Retreat Thoughts with Nature 1

Retreat Thoughts with Nature

Dr Abe V Rotor

"The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious freedom of spiritual harmony." -  Mary Baker Eddy 

NFA Grains Industry Museum

NFA Museum at NFA Regional Office, Cabanatuan City 

Mechanical dryer for palay, corn and beans  

Prototype two-stroke diesel engine, prime mover for milling.

  

Verses, Verses: Good wine grows mellow with age; a good man grows into a sage.

Verses, Verses

Good wine grows mellow with age; 

a good man grows into a sage.

Dr Abe V Rotor

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

Morning rainbow, Bamban, Tarlac 

2. Friendship that we share to others multiplies our compassion and love where happiness lies.

3. Evil is evil indeed - so with its mirror,
while goodness builds on goodness in store. 

4. That others may learn and soon trust you,
show them you're trustworthy, kind and true.

5. Kindness and gladness, these however small
are never, never put to waste at all.

6. Beauty seen once breaks a heart, Wait for the image to depart.

7. Being right and reasonable;
Black or white, and measurable.

8. She's coy who speaks soft and light;
Smoke first before fire ignites.

9. Every promise you can't keep
Drags you into a deeper pit.

Purple sampaguita {Jasminium sambac}

10. To endure pain of hatred,
A leader’s wisdom is dared.

11. Make believe prosperity;
Sound of vessel when empty.

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

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

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

15. Good wine grows mellow with age; a good man grows into a sage. ~

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Major World Events of Year 2015

The International Year of Light and the International Year of Soils by the United Nations
  
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Highlights: Terrorism took a sudden upsurge launching several attacks killing hundreds, occupying territories as their bastion  and establishing linkages globally, which prompted many countries never before to unite and fight terrorism to preserve world peace and security, in the midst of the Syrian crisis which has displaced millions of people seeking refuge even in countries tightly guarded against their entry. 

Scientific breakthroughs revealed  a new human species, success in the control of AIDS, syphilis, and rubella (German measles), space exploration in revealing possible life in Mars and other planets, and clearer understanding on the nature of space.     

2015 is a year of unity: creation of Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) of 5 countries led by Russia, 41 G7 summit (Bavaria), Expo 2015 (Milan), global climate change pact (Paris), US-Cuba diplomacy restored after 54 years, China and Taiwan presidents in a historic handshake, Saudi Arabia-led coalition of Arab countries to fight terrorism, India and Pakistan ratify mutual border agreement.  

It is also a year for a country to legalize same sex marriage (Ireland); a year of scandal in the world's biggest sport football (FIFA), for a country's (Greece) failure to meet its obligation to IMF - a historic first to the  71-year International Monetary Fund; shooting and bombing incidents of unclear motivation costing the lives of hundreds of innocent people.       

It is also a year of new record in the art: a painting by Pablo Picasso and a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti sold at US$179.3 and US$141.3 million, respectively. 

January

•  The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. 
•  Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes the nineteenth Eurozone country  
• A series of massacres in Baga, Nigeria and surrounding villages by Boko Haram kills more than 2,000 people
  After Houthi forces seize the presidential palace, Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi resigns after months of unrest.

February

•  Leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France reach an agreement on the conflict in eastern Ukraine that includes a ceasefire and withdrawal of heavy weapons. The ceasefire was broken several times, both sides failed to withdraw.
• The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 2199 to combat terrorism.
• The Egyptian military begins conducting airstrikes against a branch of the Islamic militant group ISIL in Libya in retaliation for the group's beheading of over a dozen Egyptian Christians.

March

• The ancient city sites of Nimrud, Hatra and Dur-Sharrukin in Iraq are demolished by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.(Photo: Ancient city of Nimrod)
  
  
• NASA's Dawn probe enters orbit around Ceres, becoming the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet.
• The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant become allies with fellow jihadist group Boko Haram, effectively annexing the group.
• An Airbus A320-211 operated by Germanwings crashes in the French Alps, killing all 150 on board.
• Saudi Arabia-led coalition of Arab countries starts a military intervention in Yemen in order to uphold the Yemeni government in its fight against the Houthis' southern offensive.

 April

• 148 people are killed, the majority students, in a mass shooting at the Garissa University College in Kenya, perpetrated by the militant terrorist organization Al-Shabaab.(Photo)
  
• April 25 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Nepal and causes 8,857 deaths in Nepal, 130 in India, 27 in China and 4 in Bangladesh with a total of 9,018 deaths.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) declares that rubella has been eradicated from the Americas.

May

• May 1–October 31 – Expo 2015 is held in Milan, Italy.
• Version O of Les Femmes d'Alger by Pablo Picasso sells for US$179.3 million at Christie's auction in New York, while the sculpture L'Homme au doigt by Alberto Giacometti sells for US$141.3 million, setting a new world record for a painting and for a sculpture, respectively.
• A second major earthquake in Nepal, measuring 7.3 on the moment magnitude scale, results in 153 deaths in Nepal, 62 in India, 1 in China and 2 in Bangladesh with a total of 218 deaths.
• Ireland votes to legalize same-sex marriage, becoming the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote.

June

• FIFA President Sepp Blatter announces his intention to resign amidst an FBI-led corruption investigation, and calls for an extraordinary congress to elect a new president as soon as possible.(photo)
  
• The governments of India and Bangladesh officially ratify their 1974 agreement to exchange enclaves along their border.
• The 41st G7 summit is held in Schloss Elmau, Bavaria.
• ISIL claim responsibility for three attacks around the world during the Ramadan:

• Kobanî massacre: ISIL fighters detonate three car bombs, enter Kobanî, Syria, and open fire at civilians, killing more than 220.
• Sousse attacks: 22-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui opens fire at a tourist resort at Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia, killing 40 people.
• Kuwait mosque bombing: A suicide bomber attacks the Shia Mosque Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq at Kuwait City, Kuwait, killing 27 people and injuring 227 others.

• Cuba becomes the first country in the world to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.
• A Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Indonesian Air Force crashed into a crowded residential neighborhood in Medan shortly after take-off from Soewondo Air Force Base, killing 143 people including 22 others on the ground, marking the second-deadliest air disaster to ever occur in Medan and the deadliest crash in Indonesian Air Force peacetime history.

July

• Greek government-debt crisis: Greece becomes the first advanced economy to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund in the 71-year history of the IMF.
  
• NASA's New Horizons spacecraft performs a close flyby of Pluto, becoming the first spacecraft in history to visit the distant world. (photo)
• Iran agrees to long-term limits of its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief
• Cuba and the United States reestablish full diplomatic relations, ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations.
• Turkey begins a series of airstrikes against PKK and ISIL targets after the 2015 Suruç bombing.

August 

• Debris found on Réunion Island is confirmed to be that of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, missing since March 2014.
• A bombing takes place inside the Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok, Thailand, killing 20 people and injuring 125

September

• Scientists announce the discovery of Homo naledi, a previously unknown species of early human in South Africa.
• Automaker Volkswagen is alleged to have been involved in worldwide rigging of diesel emissions tests, affecting an estimated 11 million vehicles globally.
• A stampede during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 2,200 people and injures more than 900 others, with more than 650 missing.
• NASA announces that liquid water has been found on Mars.

Scientists have for the first time confirmed liquid water flowing on the surface of present-day Mars, a finding that will add to speculation that life, if it ever arose there, could persist now.

• Russia begins air strikes against ISIL and anti-government forces in Syria in support of the Syrian government.

October

• A suicide bomb kills at least 100 people at a peace rally in Ankara, Turkey, and injures more than 400 others.
• Hurricane Patricia becomes the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, with winds of 200 mph and a pressure of 879 mbar.
• A magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes the Hindu Kush region and causes 398 deaths, with 279 in Pakistan, 115 in Afghanistan and 4 in India.
• Flight KGL9268, an Airbus A321 airliner en route to Saint Petersburg from Sharm el-Sheikh, crashes near Al-Hasana in Sinai, killing all 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board.

November

• Chinese and Taiwanese presidents, Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou, formally meet for the first time. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, left, shake hands at the start of a historic meeting

• Several suicide bombings occur in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 43 and injuring 239. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claim responsibility.
• Multiple attacks claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Paris, France, resulting in 130 fatalities.
• Syrian Civil War: Turkey shoots down a Russian fighter jet in the first case of a NATO member destroying a Russian aircraft since the 1950s.
• The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) is held in Paris, attended by leaders from 147 nations.

December

• December 12 - A global climate change pact is agreed at the COP 21 summit, committing all countries to reduce carbon emissions for the first time.
• December 22 – SpaceX lands a Falcon 9 rocket, the first reusable rocket to successfully enter orbital space and return

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About the Year of Light (UNESCO)

The International year aims at raising global awareness on how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to problems in energy, education, agriculture and health. First of all, light plays a vital role in our daily lives.  It has revolutionized medicine, opened up international communication via the Internet. Noteworthy anniversaries in 2015 included the first studies of optics 1,000 years ago to discoveries in optical communications that power the Internet today. The International Year brought  together many different stakeholders including scientific societies and unions, educational institutions, technology platforms, non-profit organizations and private sector partners.

International Year of Soils (Food and Agriculture Orgabization) 

The IYS 2015 aims to increase awareness and understanding about the importance of soil for food security and essential ecosystem functions; educate people on the crucial role soil plays in food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation, essential ecosystem services, poverty alleviation and sustainable development; support policies and actions for sustainable management and protection of soil resources; promote investment in sustainable soil management activities to develop and maintain healthy soils for different land users and population groups. 

10 Famous Teachers Who Changed the World

In celebration of World Teachers' Day, October 5

 10 Famous Teachers Who Changed the World
Published by ADMIN INTERNET

Education is just impossible without a proper and appropriate teacher and the present world that we are looking around would not be possible without an appropriate and right teacher. However, the great teachers of time had their own methods to teaching and learning and put through the foundation of present contemporary world. Below are mentioned some of the greatest teacher of our times who shaped the civilization to a greater extent.

1. Confucius: He was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher whose teachings have influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese life to a greater extent. In his philosophies, he advocated personal and governmental morality. His teachings developed into a system of philosophy known to be as Confucianism.

2. Aristotle: He was a Greek philosopher, student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He has written over a good number of subjects like physics, metaphysics, poetry, theatre, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, biology and zoology. (photo)

3. Johann Amos Coménius: He was a Moravian teacher, scientist, educator and writer. He was a Unity of the Brethren/ Moravian Protestant bishop, a religious refugee, the earliest champions of universal education and a concept set forth in his book Didactica Magna

4. John Locke: He was an emphatic follower of the belief that knowledge is needed to be taught. He insisted on teaching of character first and academics later. He was of the belief that good character far exceeds the value of learning to read, write, and complete calculations and other uses.

5. Friedrich Froebel: He was a German pedagogue, a student of Pestalozzi who put forth foundation for modern education on the basis of research that students have their own specific need and capabilities for learning. He created the concept of kindergarten and coined the word as well for use in English language

 6. Henry David Thoreau: He was an American poet, author, surveyor, historian, philosopher and leading transcendentalist. He is better known for his book Walden, about simple living in natural surroundings. His articles, essays, journals and poetry total over 20 volumes. (photo, right)

7. Booker T. Washington: He was a noted and renowned American political leader, educator, orator and author. He was a prominent personality in the American- African community from 1890 to 1915 in the United States. He was from the last generation of those black leaders who were born in slavery and fought for the civil rights of their brethren.

8. Noah Webster: He was an American lexicographer, textbook author, spelling reformer, word enthusiast and editor. He is known to be the Father of the American Scholarship and Education. His “Blue-Backed Speller” books have used for five generations in US to teach children English.

9. Albert Einstein: He was a theoretical physicist and his contribution to the physics is known from the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury and others. He is best known for his theories of special relativity and general relativity. In 1921, he received Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to Theoretical Physics and his discovery of law of photoelectric effect.(photo, left)

10. Ayn Rand: She was a renowned Russian- American Novelist, philosopher, playwright and screensaver and is known for her two best selling novels and starting a philosophical system that is known as Objectivism. She came into the fame with her novel The Fountainhead in 1943 and again she became immortalized with her philosophical novel Atlas Shrugged in 1957. 
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Quotations:
“The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching. Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.” Aristotle

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ― William Arthur Ward

“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”
― Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

“When you want to teach children to think, you begin by treating them seriously when they are little, giving them responsibilities, talking to them candidly, providing privacy and solitude for them, and making them readers and thinkers of significant thoughts from the beginning. That’s if you want to teach them to think.”
― Bertrand Russell
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The Way of the World

      The Way of the World

Posted by Dr Abe V Rotor

Retired Professor in Humanities

SPU-QC

Lesson: Poetry reading in class

Laugh, and the world laughs with you,
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.

Sing and the hills will answer,
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes rebound to a joyful sound
And shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you,
Grieve, and they turn to go;
They want full measure of your pleasure,
But they do not want your woe.

Be glad, and your friends are many,
Be sad, and you lose them all;
There is none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded,
Fast, and the world goes by.
Forget and forgive – it helps you to live,
But no man can help you to die;

There’s room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one, we must all march on
Through the narrow isle of pain.

Reference: The New Science of Happiness, Claudia Wallis, Time February 28, 2005

How firm and stable is your marriage? Here is a test.

How firm and stable is your marriage?

Here is a test.

Dr Abe V Rotor

This is a test for married people. Check the items that apply to you, or you agree with. You can take the test as a couple.

1. A natural clock governs every person in his system. This is often referred to as biological rhythm. Although there is a general plan on how this internal clocks works, no two persons are tuned in to the same pattern - not even husband and wife. Try to live by your own biorhythms and learn to adjust with those of our partner.

2. Recognize your moods and energies that change with the time of the day and night, with months and seasons.

3. Lovemaking is mutually fulfilling when both partners have synchronized biorhythms. Generally human body is dynamic that it can reset itself daily and adapt to the changes in the environment.

4. Sex can become monotonous especially with modern life. Many people find little time to express tender love with sex. They employ a number of ways to vary their sexual expression as not merely satisfying a desire, feeling relieved and exhausted afterward - or just for the sake of giving in to their partner. Many more miss the spiritual element of lovemaking, whereby the act is a means to sustain a passionate emotion from which follow exhilaration, and a great feeling of satisfaction.

5. Food, Rest, Exercise and Sunlight = Health (FRESH). This formula is easy to remember. Watch out for the food that you take. Eat health foods, and avoid those in the list of Don’t Eat which your family doctor gave you.

6. There is no substitute to adequate sleep. Maintain a healthy sleeping habit. Take a rest between heavy schedules, and avoid buildup of tension. Relax. Exercise regularly within your natural capacity. Do not over exercise. .

7. Sunlight perks you up, breaks monotony, and takes out the blues in your life. It makes us closer to nature, and takes us to outdoor adventure. All these make a happy love life with your partner.

8. Sexual expression is not restricted to estrus periods or seasons of the year. Humans have the ability to match their sexual desires with their moods and feelings. Hormones influence, but not dictate, sex life.

9. Meaningful spiritual love and emotional feelings multiply the ecstasy of physical pleasure.

10. A woman’s menstrual cycle dictates her sexual moods. They feel sexiest at the midpoint of their menstrual cycle.

11. There are people who are sexier in the morning than at night. There are also those who feel sexier in summer than during cool months, or vice versa.

12. There are times when men become sexier and this is indicated by rapid growth of their mustache and beard.

13. Studies show that the most active time for sexual activity is in the evening, but lovemaking at this time is poor since the androgens (love hormones) are low. (They are highest between 8 to 12 a.m., and lowest at 6p.m.) Evening is convenient to most working people. If this is not enough, make up for it during weekends.

14. Reduce meal size as the day progresses and avoid high calorie snacks in the evening. But do not skip breakfast or lunch. Carbohydrates help calm and focus the mind. Protein food boosts mental energy, but avoid fatty foods when you want to be mentally alert.

15. When planning out an active evening, like going to a concert, holding a party, or having a date, reduce your dinner, with protein food preferred over fatty and carbohydrates food. Coffee makes you awake, and drinking may delay your regular bedtime or makes you fall asleep. If you want to wake up refreshed and alert do not take alcohol in the evening before.

16. An enduring and fulfilling love life is one that shared together by husband and wife. Here are the basic elements essential to a lifelong relationship: trust and confidence, empathy (feeling with the other person), and marriage. (Sex outside marriage cannot remain meaningful and does not usually last.)

17. Stay in touch with your creative side. Use your right brain – the seat of creativity – more often. Let your left brain – the seat of reason – rest for a while. Paint, draw, write verses, sing.

18. Share your jokes with loved ones and friends. Laughing together is a great bonding experience. Start your lecture or talk with a joke. Diffuse the electric atmosphere. Break the ice, so to speak with humor.

19. Laugh together. Light up the years. Reinvigorate. You can be young again. It is in the heart. Make up for the lost time you should have been together as a couple. Have a date, perhaps a second honeymoon, now that the children are on their own.

20. Love grows with time, with every child born, in celebrating memorable occasions, through kindness on relatives and friends on both sides, in job promotion, building a home, traveling together, graduation of the children, having grandchildren – plus 1001 little goodness that brings in sunshine every day in your relationship.

NOTE: These are guidelines to a happy and enduring married life. They serve as checklist, too. Any negative answer or doubtful response needs analysis. Talk it out with your partner. Find out what is bothering you. You may need advice. Maybe you need to research and know more about love and marriage.

Reference: Philippine Herbs to Increase Sexual Vitality, Ontengco D, Del Rosario R and A Rotor

Lesson on former 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.           

Sr Mamerta R. Rocero SPC - A Religious for All Seasons (San Vicente IS to the World Series)

 Sister Mamerta wrote eight books: two in poetry, two essays (Talking with God and His Friends, and God Bless the Family), a compilation of her speeches, a biography of her late sister, Sister Mary Nathaniel Rocero, SPC, also a Ph.D. holder, (My Sister Mary Nath), and several scientific papers. Ethnobotany of the Itawes, her doctoral dissertation earned the honor of meritissimus from the University of Santo Tomas. It was published by the National Museum in 1985.

Dr. Abe V. Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Sister Mamerta and relatives; with the author, at the Vigil House, QC.  

“The undulating valley below,
The river serpentine, a moving silver sheen,
Take my breath away in the ecstasy of their beauty,
Because You are in them, Lord.”

- Sister Mamerta Rocero,SPC

Because You are in Them, Lord

Close your eyes and you can see the imagery – that inner mind, in the quaintness of Amorsolo, stillness of Corot, freshness of Renoir, faithfulness of Rembrandt and passion of Van Gogh.

Yet it is the last line that gives meaning to all these attributes – Because You are in them, Lord. It is submission, reverence; it is prayer.

Sister Mamerta, being a religious, takes us to fathom deeper the meaning of a poem. Shakespeare is perhaps the ultimate in classical style and richness of words – she can’t compare with that. The Brownings may be the most romantic in the world of poetry – she may fall short of that, too. Edgar Allan Poe’s abandon (Annabelle), Lord Byron’s melody, Whitman’s vernacular – her poems may only have a shade of these. But she exudes here and there Alexander Pope’s morals (A little learning is a dangerous thing), Robert Frost’s simplicity (And miles to go before I sleep…), Longfellow’s values (The Arrow and the Song), and Shelley’s musical lines (To a Skylark).

She can take you to meditation like in Thomas Gray’s masterpiece, Elegy on a Country Churchyard. Her poetry, like John Keat’s, possesses an urgent cause and awareness that beauty exists in a world “where pain is never done.” Yet unlike this medieval English poet, Sister Mamerta finds hope, radiating hope to any suffering.

"I meet the poor, the suffering,
the abandoned, the unwanted –
And my heart, deeply touched,
Goes out to them –
Because You are in them, Lord."

She may not all agree of grace falling down like manna from heaven. The moral is her poetry is for man to find God, for He is everywhere. But who is this God in her poetry? It is a universal God of goodness, goodness in the true sense of Christian philosophy, Christianity in action. It is the essence of the Messiah, of Matthew 25 (What you have done to the least your brethren, you have done it to me.)

You may find Him hidden in some abandoned hospital ward…
He may be the shrunken little woman, sitting all alone…
Nay, He may be the frustrated man with ambitions thwarted,
Or the humbled rich so suddenly bereft of his great wealth.
And so, you will find the Lord, not amidst glitter and wealth.

- Sis. Mamerta Rocero, Recognize Him

Browsing over her poems, one is lead to think that ours is a fatalistic world. Artists generally are like that. The more they perceive their subject to the core, the more intense their expression becomes. Suffering is dominant ingredient of art, and one can unmistakably perceive its expression, say in Eugene de la Croix’s colors of black and red in Victory Leads the People, or in Pablo Picasso’s plaza mural, Guernica that inflamed a revolution in the Basque territory of Spain, his mother country. One is familiar of course with Vincent van Gogh’s painting of Starry Night, which was transcribed into a song – Vincent - more than a century after his death.

Gleaming on the lighter side, our poetess exudes the touch of naturalism, the healing secret of a doctor who attends kindly to her patient, whose assurance for recovery comes first before the book and technology. She draws imagery from the inner self where tranquility resides – and springs in times of haste and trouble.

“The mountains before me –
majestic, verdant-hued,
their cascading, glistening falls,
envelope me with awe
and sheer wonder…”
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When somebody dies, a little in each of us also dies – because humanity is interrelated, it is one.
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 Sister Mamerta is a living witness of man’s inhumanity to man during the Second World War. But you can only glimpse like through a keyhole the sufferings of war in her writings. It takes a contrite yet courageous heart to take the road to forgiveness and bury the past. Yet she warns that history has the capability of repeating itself, and shares with Wilfred Owen’s The Pity of War or Ernest Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms, the tragedies of Shakespearean dramas, notwithstanding.

How about the pessimism of Matthew Arnolds who foresaw the dark side of industrialization that molded our modern world? Arnolds laments -

"To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."

- Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach

How frail is human! But how does Sister Mamerta look at this prophesy-come-true? This is what divides the grains - whole and broken. More people see the broken grains of life. No, not our Paulinian laureate. “I would rather look at John Donne,” she said. Donne wrote, encompassing the heritage he left to the world. When somebody dies, a little in each of us also dies – because humanity is interrelated, it is one.

And from here Sister Mamerta, riding on Donne’s philosophy almost always makes reference to afterlife. She is at the forefront of values formation and reformation, while writers most often talk about here and now, of this earthly life, its realities and fantasies. True to her mission as a Paulinian, she believes that one must prepare his soul’s journey to everlasting life. But earn he must, for neither by a Tower of Babel nor material affluence can one be able to reach that beautiful destiny. The mortal part of our being, is but the springboard to this great, remarkable travel, which all peoples - irrespective of culture and religion – firmly believe in. This is universal faith that binds the human species. The core of our being as Homo sapiens is therefore, our spirituality.

"You’ve need to ask His grace and His spirit of enlightenment,
If you have to pierce through the clouds hiding Him from view -
But the reward is great – He is there waiting to embrace you!"

Indeed, an unsung saint has spoken in the beauty of poetry and in the peace of a cloistered life, candle light streaming through the convent’s window. Out there the wind blows and blows on some mountain tops and down into the valley. And dawn is a child. ~

Author’s Note: This article is dedicated to the memory of Sister Mamerta Rocero, SPC, who died on January 7, 2009 at the age of 93. This is a critique of her poems and verses which I obliged upon her request five years before her death.~

Note: Sister Mamerta wrote eight books: two in poetry, two essays (Talking with God and His Friends, and God Bless the Family), a compilation of her speeches, a biography of her late sister, Sister Mary Nathaniel Rocero, SPC, also a Ph.D. holder, (My Sister Mary Nath), and several scientific papers. Ethnobotany of the Itawes, her doctoral dissertation earned the honor of meritissimus from the University of Santo Tomas. It was published by the National Museum in 1985. I have known Sister Mamerta since I was a child in our hometown, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. She and my father were cousins on the maternal side, Roberonta. ~

A Place Time Forgot

A Place Time Forgot
Dr Abe V. Rotor

They just stand silent – these trees, river and hill

The water beams the color of the sky, of autumn or spring,

The breeze clings on mist, dewdrops on a train,

Dying beyond the thought of dying, whispering, hushing.

The seed can wait, unless fishing rods quiver and bend,

And the boys though young forever aim at another prize,

While the girls like flowers in the desert sweetly ask

For rain, and lightning flashing, mushrooms will soon rise.

But do not make haste unless the clock melts at the edge,

Hair turns gray, the air sultry, neon light complain,

Unless the swivel chair creaks in pain, forgetfulness, and chill,

They just stand silent – these trees, river and hill. ~

Requiem to a Tree of Abundance and Peace

Requiem to a Tree of Abundance and Peace  

 Buddha gained enlightenment under the fig tree.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Author's daughter, Anna, laments over this felled 

Heritage Tree at Barangay Greater Lagro, QC c.2010

Whoever felled this old balete tree*,

drove the deities away;

    and the spirit of the tree shall not rest,

no prayer can ever repay;

this symbol of abundance and peace

gone in our inhuman way.

*Ficus Benjamina is often called Weeping Fig.  Ficus is symbol of peace and abundance in Asia and the Middle East. The seeds in the fruit represent unity and universal understanding and knowledge. Large wild figs are holy in East Asia: the Buddha gained enlightenment under such tree.

Retreat with Nature

Retreat with Nature

Painting and Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor 

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." –Rachel Carson

• Nature always wears the colors of the spirit." –Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” –Vincent van Gogh
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San Vicente My Hometown, and other Poems

San Vicente My Hometown, and other Poems 

"Happy  they are who keep alive the inner vision, the music that lights the world."

 Dr Abe V Rotor

St Vincent Ferrer is the patron saint of my town. He is also regarded patron saint of builders because of his fame for "building up" and strengthening the Church through his preaching, missionary work, in his teachings, as confessor and adviser. His feast day is April 5, celebrated on the last Tuesday of April which is the town fiesta. He belonged to the Dominican Order (like UST), highly educated and held a  doctoral degree. More about St Vincent below.  

In my childhood I saw detours of footpaths

dividing the East and the West, two warring niches

where the zone of peace was the holy ground,

and beyond was wilderness – and the unknown

beyond the confines of Subec and the Cordillera,

the memory of Diego Silang, or the Basi Revolt

on old, meandering Bantaoay River.

In my youth I saw the sun sitting

on acacia stumps and on the tires landscape

but rising in dreams and visions on the horizon,

and in the wisdom of my forebears,

the old guards of your fort.

Time has stood still since then.

I come to pay homage in your temple,

and into the arms of my people, my roots;

I see the footpaths of yesteryears,

now grown and multiplied, and always fresh,

leading from the East and West,

and the many corners of the earth,

converging at your portals in pilgrimage.

Memories of My Childhood

Rain and stream end up in Sabangan

Where play the carefree and the young,

Where fish and carabao are but one,

And dreams are far, far beyond.

Childhood is when nobody misses

The morning before the sun rises,

Before the herons stake the fishes,

While the birds sing in the trees.

Frogs don’t croak at the kingfisher;

Rain is read from a friendly dragonfly;

Nests are secrets only to the finder –

These lessons are joy to live by.

War is solved in kites and fishing poles,

In hide and seek and barefoot races;

Faith is in the seasons the sky extols.

And all virtues friendship embraces.

Peals of thunder break the afternoon

Driving the fowls early to their tree;

The boys catch the raindrops. And soon,

Across the field, dash for home aglee.

Summer is short, rainy days are long,

But it is only a passing imagery,

For the young can’t wait, and all along

The years are gone, but a blissful memory.

Long had Freud and Jung foretold

The man is the child of many years ago;

What the seed was and how it grew –

Lo, behold, it is true.

A Place Time Forgot

They just stand silent – these trees, river and hill

The water beams the color of the sky, of autumn or spring,

The breeze clings on mist, dewdrops on a train,

Dying beyond the thought of dying, whispering, hushing.

The seed can wait, unless fishing rods quiver and bend,

And the boys though young forever aim at another prize,

While the girls like flowers in the desert sweetly ask

For rain, and lightning flashing, mushrooms will soon rise.

But do not make haste unless the clock melts at the edge,

Hair turns gray, the air sultry, neon light complain,

Unless the swivel chair creaks in pain, forgetfulness, and chill,

They just stand silent – these trees, river and hill.

Kakawate

You get thorough shaving

twice or many times;

the poorer your master,

the more you get,

You bear the sun and rain

until you regenerate

to the joy of your symbionts,

the gecko and mantis

who, too, protect

your master’s crop.

You twist in ceaseless pain,

resulting in your weird look,

Ah, but your ugliness

is the orchardist's delight

and your master’s luck

that may bring about

your final sunset.

Caleza

They scrambled aboard the carriage one Lent,

Breathless, sardine packed, doldrums silent.

The cochero gave a crispy note,

Nodded his lifelong, partner, mute.

The hame tightened, wood strained,

The wheels struggled and complained.

Rattan striking the spokes was horn:

Like dull sound of a xylophone,

Joining riotous shouts and laughter –

Orchestral potpourri altogether.

The past leaves remnants to the future,

New to the young, but dying bit by bit,

Flickering the last rays of old adventure,

Like the old caleza bidding exit.

                              Church Ruins

Your eyes are empty,

and you sit like the owl.

You are the shell

of a colonial past

to oblivion cast,

save your bell

pealing the essence

of the Rock

that cleanses

the soul.

                              Upland

You are a minuscule

of the Fertile Crescent,

a far cry from Euclid’s measure.

You run along the margin

of the northwestern coast,

were there are no rivers that cross,

and lie at the heels of the Cordillera,

where there are no valleys in which to hide;

but you are a good provider

to a kind and gentle people

tanned with sweat and soil

and tempered with austere living

that speaks of their heart and art:

the geometry of functional beauty.

                                    Bullcart

(Ann and Matt in front of their ancestral home)

They wait for the buffalo

That pulls he cart

As I search the fields,

Cross the rivers,

Gaze over the hill,

Onto the prairies of old, repeating the call

that reverberates \over the plains

where a great civilization relished.

What will I tell my children

now that the buffaloes are gone?

In time they will understand.

Bagworm

on a Duhat Tree at Home

Sheepishly a caterpillar peeps,

from under a pagoda she built;

like the turtle she hides and creeps,

until she finally ceases to eat.

A Venus de Milo she soon emerges,

but without wings she must wait,

as her love scent in the air urges,

a winged moth to be her mate.

She lays her eggs in the tent,

broods on them until they hatch,

and leaves them with heart content;

soon she dies after the dispatch.

The Great Maker has shown

a biology of sacrifice and obligation:

the mother keeps the young and home

for this is the species’ bastion.

Young Musicians

Marlo, Ann and Leo at Home

I imagine young Haydn mimicked

a strolling fiddler with pieces of stick,

a young Beethoven, writing music

from birds and lambs at the creek.

In Messiah, Handel saw God’s image,

while Mozart excelled before the king,

and Chopin, the piano-poet of his age

saw neo-classic music emerging.

Happier are those who play the tune,

than he who stops at the chord,

they who keep alive the inner vision,

the music that lights the world.

Bougainvillea

Wearily I walked the dews of grassy fair,

and hung my foot to flip off the weed,

“Amorseco, you degenerate spear,”

murmured I, as darkness gave up its bid.

The green sprung into life –

birds, buds, chilly air, and all;

and I, whose world always a strife,

found and shred a momentous joy.

A brook in murmuring music called

a flock which came by wing,

as my feet drew close o behold

a spray of petals in early spring.

Flowers lined to greet the world,

one half happy, the other half atear.

“Flowers, your beauty has lured

men to your side to revere.”

Beneath the petals my fingers met

to steal her beauty and hidden pride;

blood stained the thorns, and I, in sweat,

shrank in thoughts ready to chide.

Like a sword drawn to settle guilt,

I rose to strike, but shrinking

and silent, I paused, then knelt

over bougainvillea sweetly smiling.

Legume

Cecille in her Home Garden

You are Nature’s builder,

     a God-sent life-giver;

the sun and air you bind,

     feed life of all kind.

In your care the Rhizobium

     sets chemistry in action,

from the bean or Mimosa,

     to the giant acacia.

Give us our daily meat and oil

     and nourish the soil;

keep Ceres’ bounty,

     Oh, Leguminosae.

                              My Little Prince

                                                   Pao at Home

You came with the Word

To mend a broken world

In the story of a sheep,

As I, too, mended my ship;

But when at last I set to sail,

Resolve never again to fail.

You left me groping for reason

As I stared at cold gray stone.

Now my grief is gone,

Though I’ll never understand

The mystery up afar.

I know you are in your star

In the promise of your laughter

And the joy of this life after.   

                                

Old Bell of San Vicente

I have outgrown the old bell of San Vicente

          my hometown;

Its toll no longer made me sad, for my friends

          have long been dead.

Dancing on its fulcrum its sound brought

          nothing but frown;

And if Angelus is a dirge, what my fate is

          has been said.

‘Til one day I thought I saw an old gate and

          a garden covered with vine

Appeared, and I thought I heard the old bell

          and my cane fell down;

The old bell rang and danced on its fulcrum,

          its call was divine;

I climbed the belfry and through the cloud

          once more saw my old hometown.~

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About San Vicente Ferrer (Internet)

Born	Religious, priest and confessor, called the Angel of the Last Judgment 23 January 1350 Valencia, Kingdom of Valencia
Died	5 April 1419 (aged 69) Vannes, Duchy of Brittany
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Aglipayan Church
Canonized	3 June 1455, Rome by Pope Calixtus III
Major shrine	Cathedral of Vannes Vannes, Morbihan, France Bogo City, Cebu Philippines
Feast	5 April
Attributes	tongue of flame; pulpit; trumpet; prisoners; wings; Bible
Patronage	builders, construction workers, plumbers, fishermen (Brittany) and orphanages (Spain)