Gleaning - Give a new lease of life to your used pencil and stubs

Gleaning - Give a new lease of life to your used pencil and stubs

"... a little ingenuity, a simple expression of beauty, a little act of goodness -   and a little prayer, too."

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

The art of gleaning extends far and wide, and now with pencils (and capless ballpens) thrown away before their time is up - why not give them another chance?

Simply wrap up, roll over each one a colorful, pliant paper from handouts and color magazines (just like the photos show), and there you have made a beautiful piece of art!

Pencil stubs once more fit for writing - oh, how precious they are to you their savior; they have defied the category of waste for the duration of their second life; 

Like scabbards you sheath an unassuming dagger, saving someone from getting stabbed on the skin or in the eye, in a simple act of  "prevention by protection" principle;

Why didn't the manufacturer think of that? To provide safety caps to pencils before they reach the market, to warning of danger school kids, and grownups too? 

There is meaning in small things, we do -  a bit of economy, a little ingenuity, a simple expression of beauty, a little act of goodness -  and a little prayer.~

LESSON on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

"Cities in the Sky" - Boom or Doom?

134 cities with the most high-rise buildings

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

Acknowledgement: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. (October 2013)

Burj Khalifa in Doha, Qatar - soon to be the tallest buildings in the world 

Do you like to live in a high-rise building in a big city?
A self-analysis based on 20 scenarios. 
Dr Abe V Rotor

You would feel you are on top of the world, and in Cloud 9 dreaming, detached from the rest of humanity and the realities of life;

You will be dependent for most of your daily activities on technology, and on hired services and remote control gadgets;

You will not have neighbors in the traditional sense built by natural communities, but by acquaintances and circumstances;

You will be living most likely alone, or with others incidental to your work; your quarters as residence and workplace;

You will learn to tolerate the effects of changing pressure on fast lanes and elevator, but not its ill consequences;

You will learn to defeat fear of living in a high rise building, but unable to erase the worst scenario of an earthquake;

You will be accustomed with locations, directions, floor numbers, hour of the day, yet get disoriented not without embarrassment;   

You will be using credit cards, take advantage of the convenience of e-mails, e-commerce,

e-learning, and the ethic of self-service;

You will not know when the sun rises or sets behind heavy curtain; and aware only of the direction and views your window faces; 

You will learn to live with the danger of possible disaster with worst scenarios depicted in movies, and the 9-11 Twin Tower tragedy;            

You will learn to live without touching the ground much less the garden soil, pick flowers and fruits, sit on the grass, except on occasions; 

You will soon forget what a tobacco plant looks like, if apple mango is a hybrid, how to make kites that fly; if toads also croak;

You will be seeing your doctor now and then for unexplained ailments, and he will tell you the air above the city is stale; it's smog;

You will have to go to the gym to lose weight, avoid fast foods and overeating, and fight off psychological appetite and sedentary living; 

You will find it difficult to tell if your condo, studio, apartment, suite, is truly a home with your family - or just temporary, or for investment; 

You dare not think The Day After Tomorrow is a true story, not even a futuristic one, yet know for certain that cities are the main targets of war; 

You seem to see the world fleeting with The Good Life, frivolous and prosaic, unaware of the passing of seasons, and inevitability of getting old; 

You can hardly trace your roots save immediate relatives because of transience, change of domicile, and acculturation;

You think you have reached the peak of civilization; you can't imagine yourself to be living in Castaway, Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson; 

You will keep your faith in the Almighty but feel less attached to organized religion in the light of spiritual enlightenment and freedom; 

You feel you are on top of the world, and in Cloud 9, longing to be part of humanity again, and face the grim realities of life.~

Tallest buildings by comparison

 Tallest buildings in the world in a composite satellite image. It used to be that only the Great Wall of China is the only man made structure that can be seen from the moon with the naked eye. Now the great cities and tall building complexes are a common sight from the moon glowing in the dark space like a star, and beaming with sunlight on a clear day.  

Neo-Tower of Babel - the Two-Mile-High Ultima Tower.  Actually, it's a concept as old as in paleolithic times when humans became really humans some 2.6 million years ago when whole mountains were carved into cave dwellings and communities.  Put them together in a compact scale, and you have the proto-Ultima tower - even higher and wider, cum subterranean and towering superstructures and networkings.  While all these manifest human genius and creativity, the syndrome of the biblical tragedy - the Fall of the Tower of Babel - will always haunt mankind of its vulnerability -  and eventual doom.            

 Hongkong

 Singapore

 New York

 London

This is a list of cities with the most high-rise buildings. 

A high-rise is defined as a structure at least 35 meters (115 ft) or 12 stories tall. Cities with 100 or more high-rise buildings are listed here.

Rank      City             Country          Buildings       Population

1          Hong Kong  Hong Kong       7,896        7,061,200

2          Singapore   Singapore        6,959        5,312,400

3          New York United States      6,504        8,336,897

4          São Paulo  Brazil                6,467       11,316,149

5          Caracas[3] Venezuela        3,864         5,962,259

6          Moscow  Russia                3,754       10,452,000

7          Seoul South Korea             2,955       10,421,782

8          Rio de Janeiro Brazil          2,947         6,161,047

9          Tokyo Japan                     2,779       13,001,279

10        Toronto  Canada                2,511         2,791,140

11        Istanbul Turkey                  2,439       11,372,613

12        Mumbai  India                    2,299       20,748,395

13        Tehran Iran                        2,203       15,828,365

14        Karachi Pakistan                1,942       22,000,000

15        Buenos Aires Argentina      1,870         2,891,082

16        Belo Horizonte Brazil          1,770         2,594,968

17        Kiev Ukraine                      1,531         2,819,566

18        Dhaka Bangladesh             1,521       15,000,000

19        London  United Kingdom     1,478        8,174,000

20        Osaka Japan                     1,463        2,643,805

21        Mexico City Mexico            1,364        8,836,045

22        Delhi  India                        1,347      21,753,486

23        Lahore Pakistan                 1,285     10,500, 000

24        Madrid Spain                     1,227        7,213,271

25        Chicago United States        1,125        2,707,120

26        Bangkok Thailand              1,106         6,653,987

27        Recife Brazil                      1,103        1,549,980

28        Santiago Chile                   1,094        4,985,893

29        Shanghai China                  1,057        9,145,711

30        Campinas Brazil                   931        1,056,644

31        Beijing China                        899       12,746,519

32        Sydney Australia                  845        4,399,722

33        Curitiba Brazil                      800        1,797,408

34        Minsk Belarus                      808        1,830,700

35        Yekaterinburg Russia           792        1,323,000

36        Isfahan Iran                         739        1,908,968

37        Kuala Lumpur Malaysia        725        1,887,674

38        Manila Philippines                778      11,553,427

39        Paris France                        689       2,234,994

40        Porto Alegre  Brazil              674       1,420,667

41        Jakarta Indonesia                 674      9,898,978

42        Los Angeles United States    659       4,234,340

43        Vancouver Canada               638         578,041

44        Mashhad Iran                       635      3,069,941

45        Sofia   Bulgaria                     631      1,404,458

46        Chittagong Bangladesh         630      6,500,000

47        Kolkata India                        627      9,811,265

48        Rawalpindi/Islamabad Pak    625     2, 680, 905

49        Karaj   Iran                          622     1,967,005     
51        Dubai U Arab Emirates         568     2,262,000

52        Macau China                       564     546,200

53        Tabriz Iran                          563     2,276,880

55        Melbourne  Australia            555     4,200,000

56        Chongqing China                  539     6,300,000

57        Kharkiv Ukraine                   522     1,461,000

58        Faisalabad Pakistan            521     2,540,069                                   

60        Guangzhou China                503     7,607,200

61        Wuhan China                      479     4,550,000

62        Montreal Canada                475     1,620,693

63        Barcelona Spain                 463     1,615,908

62        Bangalore India                  462     4,292,223

65        Honolulu United States        439     953,207

66        San Francisco US               417     799,185

67        Ankara Turkey                    416     4,751,360

68        Hyderabad Pakistan           410     3,429,471

69        Lima Perú                          400     8,700,000

69        Multan Pakistan                 396     5,216,268

70        Benidorm Spain                 390     67,627

71        Houston United State         360     2,208,180

72        Shenzhen China                 357     1,245,000

73        Ottawa Canada                351     883,391

74        Rotterdam Netherlands      349     616,248

75        Novosibirsk Russia            348     1,425,508

76        Bogotá Colombia              346     6,776,009

77        Philadelphia US                330     1,449,634

78        Washington  US                330     588,292

79        Berlin Germany                326     3,429,300

80        Bilbao Spain                     302     354,145

81        Santo Domingo Dom Rep  300     2,552,398

82        Málaga Spain                    298       576,725

83        Miami United States          295      424,662

84        Valencia Spain                  292       810,064

85        Tianjin China                     289    11,760,000

86        Brisbane Australia            286     2,115,440

87        Frankfurt Germany           285     670,095

88        Gold Coast City Australia  281     469,214

89        Calgary Canada               260     988,193

90        San Juan Puerto Rico       252     434,374

91        Dallas United States         246     1,266,372

92        Edmonton Canada            244     812,201

93        Boston United States        237     608,352

94        Arlington United States     232     204,568

95        Atlanta United States        231     420,003

96        Valencia Venezuela          229     2,222,549

98        Seattle United States        222     594,210

99        Brussels Belgium              208     1,134,638

100     Auckland New Zealand       205     1,377,200

101     Denver United States          204     588,349

102     Peshawar Pakistan            196     3,307,798

103     Milan  Italy                        196     4,216,268

104     Glasgow United Kingdom   192     662 954

105     Minneapolis  United States 192     377,392

106     Detroit United States          170     916,952

107     Birmingham UK                  166     965 928

108     Burnaby Canada                164     223,218

109     Baltimore United States      159     640,150

110     Pittsburgh United States     151     311,218

111     Miami Beach United States 150     87,925

112     St. Louis United States       150     355,663

113     San Diego United States     149     1,266,731

114     Perth  Australia                  145     1,602,559

115     Manchester UK                  138     2,030,519

116     Fort Lauderdale US            136     183,606

117     Gujranwala Pakistan           136     1,124,799

118     Adelaide Australia               136     1,172,105

119     Las Vegas United States     135     558,880

120     Winnipeg Canada                132     619,544

121     Portland  United States        129     550,396

122     Cincinnati United States       120     752,490

124     Austin United States            119     743,074

125     Leeds United Kingdom         118     715,000

126     London Canada                   116     470,000

127     Wellington New Zealand       116     393,400

128     Milwaukee United States      114     604,477

129     Nashville United States         114     590,807

130     Kansas City United States    112     475,830

131     Cleveland United States        111     438,042

132     New Orleans United States   107     288,113

133     North Sydney Australia         107     61,802

134     Newark United States           100     278,980

NOTE:    Reference has no data for Nos. 50, 54, 123

LESSON on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio; 738 DZRB 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Value-added Principle through Recycling

Value-added Principle through Recycling 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Kinds of Recycling

• Biological – Trichoderma, a fungus, to hasten composting
• Enzymatic – Wild sunflower in composting, urea in hay
• Mechanical – Shedding, decortication, grinding
• Fermentation – Silage, retting, biogas digester
• Burning – Rice hull ash, wood
• Combination of two or more of these methods. Ex. Mushroom production, 

   mulching and composting using rice hay

Recycling in Nature
1. Lightning is Nature’s quickest and most efficient converter and recycler, instant manufacturer of nitrates, phosphates, sulfates; it burns anything on its path, recharges ions. Lightning sustains the needs of the biosphere, it is key to biodiversity.

2. Fire is the Nature’s second tool. While fire is indeed destructive, in the long run, fields, grasslands and forests are given new life by it. Fire is a test of survival of the fittest. It is the key to renewal and continuity of life.

3. Volcanoes erupt to recycle the elements from the bowels of the earth to replenish the spent landscape, so with submarine volcanoes that keep the balance of marine ecosystems.

4. The Laws of Nature always prevail with the seasons, weather and climate. They govern the life cycle and alternation of generations of organisms; the food chain, food web, and food pyramid. The same applies to long term phenomena such as Continental Drift and Ice age.

Fruits in season are made into wine and vinegar (rambutan, dragon fruit). 

5. Naturally occurring cycles govern the physical and chemical properties pf the earth’s chemical elements and compounds, principally Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen (CHON), which are essential to life.

6. Nature recycling of organic materials in through the action of microorganisms: bacteria, algae, protists (amoeba, diatoms), fungi, blue green algae. Fibrous materials are broken down by fungi. Other than roughage and fuel, rice hay is used as substrate for mushroom growing. The spent materials decompose easily into organic fertilizer.

 

Algal bloom, natural fertilizer; Azolla, an aquatic fern 

in symbiosis with Anabaena, blue-green alga

Top, clockwise: bacteria attacking  a cell, blue-green alga, amoeba, paramecium.   

7. Recycling in nature through the action of microorganisms: (PHOTOS) bacteria attacking a cell; algal bloom; protists (amoeba, paramecium, blue green algae). Recycling of fibrous materials with fungi. Other than roughage and fuel, rice hay is used as substrate for mushroom growing. The spent materials decomposes easily into organic fertilizer.

8. Recycling by animals also helps in controlling the destructive ones such as the mosquito, which is food of fish, spider and bat.

9. Nature’s nutrient converters. Simple life forms such as lichens, algae, mosses and ferns silently work on inert materials, convert them into nutrients for higher organisms.

Harvesting Sesame. The stalk is used as fuel, and material in composting. 

10. Nature’s recycling with waterways Mekong river in Vietnam, Pasig River in the Philippines, Great Britain, Danube and Rhine in Europe, the Nile, Mississippi, Amazon, Yangtze, Tigris-Euphrates. Rivers, lakes, swamps, basins – they provide many basic needs of man. They are arteries of life, the ecological bridge between the living and the non-living world. It is said that no civilization exists without a river.

Mekong River in Vietnam 

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

A night of Nature's music in a garden*

A night of Nature's music in a garden* 

The garden meets sunrise with fluttering butterflies, so does a garden surrender into the night with an array of concerto and orchestra music, and becomes a place for meditation.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Long horned grasshopper or katydid (Phaneroptera furcifera)

I am introducing two principal singers, the long-horned grasshopper or katydid (Phaneroptera furcifera), and the cricket (Acheta bimaculata), both belonging to a large group, Order Orthoptera, to which grasshoppers are typical members.

Since childhood I have always been fascinated by insect music. Stealthily, I searched for the singer. I found out that these insects are ventriloquists and a slight turn of their wings or bodies would deceive the hunter. And when I succeed and get nearer and nearer to the source of the music, the singer would abruptly stop.

Then I finally succeeded in pinning down with a flashlight the little Caruso in the middle of his performance. He is well hidden behind a leaf, brown to black, compact and sturdy, nearly two inches long, with a long tail and a pair of antennae. His front wings are raised 45 degrees above his abdomen on which the hind wings are folded. This is the cricket’s fiddling position. Now he rubs the two leathery wings against each other in a back and forth motions, a process called stridulation, which inspired man to invent the violin. On closer examination the base of the front wing in lined with a sharp edge to form the scrapper, while the ventral side has a file like ridge, the file, which represents the bow of the violin.

And what about the stereoscopic sound effect? A pair of tympana, which are drum-like organs, found at the base of the front tibia, are actually ears which, together with the raised wings, serve as resonator, sending the sound to as far as a mile away on a still night.

Now let us analyze the music produced - or is it only a sound that is mistaken for some music qualities? The cricket's sound produced by a single stroke called pulse. Each pulse is composed of a number of individual tooth strokes of the scraper and file. Pulse rate is from four to five per second, but on warm summer night the rate becomes faster. Thus, crickets are not only watchdogs (they stop when they sense an intruder), they are also indicators of temperature – and perhaps the coming of bad weather. It is for these reasons, other than their music, that the Chinese and the Japanese love them as pets.

The pulses of cricket are relatively musical; that is, they can usually be assigned a definite pitch, varying from 1,500 to 10,000 hertz, depending on the species. Those of the long-horned grasshopper or katydid are more noise-like; that is, they contain a wide band of frequencies, including clicking and lapsing, and cannot be assigned to a definite pitch. The monotony of its sound must have led to the coining of the insect’s name, katydid-katydid-katydid…

There are three musical pieces the cricket plays. Calling songs are clear crisp, and loud, which, of course, suit the intention. When a female comes around and nudges the singing male, his music becomes soft and romantic, lasting for many minutes to hours, and he forgets his role of warning the presence of an intruder or telling of the coming storm. Anyone who is love-struck is like that, I suppose..

But worse can come all of a sudden. This sentinel falls silent as he takes the bride. And when another suitor is around, this Valentino takes a fighting stance and sings the Bastille, a battle song.

I came across studies on insect music. I began to take interest, imitating it with the violin. It is impossible and the audiospectrogram tells why. You cannot deceive them and break their code of communication. Nature is specific: only the members of the same species understand one another. And no two species can communicate vis-à-vis this auditory means. This is one area in development biology, which has not been fully explored. How did this mechanism of species communication evolve? With computers today, can it be explored as an alternative and safe means of controlling destructive species?

The garden meets sunrise with fluttering butterflies, so does a garden surrender into the night with an array of concerto and orchestra music, and becomes a place for meditation. I say that the music produced by this insect is a sound of peace and praise for life. When the students have gone home and the offices already closed, I usually spend hours waiting for my color-coding time at the SPCQ garden. The chores of the day vanished easily, and I found the evening so relaxing that I did not complain of the traffic on my way home.

The great Charles Darwin himself expressed his deep feelings for these night’s musicians in his book, Cricket at the Hearth. He said, “I love it for the many times I have heard it, and the many thoughts its harmless music has given me.”

 Field cricket (Acheta bimaculata)

Carolus Linneaus, the father of taxonomy, was more affected by these insects. He kept them to send him to sleep. Japanese children delight in collecting crickets, as American children do with fireflies. Caged crickets are sold in shops. In a mall I found a battery-operated cricket in a cage. We are indeed in Computer Age! Poet David McCord laments, “The cricket’s gone. We only hear machinery.”

As for me, I still find peace in the garden with these humble companions in the night. ~

*Written at the former Eco Sanctuary of Saint Paul University QC.
Living with Nature School on Blog
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

Let's Save our Children from the Tender Trap of Consumerism

Let's Save our Children 

from the Tender Trap of Consumerism

Our senses are held captive: sight, sound, smell, touch. It's difficult to know real from psychological hunger. Good and fancy clothing. Durable and throw away gadget. Urgent from necessary. Pretty from beautiful. Love from care.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

  

Children's party in a fast food playground.

We went shopping as a family. Carlo our youngest was keen at many things, the city kinder that he was. "Mahal ba eto, Mama?" (Is this expensive, Mama?). This became his expression, the dawn when a child begins to weigh his own pleasure and the cost of it.

But how many kids today are destined on a path of roses capitalism has planted alongside profit, and more profit? How can we brace ourselves from the powerful marketing force that sweeps our children to a world of want over and above the world of need? Imagine $12 billion annual cost to ignite this force, and this is in the US alone, albeit the emerging economies around the world.

High cost of consumerism

Consumer language has evolved lately out of passion to buy, like bilmoko (ibili mo ako - Buy me.), a kid's expression beginning at post-toddler age. Gustokoto ("I like this," in commanding tone.

And when asked what made a kid buy fancy ball pens bearing cartoon characters, he simply quipped, "Wala lang." (None at all.)

 

Restaurant on Boracay Beach. Scene not far across push Boracay Beach

On the receiving end billions of dollars are generated with kids influencing their parents, school endorsing products and services, media riding on children's show - it's a kid's world. We are pampering them too far out with our hard-earned money, and extending their dependency, when at their age in older societies, their counterpart would have found independence and accepted responsibility.

Media is largely to blame - multimedia, from billboard to Internet. Media is littered, polluting the field of information and entertainment. You can't drive through Edsa with clear head. Billboards block the sky; they roll on with buses on your route. Give your name to the Internet and you'll gain world wide popularity, because you are a potential client or customer. My son Marlo, even if he didn't smoke, received cigarette promo cards beautifully crafted when advertising of cigarette was totally banned. My daughter found herself an automatic member of clubs endorsing children's products, with special discount. There are a variety of clubs for teenagers, from fashion to magazines, and you just find their invitation in the mailbox or on their e-mail.

Our senses are held captive: sight, sound, smell, touch. It's difficult to know real from psychological hunger. Good and fancy clothing. Durable and throw away gadget. Urgent from necessary. Pretty from beautiful. Love from care.

Let us save our children from the tender trap of consumerism *

1. Lead by example
Do what you say. Easier said than done. These are adages that should be put to practice. We cannot teach frugality when our kids see us frivolous. Austerity is sacrifice. It means more savings, less waste, optimized use of resources. Austerity is a virtue.

2. Encourage critical thinking
"Advertisement is Genie from Aladdin's lamp. He is not real," says a retired corporate manager. I used to tell my kids, "Don't believe in everything you see or hear. And don't be a Guinea pig of new products in the market." Guide your children to investigate and asses before making decisions. How many times have we been misled by the art of selling. Some end up holding an empty bag - victims of unscrupulous deals.

3. Supervise with sensitivity
Sit with your child with the computer as you would watch together a TV program. Or when he was younger, would sit on your lap while you read for him. Bedtime stories make our children happy not by the story alone but our presence, our bonding, our goodnight kiss and prayer. Until they are responsible to make correct judgment, parents make the board of censors for healthy information and entertainment.

4. Say No without guilt
Maybe is often our answer to our kids when it comes to less serious matters, or things no one can answer. But on matters of importance we have to be firm with our children, with a yes or no answer. Don't keep them long as fence sitters otherwise they just jump by themselves into the greener side, so to speak. When we say No, it's final. But the gravity of our position should be based on strong sense of values and security. "No, don't ride a motorcycle. No, don't drive. You are too young for that." It is the condition that makes our child understand and accept our position. It removes our guilt and reinforces our being guardians.

5. Offer Alternatives
Actually this means discovering our children's talents, and developing them into hobbies. Hobbies prevent habits. "Cooking is a hobby, eating is a habit," I usually differentiate the two in this analogy. "Listening to music and playing a musical instrument, is a hobby. But listening to music alone may fall short of the definition of hobby. Hobby is progressive, it is self-challenging, it is shifting the mind to the creative part of the brain. It is learning through curiosity and imagination. And the most important of all is that, through hobby you are a maker (Homo faber), not a mere consumer. You make kites instead of buying them. Your toys are your invention, not one you buy and never understand how it works. And in your frustration end up destroying it with screwdriver.

But the best alternative is outdoor life. Consumerism thrives best with indoor children. They want to create a world in their walled domain. But the outdoor child goes out to the world, to Nature, and he finds contentment in the countless things nature provides him free - clean water and air, mountains as high rise, waterfall as fountains, pebbles as marvels, river as swimming pool, moon and stars as neon lights. And he learns to live a contented life with the least amenities.

Athenian Syndrome

Good Life reminds us of the Athenian Syndrome during the time of Socrates, the father of Philosophy, and the "conscience" of the most powerful city state during the time of "crowing glory of Greece." He found out that the citizens seemed not to know the difference between moral and immoral. And do we know it today? And here is a third element of morality - amorality. If we find it difficult to understand what morality is all about, can we know what is ethical and what is not? What is good and evil?

A child devouring a fried chicken may be an amoral act. We know that in a hungry world, a chicken has the equivalent food value of the grains it ate to attain its size, which could have been food for five hungry children for not only a single meal. When we buy our children clothes just for fashion or fancy we imagine children who have nothing decent to wear in school. When we waste water, food, electricity, and other valuable things because we simply have so much of them, the other side of the globe could have shared them.

These are basic to our children's formative years. We have to educate them well, not to be wasteful, to keep the environment clean, and in the future to raise families of their own with assurance of their welfare. We cannot entrust our children to media. We cannot trust one institution to fill in the gap of another. We cannot leave our children in the nursery or kinder school. Religious education cannot guarantee righteousness, the community of healthy integration.

Malling a new culture

"Nagmall ka na ba?" has become more of a measure of lifestyle, rather than necessity or leisure. Mall is a growing institution of the middle class, and with the increasing young, and senior citizens. Many mall goers were once traditional customers of Divisoria (bagsakan - wholesale), Quiapo and Baclaran (pilgrimage sites) and countless tiangge and talipapa (flea markets).

Historically, in here informal economy reigns and why not? You can make bargains (tawad, baratilyo), establish patronage (suki), join rummage (ukay ukay). Just don't be outsmarted (naisahan, nalamangan). And if you have a sari-sari (corner store) of your own, outsource here and you are comfortable with 20 to 35 percent ROI (Return of Investment). Or if you are an enterprising employee in your organization, you can be an entrepreneur as well.

That's why customers still flock these centers where tradition exudes quaintness to shopping, where the peso is more elastic, goods and services virtually unlimited. We still get from Divisoria supplies for our home industry at wholesale. 

Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Now and them we join the pilgrimage in Quiapo or Baclaran and pick up some items from makeshift stalls. Don't miss, lechon in La Loma, fish in Navotas, fruits in NLEX interchange in Balintawak. Name it all - these informal economies - tell the mall to take the back seat.

But as people leave the countryside, towns grow into cities, shopping has indeed evolved into an institution all over the world, courting everyone to go to the mall regularly, say a weekend. To the younger generations it means much, much more - dating, promenading, eating, playing, cooling off summer, rendezvous (tagpuan). The mall is like a ganglion physiologically. All roads lead to Rome, analogously applies today in our postmodern world,

If this is the Good Life our children are looking up to, I am afraid they are likely to be the next victims. Let's save them from the tender trap of consumerism, the handmaid of capitalism.~

Kuya Center for Street Children in Quezon City, These children, among millions of other deprived children around the world, find new hope to fight poverty and homelessness. KCSC is foundation that rehabilitates and reconnects street children with their families headed by executive-director Bro. Luc Boudreault, SC. (Brothers of the Sacred Heart).

*Reference: Living with Nature Series AVRotor; Marketing to Innocents,by Gabrielle Bauer Reader's Digest July 2005.

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 [www.pbs.gov.ph]