YOUNGBLOOD of INQUIRER.net

YOUNG BLOOD
Preaching
By Mandy Malijan
Inquirer
Last updated 00:24am (Mla time) 04/10/2007

I AM a young religious and i belong to the Order of Preachers, more popularly known as Dominicans. I am studying at the Institute of Preaching at the Sto. Domingo Convent in Quezon City. What is interesting about this institute is it teaches students how to preach in the Philippine context. We took up both theoretical and practical applications in the first year of this masteral course.

During my high school years, I was awed by the preaching of Fr. Sonny Ramirez, OP and Fr. Larry Faraon, OP. But it was only when I entered the Dominican order, that I realized that they were Dominicans.

Although each of us has a unique way of proclaiming the Gospel, we need to discover in ourselves what it is to be a preacher. Not all people are called to the religious life, but we are all invited to be communicators of God's love and goodness in our own way.

While aspiring for the priesthood, I have this vision of becoming a good, effective, efficient and happy preaching priest. I hope that I will preach not only to the young but to all kinds of people, speaking words that will make a difference in their lives. Simple words but with an impact or, as we say in Tagalog, "Simple pero may dating."

Whenever I hear of persons who make a difference in their neighbors' lives, I am always amazed and I wonder if I would be able to do the same. Well, I have realized that it is quite possible but it entails a lot of effort.

Whenever I am asked why I entered the seminary, I reply that it is God's will and I am just responding to His call. This call began when I wondered if I could become a priest who preaches. My curiosity led me to knock at the door of the seminary.

It has been almost eight years since I entered the religious order, and I think I have become a better person. At the age of 21 it seemed like a dream come true for me when I entered the seminary. The experience was like going to heaven for me.

But this view changed quickly. I realized that seminarians were not angels but boys struggling to become holy. We usually pray in common, play in common, study and enjoy one another's company as part of being a member of a religious community. Struggles developed in one form to another. Sometimes, when I endure the formation, I feel as if I were praying like Jesus and saying, "If it is God's will, may it be done unto me."

The journey continues, despite its challenges. For difficulties are what make a preacher. I am happy I have survived.

As a student at the Institute of Preaching, which is part of our formation for the priesthood, I wonder what is it that makes a good preacher. Can preachers still attract the attention of the youth of today?

Preaching is defined as communicating God's word effectively. We hear a lot of speakers and politicians who would preach regarding their own self or about the common good. But do they really preach the good news?

We are all preachers in one way or another at one time or another. I am amazed by people who speak and become a great inspiration to their listeners. Preaching can either make or break a person. What we say could make others do good or bad. I pray that I will become a preacher who changes people for the better. It would be good to know that I can inspire people to be good.

We are living in a world of fast-changing technology. Communication becomes easier with the development of new gadgets, like the cell phone, Internet and a lot more.

Communication is a necessity. I am sad to know that most of our students lack communication skills, especially in English. Maybe it is because English is not our native language or perhaps the technological advances have made us lazy. Is there some way that we can be educated to become better preachers and speakers, communicating good values and not just knowledge?

We need good preachers, in the person of our parents, teachers, formators, directors, politicians, writers and others who at one time or another influence us and affect us. Politicians can be effective speakers, but do they always communicate the truth?

There are many preachers around us who tell us a lot of things. But are they good and effective preachers?

One survey asked churchgoers why they went to Mass. And one of the most frequent answers was to hear words of inspiration that could help change their lives. A politician promises a lot of things during the election campaign, but we have to ask ourselves if he can deliver on those promises. If he cannot deliver, then he cannot be a good preacher no matter how eloquent he is in his speech.

We need to see good works in order to speak about them. We cannot speak of something unless we know and experience them first. So being a young man, I still have a long way to go before I can become a good preacher. But with prayers and practice, I could get there a little faster. I hope all of us in the institute will turn out to be good preachers. The world cannot have enough of them.

Mandy Malijan, 28, is studying at the Institute of Preaching.

Copyright 2007 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.