a pilgrim’s trace

let this be a treat to everyone.
peace on earth and love to mankind.
happy birthday papa jesus! =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-TrWZLgI5g

…all dogs are like him?

i wouldn’t have phobia for dogs, i guess.
buti pa ang aso, marunong magdasal.  hehehe. =)

from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM) website:

TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR
              PRO-LIFE AND FAMILY VOTERS

• Promote
  and defend Life conception up to natural death. You shall not have
  false values that degrade the dignity of life and the welfare of the
  family, the basic unit of society.

• You
  shall not compromise your pro-life and pro-family principles in your
  dialogue with and in selecting candidates. You shall not bow down to
  immoral, corrupt and inept candidates and vote them to office. Our
  life, our family and our country are too precious to be entrusted to
  such people.

• You
  shall not take your vote in vain. You shall not sell it for a price or
  for money. You shall not vote without scrutinizing the candidate’s
  track record both in public and private life.

• You
  shall not vote for candidates that are in favor of legalizing absolute
  divorce and are themselves not faithful to their own marriage and
  family.

• You
  shall not vote for candidates that are for legalization of euthanasia
  or mercy killing and are not caring for the older persons and the sick.

• You
  shall not vote for candidates that are for legalization of abortion and
  any form of abortifacients. You shall not vote for candidates that
  advocate for reproductive rights and support contraceptive use and
  sterilization as a means for population control.

• You
  shall not vote for candidates that promote sex education that is
  focused on contraceptive use and emphasize “safe sex’ rather than moral
  values and developing virtues.

• You
  shall not vote for candidates that advocate same-sex unions and the
  legalization of same-sex marriage in the guise of anti-discrimination.

• You
  shall not vote candidates that sell our country’s future to foreign and
  elite interest, concerned with their vested interest to the destruction
  of our environment and natural resources, and disregard the plight of
  the poor.

• You
  shall not vote for candidates that are corrupt, steal from the
  government, that are insensitive to our people’s demand and opinion;
  that are undemocratic, unjust and unpatriotic in their governance and
  programs. True development is the upliftment of the lives of the least
  of our brethren and the enjoyment of justice, freedom and peace.

I never thought of getting an ace in the lady poetess’ class.  The
most that I’ve had for an estimate was 1.5.  Months back, I thought I
must have waged an intellectual war with her.  From November to
February, I oftentimes end my saturday classes with momentary
heartbreaks… (until I attend the evening mass, teehee!)  Albeit my
abrupt silence, thanks for recognizing that am trying (way) hard to get
through the playful  words.  Thanks for my making my crude words of
truth survive.  Again, thanks for the flat one Ma’am Ophie.

And
thanks to lit majors classmates for the wonderful friendship.  (Ynna,
Carla, Anderson, Ma’am Tet, Sir Benj, Sherwin, Burns, Eman, Kim, Essel,
Cecille, Daddy Ben, SIR JACK etc.)  I love you all.  See you around guys. =)

To
Dr. Hornedo, just the same.  Thanks for seeing my effort to dismiss my
class in Arts and Letters early just to catch your lectures; and for
appreciating my report, despite my being hyperventilated.  Thanks for
the ace.  =)

The dream’s still alive.  Go for the gold na itu.  (woohoo)

This had been a lingering (though hopefully not perpetual) complaint.

To make everything straight and perfect, bleed to finish a degree
earlier than expected, to live by (and die for) your principles… to
remain true, to be a real good friend, to pray hard not just for
yourself but for others, to dream for your family, to aim high, to risk
everything in order to prove that you can love…

…only to get
hurt, to be left on the side because you are thought of as
self-sufficient, to be approached only on times when you are needed, to
forgive at all times albeit the non-stop emotional throbs, to put your
head above your emotions BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS OUGHT TO UNDERSTAND, to be
pressured to remain strong and perfect because you’re on the right
track…

… in exchange of nothing but affirming nods, smiles,
handshakes; only to find out that they will be leaving you after you’ve
rendered what they need.  You get what you deserve, but you only get
what they think you need.  Extras — there’s none.  Compensated?  Yes.
It always had been fair, just, well-computed.  But how about the extra
juice of life that I dream of tasting?   

Isn’t it strange that
there are other people who are actually not doing anything to get the
things they enjoy?  I am not saying that they do not deserve it, but I
could just empathize with the non-prodigal son.  He did nothing to
break his father’s heart, but he never had the best treatment.  Perhaps
I am just feeling the same. 

During the past week, I’ve battled
with God due to this highly Catholic issue — preferential option for
the poor.   Not that I want to confiscate all the comforts that these
undeserving people get but I would like to know how on earth do they
have a great taste of all of them.  I did not get a straight answer
from Him, but am praying for the time that I’ll get to understand what
it truly means.  Shame on me and my scholarship, I wrote an MA thesis
on the Hermeneutics of the Poor of Yahweh, but I find it difficult in
my heart to swallow the lessons that I’ve chewed in my research.
Having a heart for the poor would be fine, but how about those who
became miserable because of their own doings?  Preferential options for
the brats and damsels in distress, anyone? 

I probably need the
grace of humility, yes… in order for me to admit that I am also
yearning for things that I might have come too tired to compute or
estimate.  Yes people, despite all of these…  I am in dire need of
something I can’t even see for myself.

And what could that be?  I dunno.  Real friends would prolly just know.

Sorry, emotional fluxes.

THE OLD PLDT-JVP AD

PLEASE CLICK THE HYPERLINK ABOVE.

now i believe in serendipity.
the last time i saw this was in gradeschool or perhaps early highschool.  this is an old pldt ad, a part of the "people can make a nation work" series that featured jvp and had "Awit ng Paghahangad" as its musical score.  i remember some people from the BukasPalad Messageboard who collectively thought that they once encountered an ad that had the vespers version of the aforementioned song.  Having found this, I conclude that the speculations are right.
the video is not just heart-warming, but melting.  napatitig ako sa kawalan.  hehehe.
galeng.  cheers!

    The title of this entry originated from a part of Tracy’s "note of
thanks"  (that’s how we call our valedictory speech in UST).  She’ll be
saying it proud later, but she and Amiel gave me a sneak preview of
their speeches as early as two weeks ago. 

    Tracy had been
told to change the word, "shatter" because it sounds heavy plus the
fact that it could just appeal to the philosophical community. Amiel,
perhaps for the inclusion of Fr. Ferriols, "ilundag mo beybe" safely
passed the jurors.  Probably, they found the phrase cute, but am not
sure if everyone will have a grasp of what it truly means.
Nonetheless, he was also adviced to reduce the metaphysical undertones
of his address of petition (and that’s the thomasian way of calling
"salutation").
    
    Amiel and Trace made highly existential
speeches, close to being metaphysical but is very much meaningful.  I
am proud of the way these two (and the other 30ish) brilliant minds
absorbed philosophy.  As their welfare under my "loving" custody is
coming to a technical close, I could but pray that they will carry on
with their quest for meaning.  I’ll miss them sitting in my class,
raising good questions  — nodding, even if I know that they’re already
half asleep (thanks for the support guys).  Benjo reciting in class
while converting everything to Lacan or Levinas.  Kris Martus or
Voltaire getting my microphone because I talk low and slow, and I need
to be heard because we always talk along a "process".  I shall miss
them lurking around AB and at the eccle library, because of their
research work, or in the case of the matronas — sightseeing
a few good philosophers.  TGR and the boys’ team complaining about the
popularity of eccle’s wonder twins.  Perhaps not at YM, but I will
surely miss these kids’ actual company –  pulling me out of the
Faculty room for some short talks and hearty laughs.   Robert, dropping
me off in front of sir bob, Rommel sharing his all-time hit jokes, JP
harassing Peter and Peter talking of Wojtyla.   The girls tracing
friendster-dot-coms among themselves.  The guys dreaming of becoming
champions in basketball, and in engaging the lower years in their
"philosophical" games.  I shall miss everyone trying to have a grab of
the microphone (during videoke sessions) with Tracy and Levi as the
usual winners.  The good talks, Kali’s "new beginning" and many
others. 

    I am so proud of what these kids have become, and
Trace and Amiel’s speeches will simply reveal.  I am praying that they
will always be spurred by the same interest for truth and meaning that
they have right now.  I am praying that their idealisms will never
falter.  I am so proud that they are able to recognize that philosophy
is not but a rite of passage to another degree, to an occupation or so
- but to a better self, and to better decisions in life.  When
requested to remove the term "shatter" from her speech, I advised Tracy
to disobey and retain it, and she said that she also intends to do so.
EVERYBODY DESERVES THAT HEAVY WORD.  Having heard that, I was so happy
– this call for an authentic experience deserves to be heard.  And
yes, the call could only come from a philosopher — an authentic
philosopher.

    True enough, we need to shatter accidents in
order to arrive at meaning.  And at times, we need to jump from our
comfort zones.  The things that used to numb our thoughtful sensibility
to and for life, needs to annihilated.   We are all confronted by a
complicated world, the human challenge is to find ourselves in its
midst and to conquer the world through decisions that we can die for.
It is true that we dwell in the world, but it is also true that we have
to act upon that same world.  More than history and perhaps anything
else, the most sovereign entity in this enterprise is man who grabs his
life’s steering wheel and determines the path he wishes to tread.  This
man is always entitled to his choice of path, but reason and the drive
for authentic existence could just lead him to the truth and good –
and of course we talk not of those we carelessly dictate, but of the
objective and authentic ones.  To shatter, nonetheless, implies a kind
of rebuilding.  It is the moment where we identify ourselves apart from
what we do not essentially need.  In this stage, decisions can’t be
made just for pleasure, fun or perhaps because it’s cute or gay.  To
shatter the artificial world means to choose for what is right and to
die for it, to succumb into the difficulty, not because suffering makes
an act noble, but because it is the only way to conquer the obstacles
to an authentic life.  It happens when we choose to give up the things
that we could be entitled to, but are nonetheless unimportant to what
we intend to become.  To shatter means to sacrifice, for the sake of
something higher.  It means intentionally going beyond, because staying
in the usual cage would only lead to a creation of endless and
pointless circles. To shatter means to grab the chance of soaring high,
not because what’s up there is cute; but because through shattering,
one becomes free.

    This teacher, this intellectual midwife, or
perhaps mother, is proud to hear her children speak of their thoughts
and hearts that had been crystallized by four meaningful years of
academic discipline.  I am so proud, truly proud.

    I have to
warn you my beloved that life wouldn’t be as easy as how it had been in
college. (uhhm, had it been easy for you guys anyway)  But you’re
fully-packed, very much loaded, it’s just a matter of carrying on with
the battle.  With what you have right now, soar high and make us
prouder.  Continue your pilgrimage.  Should you come back, you’re
forever welcome.