Extra 2012

To put something ‘extra’ may seem fabulous to some yet frightening to others. It’s a thing added to an ordinary. It’s something more than the norm.

The year 2012 has been extra-ordinary for all of us. We saw additional events we didn’t know will actually happen. We were surprised by the extra power of nature. We were bombarded by the momentum of politics. We were shown the unexpected.

This year, we have defined both ‘force majeure’ or acts of God and acts of man with our naked eyes. Shocking. Surprising. Frightening. But the lessons were clearly given. The 5W’s and 1H were validly answered. The truth of our faith and the facts of our mind, or shall we say, religion and science were clearly differentiated. We have proven to unpredict the once predictable.

Few moments from now, we will turn to another unpredictable chapter in history. A new collection of books for each one of us in which ourselves will be the author. The next days will be our writings. A story we are about to put in papers which will serve as references for the next readers. Let us not forget to include this year in our story where we bear witness to see the once unseen. All the lessons we’ve learned and let us not forget to be wise enough to provide guidance to our next researchers for we will never know if we are still here to tell these things with our eyes open and minds working.

May the memories and events of this year make our faith stronger, our minds wiser and our deeds kinder. Let us all look forward, full of hope, to a bountiful new year! WELCOME 2013!!!

Ignorance Can Kill

It has been said that “Knowledge is power”. Knowing everything can save us from anything. Being aware of something can prepare us for possible challenges and being educated about an infliction can provide us caution and guidance to avoid possible risk exposures.

In the Philippines to date, it has been reported that more than 10,000 people are diagnosed with HIV infection and about 300 didn’t make it and have passed away. Those figures are FOR THE RECORD of the Department of Health (DOH). But considering those people who are at high risk of being exposed to the infection, or those people who are actively engage in unprotected sexual activities and are not undergoing HIV screening or are afraid to know that they are at risk, we can say that OFF THE RECORD, the 10,000 count is overly understated and the cases of death is not only around 300 but we should add the number of those who were diagnosed too late when they are at the gravest stage which caused their sudden death.

Sadly, the age range of people with HIV was as young as 16 years old. This means that at an early age, our youth population is exposed to the risk of HIV infection. This we can say is due to what they usually say “curiosity” and by being just “adventurous”.

As humans, we cannot easily avoid temptation. That is a fact! But we can always keep ourselves guarded and protected by being knowledgeable, responsible and accountable with our deeds. Knowing that we are sexually active, we should also know that we are at high risk of being exposed to the infection and the best way for us to keep ourselves protected is to do safe sex. Prevention is always better than cure.

Considering we don’t do safe sex and we are sexually active, then we should be so responsible to undergo frequent HIV screening for us to know if we are infected. And being responsible also includes not being promiscuous. Do not be caught off guard. Always be cautious.

What if we are responsible and found out earlier that we are infected of HIV, or that we are positive, or reactive or poz. There’s nothing best that we can do but to accept our faults and be accountable for it. Don’t blame anyone including ourselves. It’s a choice and a decision we made. And every decision entails accountability. Now we ask, is it our end in this world? NO, it’s not. Knowing our status should make us more knowledgeable, more responsible and more accountable.

What we can do now is know more about our sickness, its origin, its type, sub-type, how it is transferred, what we can do to treat it, and what we can do to live normally. Living with HIV is normal but pretending nothing had happened is not normal. The first step to bring back our life is to accept and befriend our sickness. Being more responsible includes seeing our doctors regularly for consultations, visiting treatment hubs for testing and monitoring and being more health cautious. Being more accountable includes informing our previous and soon-to-be sex mates about our status, even if the news will make them upset, it is the kindest thing that we can do for them.

Let us be aware, be educated and not be afraid before it’s too late and before ignorance kills us.

WORK

“Passion to perform” as what the logo says, of one of the biggest multi-national bank on earth. By passion means loving what you do, and to perform means doing something above expectations.

Why do we need to work? Where do we have to work? What work should be done? When should the work be accomplished? Who will do the work? And how can we do the work? These questions can be simply answered once we have the passion to do something.

Why do we need to work? Because we want to live the life we have been dreaming of since we were kids. We have to strive for something for our contentment and happiness. But not all wishes and dreams do come true. Some dreams tend to fail because of lack of awareness of our strength and weakness.

There was once in our childhood when our parents have asked us this:”what do you want to become someday?”, then many of us then answered, “I want to be a doctor!” or a lawyer, a teacher, an engineer or a business man. And our parents become happy ‘cause they know their child has a dream.

For them to guide us in realizing our dreams, they “work” hard to earn for them to pay for our schooling. On our part, we “work” to pass each school level. But as time passes by, our first dream becomes just a memory because as we grow up we tend to develop some likeness on something that makes us happy.

We dream of becoming a doctor once, but when we went in college, we find ourselves better in counting and better understanding mathematical problems than our classmates. We loved using the calculator, we love analyzing business establishments, their management, how they earn and lose money. We loved it. We developed our passion on such course. What did we become? A business man. An accountant. A finance consultant. And a manager. Where now is that doctor we once dreamt of? Long been gone. Cause as we grow up and learn the ways of life, we develop the passion of doing what we like and “working” hard to achieve it.

Where do we have to work? In a place where our passion can be nurtured. In an environment where everything is available to our work. In a place where everyone has the same interest as ours. A place where we can meet people we know have knowledge on what we do. In a place where our passion to do the things we love can grow more beautiful. In a place where we can develop better our skills. And in a place we can also sometime call “home”.

What work should be done? The things we have to do. We may be put on a situation where we really don’t like what we do. But whatever it is. We have to work hard if we can see that it is the only way where we can become the person we want to be. Sacrifice, patience, diligence and determination. These can sometimes be the first challenges to overcome to achieve our passion.

When should the work be accomplished? It’s now or never.

Time is gold. Every second is of the essence. If we want to live our dream later tonight, work hard today. The earlier, the better. Everyone grows old, but not everyone grows up. If we want to live a life of meaning, we need to achieve our dream now. We need to work now so can just sit back and relax at an early age where the fruits of our hard labor are just being harvested and enjoyed by us while we’re still young. And when the time we have wrinkles in our forehead come, we won’t need to worry about everything ‘cause of our early achievement of our dream, we can provide the security and stability of our loved ones who will be left when we leave them. We call it our legacy.

Who will do the work? Us, and with the help of those people who share our passion. No one is an island. Every “one” needs the support of everyone. We cannot go on to the life that we want to have if we will not be with the people we want to share it with. To make a magnificent abstract painting, the artist’ need to complement every ugly detail of it. Which in our life, to realize our dream, we have to learn how to complement with others, we have to be a team mate. We have to know how to mingle and deal with people. Together we stand, divided we fall.

How can we do the work, with proper training. One line on the movie “The Mechanic” says,”Amat Victoria Curam” which means, “Victory loves preparation”. To realize our dream, we need to be well equipped and prepared for all the challenges that lies ahead of us. Every prize requires sacrifice. And to withstand such challenges, we need to be prepared. We need to have the required training and ability to achieve our goal. We need to learn everything about our passion. We need to be knowledgeable about the pros and cons we are going to face to get to the top. We need to be strong enough to endure the adversities we are going to face to be successful on our odyssey towards realizing our dream. This time, we need to work harder.

WISDOM

I remember one famous news caster/weather forecaster said,"Knowledge is power." I agree. Knowledge about everything around us can make us strong, can make us wise, can make us decide best and it can also make us the person we want to be someday.

Confucius also said,"Acknowledging what is known to be known and not known to be not known is knowledge". As if he wants to tell us that it is a must to know everything about our  life, about ourselves and about our environment.

By being knowledgeable, we tend to be more observant, keen to details, and critical. If we are only eager to use this knowledge properly, we are able to withstand life's adversities.

The moment we cried out loud after normal or caesarian delivery, we already know that we are about to "know" more as days go by. The moment we move our lips to smile, move our tiny hands close and open and blink our eyes beautifully, we already "know" what is happening. This is what we do, unintentionally, as babies to express how we "know" what is happening.

Knowledge begins to be developed at home. As kids, our parents teach us how to first speak "mama" and "papa". They are the one's who helped us step our first foot. They are the one's who take us out to walk in parks and play on the play ground. To ride the small bicycle. To play the piano. They are the first people who expands our knowledge of life.

At the very young age of five, our parents knew to themselves it is time for us to "know" more things on our own and what's left as their duty is only to be our primary guide. They now take us to our first learning haven far from home, our primary school.

In this primary school, we learn the basics of life: animals, shapes, colors; names. As we go on, our secondary guides, our teachers, leads us to a quite difficult basic learning, to "know" how to read, write, speak better words and count. They serve as our basic training to fight ignorance and dullness. An they will eventually be our armor to whatever lies ahead.

Our next haven to better "know" life on our own with our primary and secondary guides is to stay in a secondary school. Here, we are now taught of the detailed information about life. This starts to develop our skills to "know" how to analyse information, solve hypothetical situations, count more detailed numbers and communicate better with ordinary people. As we go on, we will "know" what we specifically want to be short time from now.

In this school, we will first develop our emotions. We will "know" how to better use our senses. At this stage of "knowing" our life, we should be able to feel happy, sad, hurt, excited and afraid. This is the stage where we collect friends and enemies. Where we meet our first "heart-beat" and our first "heart-break". At this stage we also become aware of what is our strength and our weakness. This is the stage where we develop our skills to compete. Stage where we meet the highest expectations of our guides or face the least expected failure. But at this stage, we now "know" how to prepare for the challenges we're going to face in the next difficult stage. A stage where our guides will no longer guide us but will now become our advisers.

Before we step to the next difficult phase of our life, we should now "know" if we can pursue our search for more knowledge. Are we prepared? Do we have enough resources? This questions should be cleared first before we take a step on what we call, training to our brand new life. At this point, we should "know" our strength and weakness clearly. We should now "know" how to plan and strategize. What lies ahead is now more complex, more challenging but more rewarding. And then life goes on, whether we're prepared or not, we are now on our quest for wisdom.

I believe wisdom is "knowledge" applied to live a better life. Whether we continue to formal education or not, as long as we "know" how to apply the knowledge we've learned for the betterment of ourselves, of others, and of our environment, we are seeking wisdom.

Wisdom is only for people who sees things in its simplicity. Wisdom uses common sense. Wisdom knows how to use the "basics" to solve what is "complex". Wisdom sees the shades of black and white, it ignores colors unless needed. Wisdom speaks the truth and wisdom prefers today than yesterday and tomorrow.

I am not a religious person but I have faith, and I do read the bible and I quote,"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." By "fear of the Lord means obeying his commandments" That means being righteous in our ways and deeds. Also, Confucius said and I quote,"To summarize 'The Odes', it simply means 'Think no evil'."

To combine the two statements from two wise men in history, they only mean one thing: seek for wisdom.