Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Riding on the Wind - Two Liners for Everyday Living (Series 1)


You can't tell where a sailboat goes
without keel, more so as the wind blows.

Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]



 Sailboats pass the ruins of a lighthouse, detail of a mural by the author. 


Now and then I jot ideas as they come spontaneously at work, leisure and even in the middle of the night.

Ideas are fleeting, they just disappear and are difficult to recall. Fortunately, with a notebook on hand, I was able to capture and transcribed them painstakingly into two-line verses. 


Here are some I wish to share in this blog and on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-the-air) 


1. Wind, current, keel make a trio. 
only if they have one direction to go.

2. Love is sweeter after pain,
and perhaps never sweeter again. 

 3. Truthfulness sans kindness is like a cold, cruel steel;
kindness sans truthfulness is like a forgotten window sill.

4. That others will learn to trust you,
first, be trustworthy, kind and true.  

5. The greatest crisis ambitious men and women face
is loss of privacy trying to win a nameless race. 

6. When reality dies, it may become a dream,
and dream is reality again foreseen.


7. Kindness, however small,
is never wasted at all.

8.Patience is a virtue in disguise,
the art of the smart and wise. 

9. He who always says, "Yes".
is seeker of convenience,

10. It is always the big fish that got away, 
is an old story.  Lo! to the innocent prey.  


11. Unless cut and polished, a stone is stone,
like a gene lying deep, unknown and alone.

12. Ah, but what good is a rock when it misses
the essence of a clay on which life itself rises? ~

Definitions (By Jacob M Braude)
Miracle: Something that someone does that cannot be done. 
Obstacles: those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
Nervousness: when you feel in a hurry all over and can't get started. 
Old Maid: a woman in the prim of life.

Behind Bars in the Mind - Two-liners for Everyday Living (Series 3)

 A problem easily solved
Often returns unresolved.



Now and then I jot down ideas as they come spontaneously at work, leisure and even in the middle of the night. 

Ideas are fleeting, they just disappear and are difficult to recall.  Fortunately, with a notebook at hand, I was able to capture  and transcribed them painstakingly into two-line verses. 

Here are some I wish to share in this blog and on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-the-air) 

1. A boy gets to be a man when a man is needed;
A man gets to be a boy in times unheeded.

2. Beauty seen once may break many hearts,
That heal soon enough as the image departs.

3. To endure the pain of hatred,
A leader’s wisdom often dared.
 

4. Only good wine grows mellow with age;
So does a good man into a sage.

5. Beauty builds upon beauty,
Ad infinitum to eternity.

6. The past may leave remnants to the future,
New to the young while dying bit by bit.



7. On some mountain top, one’s echo is clear and loud;
In the market place it dies, so in any crowd.

8. A clenched fist softens under a blue sky,
Like high waves, after tempest, die.

9. If a little in me dies if only someone must live,
Here then, Lord, here is my whole life to give.

10. The man that you see today
Was the child of yesterday.
------------------------------------------------------
The wind whistles a wild song through the trees
Before it settles into a breeze.
------------------------------------------------------

11. He who nods when old is wise and deep,
Save he by the fireside asleep.



12. How seldom, if at all, do we weigh our neighbors
The way we weigh ourselves with the same favors.

13. We say we do not have the time, is an alibi
To indolence and loafing, letting time pass by.



14. Ephemeral are the ways of our lives
Watching not the sun to set and rise.

15. Yield or refuse, a woman is delighted,
Silence her excuse to decide instead.

16. Virtues suddenly dawn upon him,
Who, behind bars, hears a mournful chime.

17. Passion and lust to a prodigal son,
After the desert blooms, it returns to sand.

18. If the world is going to end either in fire or ice,
Altogether we die once – not twice.

 
Atacama Desert in bloom

19. What is more mean than envy or indolence
But the two themselves riding on insolence?

20. The worst persecution is one of the mind;
That of the body it can undermine.
Acknowledgement: Internet photos

Sunset of "Gypsy Life"


 About 11 million people worldwide, and about a million in the United States, belong to an ethnic group known as the Roma or Romani. They are more commonly called Gypsies or travelers.  The Roma people migrated to Europe from India about 1,500 years ago. 

 Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]




Mang Juan poses with his travelling cariton pulled by a bullock, 2015. 

Gypsy - that's the medieval term to describe the unique ethnic life of a  people, mainly the Romani, and other tribes as well that led a nomadic lifestyle, selling wares, entertaining people and "camping" in their carts along their indefinite route.

They had laws and rules of their own, keeping their unity and preserving their culture, which the outside world barely understood as to regard them integrated into the main stream of society.  But they were not, and in fact they were persecuted like the Jews.

If there is such a thing as "wandering Jews" who were deprived of their country and discriminated as Jews, the gypsies too were treated the same.  Many of them died under Nazi rule in WW II, and their number was decimated - yet they carried on.

In fact, any lifestyle in any country that is similar in some respects with the life of a gypsy is automatically given a name as such - gypsy, as if it is a universal connotation, although it may be a far cry from the true and original gypsy culture.

Yes, basically the gypsy is nomadic, but the later gypsies built homes and communities of their own, where they enjoyed a sense of belonging and loyalty to  their unique culture. Today all over the world they are being integrated into the mainstream of society. 

Beliefs that they can foretell the future with crystal balls and tarot cards remain as signature of gypsies, historically their main trade. Costumes speak at a glance the identity a gypsy lady like Esmeralda, the gypsy in Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

In the novel, Esmeralda ignited clash beween rich and poor, exposed social ills of medieval France.  Her sensual physical attributes became the object of lust, greed and murder. On the other hand, she also gained sympathy and compassion - on behalf of her own people.  

There are no true gypsies in the Philippines, and if there is any, they are the like of Mang Juan who earns a living by ambulant selling of native crafts, from broom to hammock, native furniture to kitchen utensils. His trade route is Pangasinan to Manila, a distance of 300 km.     

Call it aculturation or cultural integration, globalization in the larger sense. Acceptance from the top and adaptation from below - and aggrupation.  How wide the gap exists, is a challenge to society.  While this is key to integration, there is equally a potential repercussion, and danger - the loss of diversity which is the biggest threat to mankind in our postmodern times.~        
 
        Gypsy families on the move prepared to camp for the night; Gypsy performing art is world renown.Their music, dance and costume are distinctly unique.

Dust in my Room - Two-liners for Everyday Living (Series 2)


Nobly a life men can choose,
Yet prefer to live long and lose.


Dr Abe V Rotor


Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]



Now and then I jot ideas as they come spontaneously at work, leisure and even in the middle of the night.

Ideas are fleeting, they just disappear and are difficult to recall. Fortunately, with a notebook on hand, I was able to capture and transcribed them painstakingly into two-line verses. 


Here are some I wish to share in this blog and on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-the-air) 


1. Take it from the ant or stork,
Patience is silence at work.
 

2. A full vessel holds water to the brim,
Unless it bears a crack on the rim.

3. Pleasance to the youth, care to the old;
Where do they belong, the meek and the bold?

4. She is coy who speaks soft, writes light;
Fire starts with smoke before it ignites.

5. Moth, master of camouflage, don’t be dumb;
When you lose your art, you lose your freedom.

6. He finds reason for living
Who sees a new beginning.

7. Every promise you can’t keep
Drags you into a deeper pit.

8. How do you know truth unspoken?
When the heart has spoken.

9. To the humble, a Genie rises from a great soul,
And I, a teacher, yet know not my goal.

10. Make believe growth and prosperity;
A vessel sounds louder when empty.

11. A child too soon behaves like man,
A good man, he means – on none.

12. The difference of being right and reasonable,
One is black or white, the other’s measurable
----------

Definition (From Jacob M Baude)

Gratitude: Memory of the heart.
Dreams: the free movies of sleep
Luck: good planning, carefully executed
Kindness: a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Signature of time passing.

 Signature of time passing.
Dr Abe V Rotor
                                          Living with Nature - School on Blog 
                                                    [avrotor.blogspot.com]



How time flies, we hear people say;
maybe, but it leaves something:
like first smile, first word, first step, ,
each a signature of time passing.

 Weaning leaves the infant behind. 

First birthday is full of love and affection.

From the confines of home to the open arms of Nature.

Bridging three generations in a row.

                                   Youngest visitor suspends work momentarily.  
                                                     Ate na si Mackie

 to

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Fish Evolution

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

 
                                              Fish Evolving in acrylic by the author

Fish, what made you fish, not another,
      when choice was in your hand?
Fish answers: Paleozoic a time of fire,
      and my forebears moved from land.

Through Nature's mysterious ways,
      in the shallow seas trapped inland
I remained, while my kin returned to land,
      and became reptilian and mammalian. ~

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Anecdotes of Great Men and Women - Self-Adminstered Test

If you are presented with a simple problem that has a simple solution, instead of wasting time and resources, they say, “Cut the Gordian Knot.”

Dr Abe V Rotor
Answers below.

Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]



1. Story telling is an art. Strive for the “state-of-the-art of story telling”

2. Rhett Butler played by Clark Gable had this famous line, “Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.” What movie title Gone with the Wind.
Alexander
3. There is a famous statement that captures how powerful Rome was at its height. “All roads lead to Rome.”
Alexander the Great

4. England became the biggest empire in 18th century and had colonies all over the world – India, Australia, US, Canada, to name the most important. There is a famous statement which says, “The sun never sets on English soil.”

5. This is one element of a good anecdote that stimulates the intellect, sagacity, understanding. It shows cleverness. Wit.

6. This is another element of good story that lifts the spirit, and brings man towards optimistic goals. Inspirational

7. Bato bato sa langit …. Doesn’t speak well of a good story. This refers to fatalism.


8. Avoid this aspect in story telling, promoting an idea, thing or person. Propagandism.

9. This is one aspect we should avoid in story telling: directly imposing a norm or moral obligation. Moralism
Columbus

10. It took this man to convince four kings to support his plan to reach East if he goes strait West – thus he name the island he first landed as East Indies. Christopher Columbus.

11. If you are presented with a simple problem that has a simple solution instead of wasting time and resources, they say, “Cut the Gordian Knot.” Who first showed it this way by cutting the complicated Gordian Knot with one slash of his sword.


12. He is known even to the present as the “man of the masses” who at one instance promoted a engineer on the spot. Ramon Magsaysay.


13. The most loved anecdote teller of all time. His anecdotes and anecdotes about him are known all over the world. Abraham Lincoln.

14. He took the crown from the hands of the Pope who was about to crown him, and crowned himself. Napoleon Bonaparte. (photo)


15. This is the Lady with a Lamp who made her rounds in the hospital with a tiny lamp. Florence Nightingale

16. Emperor, a city was named after him, whose mother was a Christian in disguise, latter became liberal ti Christian in practicing their faith. Constantine, the Great

17. English admiral, ordered by his superior not to proceed in his mission because the enemy ships are waiting. He took the telescope and trained it on his right eye which is blind, and said, “I can’t see the enemy sir.” National British hero. Horatius Nelson.
Nelson

18. He isolated himself in his room for days, eating but little, and when he emerge, his face lighted like that of a saint, and holding his masterpiece Hallelujah. Who is this composer. Handel
Beethoven
19. He attended a concert which played his masterpiece. At the end, the audience stood to pay respect to the composer. Someone had to signal him to acknowledge. Ludwig Van Beethoven

Rizal

20. This flying insect circled the a lamp from which Rizal used it as symbol of martyrdom. Moth


Trivia: One of the most famous meetings in history. US newsman Stanley was sent to Africa to search for Dr. David Livingstone. What was Stanley’s greeting? "Dr. Living- stone, I suppose?"

Acknowledgement: Internet photos

Friday, May 27, 2016

Ideas that are Changing Our World (True or False) - Self-administered Test

 Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]


1. Take the back seat cinema, the so-called movies, save your money and ego. A 1001 homegrown producers are in the making in all countries today. In fact Bollywood India makes more than all movies made by Hollywood.

2. And gargantuan corporations that have dominated such small items like Colgate, Gillette,Palmolive, or cartelized coffee, cocoa, shoes, cars, and the like – Beware of the changing wind of change, and the triumphant of Small is Beautiful.
A sub-culture in dumpsites.

3. And to universities and schools - Put up more and larger campuses, multistory-building for classrooms and dormitories to accommodate more and more students as population continues to soar and as knowledge explodes.

4. History tells us time and again that ideas merely influence our thinking as humans, but never will they run the world and keep it spinning; it is money, politics and religion that runs our world.

5. The defining challenge of the 21st century will be to face the reality that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet. Nationalism, while it remains as the motivating factor in nationhood, must expand into the realm of regional and international cooperation.

Smog over cities


6. Customer service welcome. Welcome sir, thank you madam. More call centers, more HRM waiters and actresses, bank tellers, nurses. Personalized service is part of red carpet treatment.

7. The key to sustainable development is to make the right choices in our public investments and to find ways to harness, and channel, market forces. That is if we are talking to sustainable development for the whole world – for we cannot enjoy sustainable development while the rest of the world declines.

8. National interests aren’t what they used to be. Our survival requires global solutions. Thus a Filipino works in NASA, China makes good for the US, Germany supplies airplanes in Saudi, oil tankers servile any country irrespective of ideology or distance or political stability as long as the price is right. This is globalization.
HIV-AIDS on the rise globally

9. In 2005 the Kyoto Protocol mandates emission cuts by industrialized countries. Two countries remain indifferent as of today – US and Australia.

10. In 1999 - Human Surge, world pop reached 6 billion, doubling in size in 50 years. But by 2050 stabilization of world population shall then be attained at 8 billion, believed to be manageable under a sustainable development system.

11. In 2000 New resolutions (UN Millennium Development Goals address poverty and education. In 2002 – Health Aid Global Fund established to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. In 2003 – Going green, UN Sec-Gen Kofi Annan calls for Green Revolution in Africa.

12. End of Poverty comes in 2020. Income of all the world’s poorest can be increased comfortably above 1$ per day.

13. In 2030 – Fuel Economy. Plug-in hybrids and new technologies produce 42 km/li cars. By 2040 Zero Emissions. Goal for halting climate change through renewable energy and other steps.

14. The End of Customer Services. With self-serve technology, you’ll never have to see a clerk again. Started in 1902 Automat in Philadelphia – a German idea. In 1916 – A super market Piggy Wiggly, first self-serve grocery store, Memphis.
Changing of the guards and evolution of communism-capitalism ideology

15. 1n 1947 – Self pumped gas in California service stations by George Urich. 1967 Teller Goodbye. Barclays bank worlds first ATMs at London Branch. In 1995 Flying solo. Alaska airplane ticket over the internet for the first time

16. The Post-Movie-Star Era is still around. Get ready for more films in which the leading man is the center of attraction.
Rise of NONES (people who detached themselves from organized religion)
17. In 1910s Stars Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford sold the new medium of cinema around the world. By 1930s Stars shine. Studios ensure stability by signing their A-list actors to long-term contracts. In 1950 Shoot stars. Top talent – John Wayne, Burt Lancaster became their own producers, so with Kirk Douglas.

18. In 1970 Stars fade. All-star vehicles give way to non-star fantasies like Star Wars, ET Jurassic Park. 2000s Lights out. Old style stars rise falling into the black hole of no-name epics and stories.

19. Reverse Radicalism to terrorism? No way start talking to terrorists who stop themselves. Some 170 prisoners currently incarcerated for Jihadi crimes in Indonesia – 24 persuaded to cooperate with police, 151 released after serving time.
Decline of classical and fine arts

20. Ramon Magsaysay, then defense secretary dismantled the Hukbalahap Movement through persuasion and integrated the members into the stream of society. Rebel returnees program of the Philippines.


ANSWERS: 1t, 2t, 3f, 4f, 5t, 6f, 7t, 8t, 9f, 10t, 11t, 12f, 13t, 14t, 15t, 16f, 17t,18t, 19t, 20t

Living with Nature, AV Rotor (UST)

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Gross National Happiness (GNH) vs Gross National Product (GNP)

Gross National Happiness (GNH) vs Gross National Product (GNP)  
Are you really happy?
"How many people can you count on for help in case you get sick?"
"How often do you eat meals together as a family?"
"How restful can you be after a weekend?"


Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]



Have you heard of a measure of growth and development based on people's happiness?

Well, it is called Gross National Happiness (GNH) by Bhutan, the proponent of the idea. It
is more than people's welfare which is the aim of Human Development Index (HDI).  And it is a radical alternative to Gross National Product (GNP) which is a broad and unqualified gross measure of a country's economic growth.  

The illustrate, if a country's GNP is 10 percent - which is quite high - to what extent does this annual gain contribute to people's well-being in terms of health, education, income, housing, and the like which constitutes HDI?  Then we ask, in what way and to what extent does this material gain and social welfare make people happy? (GNH)  
A happy family 
Bhutan's bold attempt to quantify national well-being and achieve sustainable development (Gross National Happiness Index) is opening the eyes of the world to the paradox that rising incomes don't bring happiness (Easterlin Paradox, named for American economist Richard Easterlin).  

This is a long known fact but it was shrouded by an apparently progressive capitalistic world  in the last three decades - until recently – when economic crisis gripped the most progressive countries led by the US and members of the European Union, now affecting other countries, among them the the Philippines. 

The paradox is steadily being felt in China as it replaced Japan as the second biggest economy of the world. And the new tiger economies as well -  Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, including India which is an upcoming technology giant.  

Unhappiness has been the cause of depression, and depression often leads to self-destruction. Rising incomes, if taken as an analogy to Easterlin Paradox, increases the rate of depression and therefore suicide.  Thus the highest rate of suicide in the world has been observed in highly industrialized countries like Japan, the US and UK, with victims that include young men and women in the prime of their careers, and set to "conquer the world" but have failed to meet their aspirations.

GNH is a Eastern alternative to pressures of the materialistic Western world. The new measure aims at reducing pressure of living on the fast lane. It reduces the influx to cities and consequential buildup of urban marginal communities. It holds on to time-tested, community-based living. It is an alternative to a stressful life, and pressures of competition.  

To make GNH workable, Bhutan is adopting a program based on four pillars, namely

  • sustainable economic development
  • conservation of the environment
  • preservation of culture
  • good governance
Since 1989 after the dissolution of the USSR liberating former member-nations to self-rule,  and the termination of the Cold War that polarized the world into two ideologies - democracy and socialism, the world unfortunately has not devised a formula to equate prosperity with happiness, 

What is happiness sought for by a people, by a nation or region? It is really more than material benefit.  It is more than growth of institutions.  Of high rise buildings and wide avenues. It is something that elevates the human spirit on a higher level, albeit religiosity.  It is something that speaks of now and tomorrow, of the welfare of our children and children's children. 



Joy in receiving a award
Translated to the individual person, happiness may be gauged by his answers to these simple questions often encountered in daily living.
  • "How many people can you count on for help in case you get sick?" 
  • "How often do you eat meals together as a family?"
  • "How restful can you be after a weekend?"
  • "How comfortable are you with the level of household debt?"
  • "How satisfied are you in your present work.?"
  • "How often do to take time out with the kids?"
  • "How comfortable are you at home? In the neighborhood?"
  • "How secure are you with your income?  Savings?"
  • "How fulfilled are you your career? Livelihood?  Vocation?"  
  • "How satisfied are you with you community's governance?" 
  •  "How satisfied are you in sharing your talents and resources?  
  •  "How well preserved is your natural environment?  
Maybe we might as well ask
  • "How happy did you feel yesterday?"
  • "How satisfied are you with life today.?
These are sample questions raised in surveys conducted in Bhutan and other countries . The results differ of course, Except Bhutan, the result of the survey may be summarized as "Most people feel disconnected from the dominant economic indicators."

Which leads us to analyze the major unrest in many parts of the world, their cause and effect:
  • Arab Spring in the Middle East 
  • Occupy Wall Street in the US
  • Syrian War and migration
  • UK plan to leave EU
  • Miners' protest in South Africa
  • Oil protest in Nigeria 
  • Austerity Protest in Greece and Spain
  • Rise of Terrorism worldwide
  •  
Campus parade and class in jovial mood, UST   
Even political protests in post-Mubarak Egypt, in war-torn Iraq and continued conflict in post-Bin Ladin Afghanistan, are symptoms of people's unhappiness. So with Israel-Palestine unresolved conflict in Gaza, and short-lived people's protests in Russia, Tel-Aviv, and elsewhere in the world are traced to human's unfulfilled goal of happiness.  

Never has the issue of happiness, originally too personal and private and subjective, been brought out into a world forum likely to escalate into global referendum. And it took a new democracy with less than a million people perched on the Himalayas to herald what makes a beautiful life - happiness.   

"Gusto ko, Happy ka."  ~







There are many ways people find happiness and contentment: picking fruits, merchandising, joining parade, playing, outing, and fishing - be it a leisure or a livelihood.  List down your own ways and share with your family and friends. ~