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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Love that Young People Know
What is love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul.
~ Victor Hugo
"Wala akong mapin-point eh. Basta lahat gusto ko sa kanya," this was what a friend responded to me upon being asked why he liked the person he claimed he loved. "Kahit hindi ko alam lahat tungkol sa kanya, hindi ko alam kung bakit ako na-in love," he added. He claims he has loved.
During our Marriage and Family class, my professor used to tell us that Loving was not all about feelings; rather, it also entailed knowing your chosen partner and accepting him/her despite everything. Care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge must mediate between two people - these four values comprising what was known as the elements of love. With the absence of one, there would still be love, but less of its nature. Love minus either one of these equals a love that's immature and ingenuine.
"Kahit hindi ko alam lahat tungkol sa kanya, hindi ko alam kung bakit ako na-in love." He claims he has loved. This has been the kind of love young people know. Basing it solely on feelings, young people think that they have already loved when they have felt the kind of "spark" that puts butterflies on their stomachs. Being kilig and placing blushes on a young girl's cheek, they engage in relationships that are of short-term perspective but could be mistaken of as long-term. When the short-term thinker meets the long-term settler, expect a game of feelings and chances.
The "spark" occurs in the boy upon seeing the girl with long lashes, rosy cheeks and kissable lips. The girl notices the boy's stare and glances back with her long hair dancing with the gentle breeze. The boy begins to build a connection with the girl, searching for traces of networks until he finally gets a friend who belongs to the girl's circle of peers. The girl becomes aware of the boy's intent, engaging herself into girl talks with her closest friends and looking for "signs" that finally, he is the one. Finally seeing, hearing, smelling or feeling the "sign", she opens the door for the boy who has been trying to mark a footstep on her doorway. The boy courts the girl, the girl entertains. The boy sets a need in the girl's life. When the need has been settled, he succeeds - always (and in the girl's mind, forevermore.) The spark has turned into a glow, finally, a burning fire. The game is on.
The one who gets rid off the first "spark" wins. The one who has been left with the "spark" loses. The winning party departs the scene, and looks for another whom he could play his short-term relationship game with. The long-term thinker has been left picking up the broken pieces of dreams which she has made with, in and of the presence of her partner during the short-term game. What she has thought of a long-term relationship of commitment became a short-term relationship of games and chances. The game of feeling and losing the spark; the too-good-to-be-true-feeling of being needed by someone and chances of retaining it.
The boy and girl claim that they have loved. But not really. They have equated love with the "spark" - a mere feeling. The "spark" that have tried to retain care, respect and responsibility to each other. But there has been lack of knowledge - to the individual perspective that each has in mind while "playing" the game.
Being in a relationship is different from being committed: this is what has been overlooked.
"Wala akong mapin-point eh. Basta lahat gusto ko sa kanya." This is the kind of love that young people know. The love that is born of a "spark" until extinguished by the lame wind of immaturity and ignorance.
On a personal note:
So na-in love ka nga? :)Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Easy-Money is the Trend
I was chatting with Alexis about the current networking business that was being offered to us. According to him, two of our friends (Judy and Margo) have already signed up at the Global Fusion Inc. (GFI). With two out of us five ending up joining the "easy-money" business, Alexis and I have ended up teasing each other as to how are we going to be able "member" ourselves as well (given the Php 8,900 membership fee that was needed). Added to the relatively huge memebership fee was the advice of getting two to three accounts so as to multiply your income a two or three-fold. "Magbebenta na nga akong katawan eh... 2k per night," Alexis kidded. "Ako den... sa España... 5k ako," I jokingly responded.
Seven months ago, I have also been invited by my Tita to join a business akin to networking: the Nu Skin-Philippines. Same with GFI, "membering" yourself to Nu-Skin would grant you training sessions with your "Uplines", a good deal of products, lifetime product discounts, health benefits from these and an "assurance" of getting huge amount of money with less time spent on "working". "Work less, earn more": this was the language of networking. With Nu-Skin and GFI, everyone's dream of material possessions - expensiveness of luxury included - seemed utterly achievable.
Not only seemed, but people have already achieved. Portraits of millionaires hanged on the walls of the offices of these networking businesses, furthering invites to the newcomers and slowly-being-convinced-to-join visitors. In the introductory invitation meeting (a.k.a business opprtunity meeting), names of millionaires occupied the last slides of the presentation, owing their material success to the business. "I was once like you, seated there and nodding and only listening," speakers usually say. "Now, I have this (pointing to a photo of a home)... and driving my new(or second-hand but branded) car."
Truly, a good number of people have achieved. With the boom of the wellness industry in the international market, the products of these networking companies would cease to be in demand in the upcoming years. Consequently, this would lengthen the lifespan of Nu Skin and GFI, and would confer MORE million-marked cheques to MORE members furthering their expansion through networking.
Bravo to these networking companies, Kudos to the claimed millionaires. Nonetheless, what I could no take were the stories of people who have turned their backs from their chosen careers to offer their skills solely to these "easy-money" business. With those who have acquired degrees in business, working as a "networker" seemed plausible. But for engineers undonning themselves of their license just to earn a good deal of money easily, something seemed to be wrong. Unless all they have wanted for in life was to get rich, richer and richest - no more, no less.
"What is the TRUE measure of success?" this question dawned on me amidst the "easy-money" trend engulfing the minds of the workforce . Whereas students study hard to earn good grades and eventually get their dream jobs, adults who have already gained their dream jobs look for "better" (quote-unquote) opportunities to earn more.
Braindrain has been rampant in the medical industry - doctors leaving the country to serve as nurses in Europe and the US, nurses and teachers begging down their licenses to give "care" to old people of the richer countries. And with the emergence of this networking business, I have known engineers converting themselves into "networkers". All these, in the name of earning more. And being rich.
With wealth being the end-goal of adult dreamers, does it now stand as the measure of success?
Seven months ago, I have also been invited by my Tita to join a business akin to networking: the Nu Skin-Philippines. Same with GFI, "membering" yourself to Nu-Skin would grant you training sessions with your "Uplines", a good deal of products, lifetime product discounts, health benefits from these and an "assurance" of getting huge amount of money with less time spent on "working". "Work less, earn more": this was the language of networking. With Nu-Skin and GFI, everyone's dream of material possessions - expensiveness of luxury included - seemed utterly achievable.
Not only seemed, but people have already achieved. Portraits of millionaires hanged on the walls of the offices of these networking businesses, furthering invites to the newcomers and slowly-being-convinced-to-join visitors. In the introductory invitation meeting (a.k.a business opprtunity meeting), names of millionaires occupied the last slides of the presentation, owing their material success to the business. "I was once like you, seated there and nodding and only listening," speakers usually say. "Now, I have this (pointing to a photo of a home)... and driving my new(or second-hand but branded) car."
Truly, a good number of people have achieved. With the boom of the wellness industry in the international market, the products of these networking companies would cease to be in demand in the upcoming years. Consequently, this would lengthen the lifespan of Nu Skin and GFI, and would confer MORE million-marked cheques to MORE members furthering their expansion through networking.
Bravo to these networking companies, Kudos to the claimed millionaires. Nonetheless, what I could no take were the stories of people who have turned their backs from their chosen careers to offer their skills solely to these "easy-money" business. With those who have acquired degrees in business, working as a "networker" seemed plausible. But for engineers undonning themselves of their license just to earn a good deal of money easily, something seemed to be wrong. Unless all they have wanted for in life was to get rich, richer and richest - no more, no less.
"What is the TRUE measure of success?" this question dawned on me amidst the "easy-money" trend engulfing the minds of the workforce . Whereas students study hard to earn good grades and eventually get their dream jobs, adults who have already gained their dream jobs look for "better" (quote-unquote) opportunities to earn more.
Braindrain has been rampant in the medical industry - doctors leaving the country to serve as nurses in Europe and the US, nurses and teachers begging down their licenses to give "care" to old people of the richer countries. And with the emergence of this networking business, I have known engineers converting themselves into "networkers". All these, in the name of earning more. And being rich.
With wealth being the end-goal of adult dreamers, does it now stand as the measure of success?
Sunday, October 25, 2009
How Art Thou?
There are so many ways to answer this question, but most people simply throw lines such as "Ok" or "I'm fine". Not a bull's eye answer; rather, a neutral one.
Probably, people who answer this way simply want to give an answer - to respond to someone else's question. No more, no less. Given a "no ground response", the one who asks (message-sender) plainly gets a two-letter or two-word phrase which does not allow even additional remarks to lengthen or open into another conversation. Consequently, the initiator of the conversation simply replies another "Ok", or a dead-air-saving "Ahhh."
How Art Thou?
Probably, people who answer this way simply want to give an answer - to respond to someone else's question. No more, no less. Given a "no ground response", the one who asks (message-sender) plainly gets a two-letter or two-word phrase which does not allow even additional remarks to lengthen or open into another conversation. Consequently, the initiator of the conversation simply replies another "Ok", or a dead-air-saving "Ahhh."
How Art Thou?
Ethics Speaks
Make the most of those things that are in our Power. And take the rest as nature gives it.
- Epictetus, Stoic Doctrine of Acquiescence
My most favorite lesson in Ethics. Surely makes sense.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Randoms.
Make me laugh.
Make me smile.
Make me happy.
Clear my mind.
'Yung totoo.
Ethics Paper on "Legal Positivism" to be accomplished.
On Film Analyses: Chosen Feminism theory for encoding and Mano Po 1 to be watched for required Cultural Theory.
Photo stocks for Photography presentation.
Comprehension Question and Ondoy Photographs for Art Appreciation Finals.
Transcription for Photography Make-up activity.
Final Exams for Public Relations.
And oh, IMC Quest.
I am a Graduating student. :)
Malapit na. Oo, malapit na.
Halong lungkot at saya.
Long time no straight and meaningful post.
Random thoughts.
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