International Youth Day August 12, 2026: "The youth is the hope of our fatherland." - Rizal

International Youth Day August 12, 2026

Theme: Different Contexts, Common Aspirations

"The youth is the hope of our fatherland." - Rizal

"Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan"

Part 1 - Ur-urayenka Anakko 

(I am waiting for you, my child.)

“This world, which appears to be a great workshop in which knowledge is developed by man – which appears as progress and civilization, as a modern system of communication, as a structure of democratic freedom without any limitations – this world is not capable of making man happy." - Pope John Paul II, On the Threshold of Hope

                  
                    The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt van Rijk

I am a modern day Prodigal Son. I spent sixty long years searching and searching for a place I may call my own in the whole wide world. Yes, sixty long years of my youth and in old age – thrice longer the fiction character Rip van Winkle did sleep – and now I am back to the portals of my hometown, to the waiting arms of my father.

The proverbial Lamp I still hold flickers, but it is but a beacon in embers now, for it had spent its luminance in the darkness of human weakness and failures, it beamed across the ocean of ignorance and lost hope, it trailed the path of many adventures and discoveries, and it kept vigil in the night while I slept.

And what would my father say? He meets me, embraces me, and calls everyone. “Kill the fattest calf! Let us rejoice.”

San Vicente is my home. It is the bastion of my hopes and ideals. At the far end on entering the old church is written on the altar, faded by the elements of time and pleading hands of devotees, Ur-urayenka Anakko – I am waiting for you my child.

When the world is being ripped by conflicts or pampered with material progress, when mankind shudders at the splitting of the atom and the breaking of the code of life, when the future is viewed on high rise edifices or clouded by greenhouse gases, the world is but a speck in the vast universe – my town becomes more than ever relevant to the cause for which it has stood through the centuries - the sanctuary of idealism in a troubled world, home of hundreds of professionals in many fields of human endeavor.

“Kill the fattest calf,” I hear my father shout with joy. It is celebration. It is a symbol of achievement more than I deserve. But my feelings is that I am standing on behalf of my colleagues for I am but an emissary. Out there in peace and trials, in villages and metropolises, in all endeavors and walks of life, many “Vincentians” made their marks, either recognized on the stage or remembered on stone on which their names are carved. I must say, it is an honor and privilege that I am here in humility to represent them that I may convey their unending faith and trust to our beloved hometown.

The world has changed tremendously, vastly, since I passed under the town's arch to meet the world some sixty years ago. I have met wise men who asked the famous question “Quo vadis?” - where are you going? I can only give a glimpse from the eye of a teacher, far for the probing mind of Alvin Toffler in Future Shock, or those of Naisbitt and Aburdane, renowned modern prophets. Teachers as I know, and having been trained as one, see the world as it is lived; they make careful inferences, and take a bird’s eye view cautiously. They are conveyors of knowledge, and even with modern teaching tools and communication technology, cannot even qualify as chroniclers, nay less of forecasters. I have always strived to master the art of foretelling the future, but frankly I can only see it from atop a misty mountain. How I wish too, that I can fully witness the fruits of the seed of knowledge a teacher has sown in the mind of the young.

Limited my experience may be, allow me to speak my mind about progress and developments in the sixty years I was away from home, but on the other side of midnight, so to speak.

1. The monster that Frankenstein made lurks in nuclear stockpiles, chides with scientists tinkering with life, begging to give him a name and a home.

2. Our blue planet has an ugly shade of murk and crimson – fire consuming the forests, erosion eating out the land, polar ice shrinking, rising sea flooding the shorelines, and gas emission boring a hole in its jacket.

3. One race one nation equals globalization. How we have taken over evolution in our hands. We are playing God, is Paradise Lost Part 2 in the offing?

4. The world is wired, it travels fast on two feet – communication and transportation. The world has shrunk into a village. Homogenization is the death sentence amid a bed of roses for mankind.

5. Man-induced phenomena are too difficult to separate from those of nature. We take the latter as an excuse of our follies, a rationalization that runs counter to be rational. Only the human species has both the capability to build or destroy – and yet we love to destroy what we build.

6. The dangerous game of numbers is a favorite game, and our Mother Earth spaceship is getting overloaded. Man’s needs, more so man’s want, become burgeoning load of Mother Earth, now sick and aging. Will Pied Piper ever come back and take our beloved young ones away from us, as he did in Hamlyn many years ago?

7. Conscience, conscience, where is spirituality that nourishes it. Where have all the religious teachings gone? Governance – where is the family, the home? Peace and order – Iraq, Afghanistan – another Korea, another Vietnam, only in another place, in another time. And now social unrest is sweeping over North Africa and the Middle East, spreading to many parts of the world.

8. Janus is progress, and progress is Janus. It is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It is The Prince and the Pauper. Capitalism has happy and sad faces – the latter painted in pain and sadness on millions all over the world. It is inequity that makes the world poor; potentially we have more than enough food, clothing, shelter, and energy for everybody. What ideology can save the world other than capitalism?

As I grew older I did not only learn to adjust with the realities of life as I encountered it but to grasp its meaning from the points of view of famous philosophers and writers. I studied it with the famous lines from William Blake’s famous poem, Auguries of Innocence.

To wit.

“To see the world in a grain of sand;

And a Heaven a wild flower;

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.”

               - William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

If ever I have ventured into becoming a redeemer of sort, armed with a pen in hand, I too, have learned from Blake’s verse of the way man should view the world in all its magnanimity yet in simplicity. If ever I have set foot to reach the corners of the Earth, and failed, I am consoled by the humble representation of “a grain of sand” that speaks of universal truth and values.

And beauty? If I have not found it in a garden of roses, I dare not step on a flowering weed. And posterity and eternity? They are all ensconced in periodicity, a divine accident of existence – to say that each and every one of us is here in this world by chance – an unimaginable chance – at “a certain time and place” which - and I believe - has a purpose in whatever and however one lives his life. But I would say that a lifetime is all it takes “to see the world” and be part of it. It is a lifetime that we realize the true meaning of beauty, experience “infinity and eternity”. Lifetime is a daily calendar of victories and defeats.

While the world goes around and around . . .

The world like in Aristotle’s time continue to struggle with the preservation of values; the species will continue to evolve as postulated by Darwin; culture will express itself more fully since the first painting of early man dwelling in the caves of Lascaux in France.

Trade and commerce will continue to progress, reaches a plateau, and declines - a normal curve that goes with the rise and fall of civilizations. Yet leaders do not see it that way. Not even the Utopia of conquerors like Alexander the Great whose global economic vision two thousand five hundred years ago is basically the same as that of the great powers of today - United States, European Union, ASEAN.

The great religions will continue to bring man to his knees and look into heavens amidst knowledge revolution and growing complexity of living, Man’s infinitesimal mind continues to probe the universe. Never has man been so busy, so bothered, so confused, yet so determined than ever before, trying to fill up God’s Seventh Day.

As I go on reflecting I came across the book of Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, 1994. He warns us succinctly.

“This world, which appears to be a great workshop in which knowledge is developed by man – which appears as progress and civilization, as a modern system of communication, as a structure of democratic freedom without any limitations – this world is not capable of making man happy." - Pope John Paul II, On the Threshold of Hope

Now I am home, my father, in my hometown.  Thank you for you have taught me and instilled in me the spirit of virtue and fortitude. Thank you for making me a Vincentian. ~

         Part 2 -  Pleasance of Youth

"Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty." 

- Franz Kafka

 

Kids' Adventure in acrylic by the author 

Pleasance to you youth, bright as the sun;

The world be at war or be at peace.

Ask not where have all the flowers gone;

Seasons come, and seasons go at ease.

"Believe you can, and you're halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt

Part 3 - Begging for a Seat in School: 

A friendly reminder for the new schoolyear

The school year will soon open.  We will be accompanying our children to their schools.  Relatives and friends too, will go back to school, maybe we ourselves are among them.  But not all can go to school, like this beggar boy, the infirmed, the very poor, or for whatever reason.  Thanks to Google for this blog.  Thanks to the outreach program of the University of Santo Tomas, Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (School-on-air) of DZRB 738 AM, thanks to our blog followers and viewers, and radio audience, for carrying out the Multiplier Effect.  Special thanks to Google and staff.
 

 A reproduction of an untitled painting by an unknown artist

A disturbing scene to Maslow -

could he have been wrong?

What is self-actualization

to the striving throng?

What's good is the Bastille trilogy -

pillars of modern society:

equality, fraternity,

liberty - sans dignity?

Motherhood words may come easy;

they cannot be mistaken,

for the lips that speak of promise

are easily forgotten.

And the world goes on as it seems;

a beggar boy, its conscience:

lost youth, lost hope, lost future

in the midst of affluence.

The door is jarred to full view

and knocking wouldn't lend an ear;

indifference makes man blind

or takes him to the rear.

He who feels for the needy

with but some coins is a fool,

in a world deaf to a poor boy

begging for a seat in school. ~

NOTE: A student of mine from Iran at the UST Graduate School gave me this reproduction of a painting as a souvenir. The painting was made by an unknown artist, apparently belonging to the post classicism at the dawn of realism. avr

Part 4 - Movies on Parade at UST, A Recollection* 

Movies Fill Our Lives

Dr Abe V Rotor

Of pirates and witches...

Fantasy comes down to earth alive

in flesh walking: ghosts, fairies,

creatures of sea and land they thrive

in human laughter and tears

that fill empty lives e’en just a while

and give the world a break

in the idleness of time passing by

cares and worries at stake

where friends and foes hold hands,

monsters tame and meek;

stories sad and happy cater to fans,

all for freedom they seek

from doctrinaire and conventions;

for it’s imagination that rules

and dictates all human institutions

with technology its tools;

movies – books, visual, by audition,

in make believe and reality,

man’s gift to himself, his own invention,

his passport to liberty. ~

Wizard of Oz and fairytales

Of forest deities and kingdoms

Finding Nemo, the friendly fish

                                        Of old cultures and postmodern living

And adventure with the imagination …

Acknowledgement: University of Santo Tomas, Manila, 2014; 

photos by the author, former UST professor

Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 6 and 8, 1945 In solemn memory of the victims of WWII Atomic bombing

          Usapang Bayan August 7, 2026 

Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 

August 6 and 8, 1945

In solemn memory of the victims of WWII Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb.”

Part 1 - Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-Bombing Enshrined in Old Basi Industry
Part 2 - Keeping memories of World War II alive at St. Paul University QC
ANNEX 1 - What happens if nuclear weapons are used?
ANNEX 2 - Is a Nuclear War ... Almost Guaranteed? A Critical Outlook

 Part 1 - Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-Bombing Enshrined in Old Basi Industry 

                                                          Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Atomic bomb obliterates Hiroshima, ends WWII, immediately killing 80,000 people.

                        Among the few buildings that survived after the plutonium

 bomb decimated Nagasaki is the Christian church.

I was a very young child in a small town, San Vicente in the Philippines, the youngest of three siblings when this dreadful, ignominious attack happened. I was sort of a farmhand helping my father make basi in our small wine cellar. (Same cellar today as  shown in the photos below).  

Impressions, innocent they may be in early age, seek their true expressions in later age and may remain indelible. As these become integrated with those of others and the whole of humanity for that matter, they become public images which we know today 80 years after.  

When I retired from government service, and from the academe, and returned to my ancestral home, a scenario from childhood memories about the Second World War, flashed in my mind like a nightmare. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-Bombing!  

On my part, struggling to revive a dying art and industry is my own humble way to convey my compassionate thought and feeling, and a prayerful hope for world peace. 

Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-Bombing Anniversary 2017.  

Author's basi wine cellar in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.

   

Remembering Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-Bombing Anniversary at an earlier date. 

 

Basi wine undergoing aging in glazed jars (burnay) in 18th century wine 

cellar - a tourists' attraction. Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

 

Basi and fruit wine for balikbayan, (returning and visiting residents) 

and tourists.

Part 2 -  Keeping memories of  World War II alive at St. Paul University QC  

As a child survivor of WWII, the author vividly recalls the darkest hour of history when “man’s inhumanity to man” eclipsed love, justice and hope, and warns the present, of the undeniable capability of history of repeating itself. The dangerously worsening Israel-Gaza war with the latter virtually losing its own statehood and a generation of its finest citizens has the vestiges of the worst conflicts that has plagued the human race on a global scale. Russian war on Ukraine with the US, EU and other countries getting directly involved in the conflict is creating a dreadful scenario of Armageddon in our times, exacerbated by the unprecedented, current US-Iran war. Other conflicts of global and local magnitude in other parts of the world, which include the Philippines, further worsen this horrendous imagery of doom. Hiroshima-Nagasaki atomic bombing's 81st anniversary this year on August 6 and 9, deepens our resolve in contributing to world peace and to guide the younger generations toward a bright and happy future.  

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Living with Nature School on Blog 

Steel Memorial of World War II at St Paul University campus in QC 

Burning of St Paul College Building in Quezon City, then a novitiate

 during World War II, a hanging wall mural at SPUQC, painted by 

the author and his children - Marlo, Anna and Leo in 2000.  

Note a kindly Paulinian sister leading children to safety ground.

Xerxes’ aide a thousand times whispered,

      “Remember the Greeks!”

To keep memory of late father King Darius. 

      Nay, but revenge is all a coward seeks.

A thousand times, we too, cried,

     “Remember the Japanese!"

In hopelessness even as many had died,

       time restored the broken peace.

Our cry died on marble floors,

      died in echoes and in the shade

Of high rise buildings and halls

      the new generation made.

You stand there frigid and mute,

      cold as steel against the flame;

Three beams of a chapel before,

      now a tripod with simple frame.

Shh… hear the cries in the dungeon,

      the comfort women, their muffled moan;

The ashes left by countless souls,

      ghastly ruins against the moon.

Remember the tortuous Death March,

      Corregidor, Auschwitz, Flanders

The ghosts in concentration camps,

      the nameless heroes on the shore.

Short is modern man’s memory

     amidst malls, cars and easy life,
TV, computer, the university. 

     All but Good Life sans strife.

                              Where does faith in Providence abide –

     lessons from childhood lie,

      Where once in the home and school? 

            Now along with evil they belie.

      A new breed has risen – puzzled,

            sitting on a fence among the throng,

      Waiting for manna of capitalism,

           and subsidy from the strong.

     The essentials of history –

           refresh memory before it’s gone.

     Look up hard at the memorial

           to trace the roots of our freedom.

     But it is easier to doze and sleep

           and think not of the past.

     But war has a story preserved,

        “Never, never the die is cast.”*

    To tell as to why we are here,

         Darwin knew not such a test:

    Why fallen victims too, survive,

         and once more live with the fittest.

    "Remember the Greeks.” We rather say,

         “Remember WW II in peace;”

   Two things different in their own way,

        but look at the cold steel never at ease.~

                 ------------------

Ruins of St Paul University-QC, then a novitiate

 *Alea iacta est ("The die is cast") is a Latin phrase attributed by Suetonius (as iacta alea estt]) to Julius Caesar on January 10, 49 BC as he led his army across the River Rubicon in Northern Italy. The die is cast is said when a ​situation is ​certain to ​develop in a ​particular way because ​decisions have been taken that cannot be ​changed: From the ​moment the ​negotiations ​failed, the die was ​cast and ​war was ​inevitable.

ANNEX 1 - What happens if nuclear weapons are used?

Home
Banning Nuclear Weapons. Impact of Nuclear Weapons
Post by ICRC (The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement)

Acknowledgement with gratitude: ICAN, ICRC, Internet

Nuclear weapons are the most destructive, inhumane and indiscriminate weapons ever created. Both in the scale of the devastation they cause, and in their uniquely persistent, spreading, genetically damaging radioactive fallout, they are unlike any other weapons. A single nuclear bomb detonated over a large city could kill millions of people. The use of tens or hundreds of nuclear bombs would disrupt the global climate, causing widespread famine.

If a nuclear weapon detonates, what happens?

Short-term effects
A single nuclear weapon can destroy a city and kill most of its people. Several nuclear explosions over modern cities would kill tens of millions of people. Casualties from a major nuclear war between the US and Russia would reach hundreds of millions.

It takes around 10 seconds for the fireball from a nuclear explosion to reach its maximum size. A nuclear explosion releases vast amounts of energy in the form of blast, heat and radiation. An enormous shockwave reaches speeds of many hundreds of kilometres an hour. The blast kills people close to ground zero, and causes lung injuries, ear damage and internal bleeding further away. People sustain injuries from collapsing buildings and flying objects. Thermal radiation is so intense that almost everything close to ground zero is vaporized. The extreme heat causes severe burns and ignites fires over a large area, which coalesce into a giant firestorm. Even people in underground shelters face likely death due to a lack of oxygen and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Long-term effects
In the long-term, nuclear weapons produce ionizing radiation, which kills or sickens those exposed, contaminates the environment, and has long-term health consequences, including cancer and genetic damage. Their widespread use in atmospheric testing has caused grave long-term consequences. Physicians project that some 2.4 million people worldwide will eventually die from cancers due to atmospheric nuclear tests conducted between 1945 and 1980.

The use of less than one percent of the nuclear weapons in the world could disrupt the global climate and threaten as many as two billion people with starvation in a nuclear famine in the long-term. The detonation of thousands of nuclear weapons could result in a nuclear winter, which would destroy our fragile ecosystem.

Physicians and first responders would be unable to work in devastated, radioactively contaminated areas. Even a single nuclear detonation in a modern city would strain existing disaster relief resources to the breaking point; a nuclear war would overwhelm any relief system we could build in advance. Displaced populations from a nuclear war will produce a refugee crisis that is orders of magnitude larger than any we have ever experienced.

Environmental and socio-economic impact of nuclear weapons
The existence of nuclear weapons has a strong impact on the environment. Nuclear war would mean a climate disruption with devastating consequences. The world would fall under a nuclear winter, be subject to a deadly global famine and exacerbated effects of global warming.

The socio-economic impacts would also be terrible, with developing countries and marginalized groups the ones that will suffer the most. Nuclear weapons are also a vacuum for financial support: in their development, maintenance and dismantlement. This is money that could be better spent funding assets such as green technologies and health facilities. ~

ANNEX 2 - Is a Nuclear War ... Almost Guaranteed?

A Critical Outlook

World / Washington Morning

by Josh Weiner
Acknowledgement with gratitude: Josh Weiner, World, Washington Morning, Internet

While global tensions have undoubtedly escalated in 2025, claiming that a nuclear war is “almost guaranteed” would be an overstatement—though not without reason for concern. Current events in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia have fueled anxieties, with major powers increasingly posturing and modernizing their nuclear arsenals. However, despite the volatility, full-scale nuclear war remains an outcome the international community is working hard to prevent.

Why Fears Are Rising in 2025. Middle East Flashpoints.

The ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, paired with involvement from the U.S. and Russia, has intensified concerns of a miscalculated strike spiraling out of control.

Iran’s suspected nuclear ambitions and Israel’s unspoken nuclear capabilities create a volatile balance of deterrence.

NATO-Russia Tensions. The war in Ukraine continues to strain relations between NATO and Russia.

Russia’s recent nuclear drills and threats have raised alarm over its willingness to lower the threshold for tactical nuclear weapon use.

China and Taiwan. China’s military buildup and aggressive stance toward Taiwan increase fears of U.S.–China military confrontation, which could involve nuclear escalation if unchecked.

Nuclear Modernization Worldwide. Countries like the U.S., China, India, and Russia are upgrading their nuclear weapons systems, which reflects preparation for strategic competition—not necessarily war, but an arms race is undeniably underway.

Reasons Why Full Nuclear War Is Still Unlikely Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD): Nuclear-armed states understand that a first strike would almost certainly provoke a devastating response.

Global Diplomacy: Despite rising tensions, diplomatic backchannels and international organizations are actively working to reduce misunderstandings and de-escalate potential conflicts.

Public and Economic Pressure: The global economy and civil societies in nuclear states have much to lose from war, creating pressure on governments to avoid such catastrophic outcomes.

Final Thought: 2025 may be one of the most dangerous geopolitical years in recent memory, and the risk of nuclear confrontation is at its highest in decades. However, saying that nuclear war is “almost guaranteed” ignores the numerous efforts, both seen and unseen, that still work to keep humanity from crossing that irreversible line. The situation demands vigilance, diplomacy, and a recommitment to peace—not fatalism. ~

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Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday; TATAKalikasan Ateneo de Manila University and Usapang Bayan radio programs.

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