Monday, April 18, 2011

Living with Nature at Home

Dr. Abe V. Rotor and Ms. Melly Tenorio
DZRB Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (School-on-Air)
738 AM, 8 to 9 Evening Class

Monday to Friday

Home is celebrating birthday with a pet.

Home is with children at work and play.

Here is a beautiful poem to start the lesson. If you will recall, those of you who saw the movie, The King and I, Anna the English teacher sang a part of the song. It was typical in her time when Europeans left their home to search for a new one at the other side of the globe, many of them pioneers in the New World, which was to become the United States of America. Others found the Orient, and for Teacher Anna, it was a special arrangement for her to serve the king of Siam (Thailand) as tutor to his many children.

To us Filipinos, the song stirs the heart as well. Thousands leave their native land, their homes and families in search for opportunities as OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers), and migrants, many of them never to return, except on brief visits as balikbayan.

Fortunately OFWs remit a large part of their earnings back home to their loved one, enabling them to build a house or improve the dwelling they left, supporting their children to acquire education, and to a significant extent, starting a local business for the family. Such opportunities are rare and we are fortunately for it. It is the remittances which average $1 billion dollars a month that is saving our national economy today.

Both external and internal generation of resources in the hands of the citizen is crucial to progress. To be practical about it, material progress is necessary. It is a bridge to a better standard of living. It is a tool in making a happy home and family.

This lesson explores the many ways we can create a happy home and family.

Home is playing Home, Sweet Home on a weekend with relatives and friends.

Home Sweet Home
John Howard Payne
Music by Henry Rowley Bishop (1786-1855)
(Arranged for the violin and piano by Henry Farmer)


‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere.
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;
O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
The birds singingly gaily, that came to my call –
Give me them – and the peace of mind, dearer than all.
Home, Home sweet, sweet Home.
There’s no place like Home! There’s no place like Home!

Generally we all belong to a country of peaceful people, lovers of pets, united in family and faith. We are a country of overseas workers, migrants and the balikbayan. We are divided in many ways.

• Spouses
• Babies, mothers
• Father, mother
• Parents, children
• Siblings
• Uncles, aunties
• Grandparents, grandchildren
• Lovers, friends, neighbors
• Classmates, town mates
• Masters, pets

Divided we all are – and apparently increasingly evermore. Yet the spirit is never weak, it binds people through distance and time. The spirit of longing and belonging is but one.

Home is class reunion with a lechon (roasted pig).

There are 101 definitions of home we gathered from the radio program. This is a short list.

Home is -
1. roof for everyone, residents and guests. 2. wall with large windows that let the sun and the breeze in. 3. where fish in the aquarium sparkle in the morning’s sun. 4. baby smiling, of children playing. 5. faithful husband and wife.

6. “place for everything and everything in its place,” but not always.
7. dad and mom waiting for us from school. 8. workshop for hobbies and inventions. 9. where our dog lies on the doormat waiting for its master. 10.litter of puppies and kittens.

11. rooster crowing, nature’s alarm clock.
12. house lizard’s crispy announcement of a guest coming. 13. frog croaking in the rain. 14. safari of wildlife – from insects to migratory birds. 15. warm embrace of a cat.

16. cup of coffee, a sip of wine, a newspaper. 17. warm bath, a cold shower, a bath tub. 18. National Geographic, Time Magazine, Daily Inquirer. 19. ripe tomato, succulent radish, dangling stringbeans, 20.brooding mother hen in her nest.


21.fresh egg everyday. 22. sound of birds and crickets. 23. sweet smell of flowers, falling leaves, swaying branches in the wind. 24. sweet smell of the earth after the first rain in May. 25. singing cicada in the tree.

26. swarming of gamugamo in the evening. 27. sala too small for so many friends. 28. cabinet of books, a study table, a computer. 29. Beethoven, Mozart, Abelardo, Santiago. 30. Charlotte Church, Josh Groban, Sharon Cuneta.

31. Amorsolo. Picasso, Van Gogh. 32. potpourri of appetizing recipes, of the proverbial grandmother apple pie. 33. pinakbet, lechon, karekare, suman, bibingka. 34. garden of roses, a grass lawn to lie on. 35. herbarium of plants, a gene bank.

36. biodiversity, a living museum.
37. doing repair that has no end. 38. disposing old newspapers, bottles, metal scraps, used clothes. 39. midnight candle before an exam. 40. shoulder, a pillow, to cry on.

41. Noche Buena. 42. fireworks on New Year. 43. general cleaning on weekends. 44. soft bed that soothes tired nerves and muscles. 45. fire place, a hearth, which takes the cold out of the body and spirit.

46. Prodigal Son returning, Good Samaritan. 47. round table where thanksgiving prayer is said. 48. laughter and music, prose and poetry. 49. forgiving, rejoicing, celebrating. 50. angelus and rosary hour.

To sum it all, Home is Home, Sweet Home.

Exercise and Assignment: Choose from the list the items that are applicable to you. Rate each item using the Likert scale (1 very poor, 2 poor, 3 fair or average, 4 good and 5 very good). Add other items which are applicable to your situation. Add to get the total score and divide it with the number of items. Here is the guide to determine your rating.

4.6 – 5.0 Very Good
3.6 - 4.5 Good
2.6 – 3.5 Fair or average
1.6 - 2.5 Poor
1.0 - 1.5 Very poor


Home is walking the dog.

Living with Nature, AVR

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