DON'T CUT THE TREES, DON'T - Ecology Poems

                     DON'T CUT THE TREES, DON'T 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

“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

  Many years ago I recited this verse before my teachers in literature in high school, Mrs. Socorro Villamor and Miss Leonor Itchon, at the Colegio de la Imaculada Concepcion, now Divine Word College of Vigan. Hesitatingly I proceeded to interpret it.

Because I lived on the farm, the world I knew then was a physical one and the kind of life associated with it was as simple as the passing of seasons - when the rains come and the fields turn into a carpet of green until harvest time comes when the grains turn gold. I recalled my childhood in this poem I wrote years later.

Ambiance of Autumn in the Philippines in acrylic by the author c 2002

Childhood is when nobody misses
The morning before the sun rises,
Before the herons stake for fish,
And finches chirp in the trees.

War is fought with kites and fishing poles,
In hide-and-seek and barefoot races;
Faith grows with seasons the sky extols,
Virtues all that friendship embraces.

Summer is short, rainy days are long,
All these are but passing imagery,
For the young can’t wait, yet all along
The years, remains a lasting memory.

  

To recite again Blake’s verse brings out a larger view of life and the world. The innocence of childhood has given way to realities of adult life. The environment has lost much of its pristine nature. A revolution of knowledge has reached global proportion.

The essence of the verse now touches the dimension of philosophy rising above its own literary meaning. Its humility has turned into a challenge, like Markham raising a social issue against society, viewing poverty in Millet’s romantic painting, The Gleaners.

Indeed, progress has brought folly to man to dream of power – even to the point of transgressing creation, a dream that borders between reason and passion, temperance and lust, waking up a sleeping god in man that drives him to wrest control over time and space, pursue beauty and pleasure as he wishes. He has cracked the atom and the DNA, and amassed tremendous wealth and power. And he has started to probe the universe. Which only means man is playing God, the old sin of disobedience. “Quo vadis, Homo sapiens?”

Heritage trees, Mt. Makiling, UPLB Laguna 

After retiring from government service and subsequently finding a niche in the academe, I found time once again to read the works of my favorite authors such as John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained and Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.

I found again Alexander Pope, Thomas Gray, William Shakespeare, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - and of course, our very own Ophelia Dimalanta, Jose Villa, Sionil Jose, NVM Gonzales, Nick Joaquin, Rolando Carbonel, to name some local literary giants. From them I found valuable lessons, not only about nationalism, culture and the art of living, but techniques and style of using English, being a second language to many of us.

Henry David Thoreau (Walden Pond) and the great naturalist Charles Darwin (The Origin of Species), brought me close to Nature and led me to experiment in combining ecology and literature.

As I was writing this book, I could not help but ask myself, Will man ever regain his place in Paradise while he is on earth?

I can only imagine what the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin must have been thinking while at work at his masterpiece, The Thinker. What inspired Michelangelo's The Creation showing an omnipotent Creator reaching out for Adam at a spark’s distance from His finger? I remember other thought-provoking masterpieces like Salvador Dali’s Melting Clocks, and Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Perhaps Helen Keller who wrote, If I were given Three Days to See, saw more about the world than some people do who are not blind.

From where I was transfixed in reflection, absorbed in serious thoughts, a flock of pigeons soared into the sky. A chilly breeze whistled through the trees and joined the lilting children playing, and the sound of busy feet on the camino real. Time passed and a kind of stillness settled. I recited the old verse again. It brought nostalgic reflection of the past and the sinking sun.

As I prepared to leave for home I noticed a weed growing along the path that I was to take. I gently picked the lowly plant and examined it against the reddening sky. Why it bore flowers in disguise!

From here I began writing Don’t Cut the Trees, Don’t.~

  

Haunting shadow of a standing dead tree (camphor, Cinnamomum camphora) UST campus; requiem to a giant balete tree (Ficus benjamina), Lagro Subdivision QC.

--------------------

Don’t Cut the Trees, Don’t is a collection of ecology poems and paintings of nature. The tree is taken to represent the environment. Each poem and each painting is like a leaf of a tree each revealing a little of the many marvels of this unique creation. Each poem and each painting is a plea on behalf of this new vision and of this new ethics. Concealed behind each poem and each painting is the spirit of the author, Dr. Abercio V. Rotor, a man whose love and passion for the environment is well-known. (Armando F. De Jesus, Ph.D., Dean, UST Faculty of Arts and Letters)

It is a substantial collection, departing from the usual stale air of solitariness and narcissism which permeates most poetry today. It is therefore a welcome contribution to Philippine poetry in English, livened by visuals that add color to the poetic images. The oeuvre is not only pleasurable because of this. The poetic ability of the poet himself enriches the whole exciting poetic experience, a blurring of the line separating man from the rest of the living creatures outside. Every poem indeed becomes “flowers in disguise” using the poet’s own words. (Ophelia A. Dimalanta, Ph.D. Director, Center for Creative Writing and Studies, UST) ~

A Short Story: Lost in the Desert

A Short Story

Lost in the Desert

Dr Abe V Rotor

Oasis at Sunset, acrylic painting by Miss Anna Christina Rotor, circa 2002

He has been there for some time now filling up a well he made in the sand with water from the sea.

“What are you doing?” I asked nonchalantly, knowing what a silly thing he was doing. I acted like a teacher with the critical nature of one showing up.

“You know, you can’t really fill your well, or empty the sea either.” I said with an aura of authority.

He looked up at me and beamed a smile in the sun. He was not just pouring water into his well; he was decorating it with seashells, seaweeds, corals and plants growing nearby. He was making a landscape.

Fish were not biting that morning so I folded up my fishing rod and passed by the boy's well again.

Why it was an oasis model he made! Complete with a sandcastle, a pathway, a retaining wall and waterhole.  The boy was no longer there.

That was a long time ago when I had the luxury of spending a whole day or two fishing, when weekend is a day of leisure and unwinding from pressure of work.

Who cares about one boy out of millions of boys building oases and sandcastles? What is the boy’s name? Oh, the only thing that lingers in my head under graying hair is his lovely innocent face and charming smile.

Years later, in my last year in government service I was sent to Israel to attend a Food and Agriculture Organization sponsored conference. What a luck! A pilgrimage to the Holy Land!

Tourists in general, love to take side trips, and I am no exemption. After touring Israel “tracing the footsteps of Christ,” I decided to continue on to Egypt where the Holy Family, according to the bible visited. So I joined a tour from Tel-Aviv to Cairo via the Sinai Peninsula, crossing the Suez Canal.

In the middle of the desert, we the passengers were told to register somewhere at the border of Israel and Egypt, before reaching the Gaza Strip. We left our bus and proceeded to an isolated police headquarters. The inspector looked at my passport and started questioning me in Arabic. I didn’t understand a word. He presented me to the officer-in-charge who spoke a little English. He said they are on a lookout for terrorists who attacked a tourist bus. After examining my papers which included those about the conference I had just attended, he sort of apologized and let me go.

Outside I met a blinding sandstorm. I lost my way to my bus. When I saw it, it was already far and moving away. I ran after it shouting until I was exhausted. Was it a mirage?

When the sandstorm subsided I found myself alone. “Where is the station, the road?” I was talking to myself, feeling abandoned.

In the desert the reference for direction is the sun, and at night the moon and stars. I remember the pilot lost in the desert in The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery. And Coleridge’s Water, Water Everywhere about a mariner lost at sea.

The sun was now going down. I reckoned, “If you go west, you will reach the Mediterranean.” So I walked toward the sun. Sand trapped in my shoes made my feet sore. “Surely there are buses, cars and people around,” I said, always keeping an eye on the horizon.

But there was none. I remembered what the tourist guide said, “Vehicles travel on the Sinai in convoy. You can’t travel alone on the long stretch of sand.” What if my bus was in the last convoy for that day?

I had never felt so hungry and thirsty in my life, and now fear was creeping in. I was empty handed; I left everything in the bus. “Now where is my hand-carry bag? My medicine? My camera? I had left them, too. Why did my bus leave without me? They should have made a roll call, at least a headcount.” I was in soliloquy. I was like the old man in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea talking to himself in the middle of the sea. “But he had a boat. I have none.”

I used to tell tall stories, “You know, I was assigned in very dangerous places,” referring to Cordillera and Samar island, bailiwick of bandits and rebels. But here the enemy is different - it is emptiness. And I would continue, “You know, I was twice taken hostage by dissidents and never gave in to their demands.” What if they tagged me an Arab terrorist! Here courage just turn into bravado, a kind of bahala na stance. I began to despair.

Sitting on top of a dune I imagined Alexander the Great searching for the Oracle at the Oasis of Siwa near Cairo. According to history he got lost, but how can a man destined to conquer the world get lost? That’s legend, and legends are for great people. And here I'm but a lost soul.

Oasis! That’s a bright idea. I could almost hear the melody of the song, The Desert is Hiding a Well. Yes, if I find date palms and olive trees, there must be an oasis nearby.” And perhaps people living there, and travelers passing by.

Climbing on to the crest of a taller dune reminded me of Golgotha. "I would rather die on top of sand dune than be buried under it." So I stayed there straining my sight to where an oasis might lie. Again I remembered the Little Prince, not the story but what he symbolized – inner vision, unending hope. I needed any kind of encouragement now. I was desperate.

Suddenly, something reflected at the foot of a crescent dune, hidden by another. Water?

Eureka! Eureka!

And down the dune I ran, sliding and tumbling, and in a record time reached a greenery of date palms and olives, a waterfall pouring into a small lake, its water shimmering with the rays of sunset. I cupped the precious liquid with my hands and immediately quenched my thirst. And slept.

I saw a boy repeatedly filling up a well he made in the sand with water from the sea.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “You can’t succeed filling your well, or emptying the sea either.” He looked at me, his face beamed in the sun, and continued with his craft. When I returned I found a beautiful landscape - an oasis!

When I woke up I was in a clinic, in the same headquarters I was earlier interrogated. A search team found me unconscious of dehydration and delirious with high fever.

“What is the name of that beautiful oasis?” I asked. The attendants just looked at each other. One of them wearing a stethoscope said, “You need more rest. Tomorrow we will take you to Cairo”

Today, I care about that boy, and millions of boys making oases and sandcastles.

What is the boy’s name? It does not matter. For the best thing that lingers in my head under graying hair is his lovely innocent face and charming smile, and a lovely masterpiece he made. ~

Life Science (Biology) A Short Review (50 Items)

 Life Science (Biology) 

A Short Review (50 Items)

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. All living things, whether they are big or small, simple or complex, plants or animals, are made up of cells.

Colorful fish among seaweeds, acrylic painting on glass by the author

2. Evolution is the process by which all the organisms that we know today have come about. Through millions of years, the first forms of life evolved into complex forms through evolution.

3. Nothing in this world is permanent, and this applies not only to physical things but to living things as well. Biologically then, all living things have been changing – and will continue to change, including us humans.

4. Evolution however, is not always progressive and radical.  Many organisms in the past have remained virtually unchanged. They are called living fossils such as certain algae, insects and reptiles.

5. Charles Darwin, founder of the theory of evolution through natural selection, may have succeeded in tracing the origin of species, but not the origin of life itself.

6. Life begets life, and there is no exception. This principle puts to rest the common notion of Spontaneous Generation, such as mushrooms are produced by heavy rainfall and lightning, and flies from the bodies of dead animals.

7. As the chemical world has its organizational hierarchy (atoms to molecules, elements to compounds), so with the biological world (cells, tissues, organs, organ-systems). This is not true however, with fungi and protists like algae, amoeba, paramecium, and other protozoa.

8. The tropical rain forest has the highest biological diversity because this ecosystem contains the most number of living organisms, both in kind and number, as compared with other ecosystems. This kind of ecosystem is found in the tropical region which includes the Philippines and Indonesia.

9. No two organisms are the same even if they belong to the same species, or even if they are identical twins. This is the basis of forensic science using DNA Analysis.

10. Today it is possible to have a plant such as corn bred with a bacterium such as Bacillus thuringensis, thus their offspring is a kind of corn containing the genetic material of the bacterium. (Bt Corn). Similarly we have now Bt cotton, Bt eggplant.

11. Organisms reproduce by sexual and asexual means, that is through the exchange of genetic materials (generally through union of sex cells), and by vegetative means such as cutting, grafting, fragmentation, spores, etc. 

12. The reason close relatives are discouraged to intermarry is to prevent in-breeding (inbreeding syndrome). The gene pool must be invigorated now and then with new genes, more importantly dominant genes. This principle explains the importance of hybridization, cross-breeding, and the buildup of resistance and hybrid vigor.

13. Nature sees to it that dominant genes must prevail by various means in order that the species becomes capable of facing the ordeals of a changing environment. Certain dominant genes however, though they may be transmitted to the next generation do not contribute at all to the enhancement of species’ survival.

14. Even if this is the case, referring to the previous question, recessive genes do contribute to the wellness or the fitness of certain species.

15. Evolution is a thing of the past as we have known the fate of the dinosaurs, the end of the giant ferns that once covered the earth. It means that the organisms that we see today have ultimately reached the highest degree of perfection, with man as the ideal example. This is not true.

16, The most controversial subject matter between science and religion is Evolution. It has always been confrontational, and the church is not giving up its dogma of Creation. For this reason Christian Fundamentalists are against the teaching of Darwinian evolution.

17. Aestivation is a tool of survival of organisms trapped in extreme dry and hot habitats. It is a state of torpor which is near death, and when the conditions become favorable again, the organisms – such as reptiles, fish, mammals, shells, and the like - resume their normal activities.

18. Organisms may be found living under extreme conditions, even in the crater of volcanoes where the temperature well exceeds 100 degrees centigrade, and underneath the permafrost of the North Pole where temperatures remain way below freezing point.

19. It is a common belief that man was created as the guardian of the earth. Thus, today we enjoy the beauty of parks, resorts, gardens, beautiful sunsets, refreshing waterfalls and streams, and all the aesthetics and amenities of living. Man however, has yet to prove that he is effective in his role as guardian.

20. A famous scientist-philosopher was asked, “How can you preserve Nature?” He humbly answered, “Leave Nature alone.” This means that Nature can take care of herself better without man – indeed a concept supported by facts and scientific proofs.

21. Extraction of the DNA in fossils such as dinosaurs (Jurassic Park) can lead into the re-creation of the extinct organisms – indeed a revolution in science. Actually scientists have not succeeded in this venture.

22. Dolly the sheep was cloned from her mother, the first successful cloned animal. Other animals have been likewise cloned such as cow, horse, dog and cat. One problem these cloned animals have in common is premature aging, they become senile and die ahead of their mothers.

23. Genetic engineering, the unlocking the code of life, is the latest breakthrough in science. The first two scientific breakthroughs are the splitting of the atom which led us to the Atomic Age, and the invention of the microchip which led us into the Computer Age. All three took place in the last millennium.

24. Louise Brown is the first test tube baby. After 50 years or so, all over the world there are thousands born from the same technology - in vitro fertilization. This gave rise to new technologies involving surrogate motherhood, post menopausal childbirth, multiple birth, and the like. All these made biotechnology a lucrative business all over the world.

25. The fuel we use in our vehicles is known as fossil fuel. It is because it came from plants and animals formed in Carboniferous forests that were preserved under the earth for millions of years ago.

26. If this were so, referring to the previous question, then every time you step of the gas you are actually releasing the ancient sun trapped in this fossil remains

27. The virus is the ultimate unit of living thing because it cannot be seen even under the ordinary microscope. It is only through the electron microscope that its image can be viewed. To illustrate its minute size, millions of viruses can reside on a single cell.

28. Mad Cow Disease or BSE (Bovine Spongiosform Encephalopathy) is caused by a virus. This disease is similar to the CJD (Cruetzel-Jakob Disease) which affects humans. One instance, this disease emanated from Britain in the eighties and spread to Europe, US, Japan and other countries.

29. These epidemic diseases – Ebola, SARS, Meningococcemia, HIV-SARS, Influenza - and COVID-19 are caused by viruses, a proof of the extreme virulence of this kind of pathogen.

30. Nature knows how to heal herself every time a calamity such as typhoon, earthquake, flood, or drought strikes. The healing process, though may take time, results ultimately to Homeostasis (dynamic balance).

31. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transformed from one form to another. Example: In biology, the sun’s energy is transformed into chemical energy (manufacture sugar through photosynthesis), transformed into mechanical energy (muscular movement on the part of the eater of the plant).

32. These organisms make a food chain in this order. Algae <– snail <– duck <– man.

33. These organisms make complete food web: rice plant, grasshopper, spider, frog, heron, carabao, man, snake, monitor lizard, dragonfly.

34. A thing is considered to be living if it possesses these criteria. A. It has a definite form and structure. B. It has the ability to reproduce by itself. C. It can respond to stimuli and can adjust to the changes of its environment. D. It has the capability of metabolism.

35. The Kyoto Protocol of 1992 was attended by most countries of the world with the agenda to reduce gas emission into the atmosphere. Not all countries signed the Protocol, a manifestation of lack of concern and unity when it comes to solving a common global problem.

36. B. The Ozone layer is progressively being destroyed by CFC gases emitted by Freon coolants, atomizers, paints, etc. The Ozone hole at one time was about the size of continental US  mainly above the Antarctic region.

37. One of the effects of global warming is extensive drought throughout the world, thus resulting in desertification, that is, the transformation of productive lands to arid lands.

38. Scientists predict that global warming will precipitate the coming of another Ice Age, which is likely to start at the end of this century. This phenomenon occurs in a cycle of several thousands of years - even without the intervention of man.

39. Acid rain is formed by the reaction of water and these gases in the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, chlorine and sulfur dioxide. These are emissions of vehicles and industries, other than those that are occurring naturally.

40. When lightning strikes, tons and tons of nitrogen are fixed into nitrates, a compound that fertilizes the fields, lakes, mountains and seas. Lightning also fixes, phosphates, sulfates and other elements, making them available for the use of plants and other organisms.

41. The reason why farmers intercropped legumes (such as mungo and peanut) with corn is because corn is a heavy feeder of nitrates, while legumes convert nitrogen into nitrates through the Rhizobium bacteria that reside in their roots.

42. These are biological clocks with which we read Nature.  June beetles emerge with the coming of habagat or rainy season. Hovering dragonflies signal the coming of a typhoon. Ring (halo) around the moon means bad weather in the following days.

43. These are other biological indicators. When earthworms crawl out of their burrows, flood is coming, When the leaves of acacia start to fold it’s already late afternoon. it’s time to go home.

44. Weekly rhythm has a biological basis; that’s why people all over the world respond to it. After the French Revolution in the 18th century new leaders changed the 7-day system into a 10-day system. The new system did not last; it gave way back to the traditional system.

45. In fractional distillation of fossil fuel, among the products obtained are Kerosene, Diesel oil, Gasoline, Jet gas, LPG, Lubricating Oil, and Asphalt.

46. Among these alternative fuels have great potential in solving the energy crisis - Wind, Water, Geothermal, Biogas, Solar, Tide. Deuterium or heavy water that lies under the depth of the Philippine Deep may be the last frontier that holds an indefinite supply of energy.

47. The Water Cycle first involves the evaporation of water from sea and land, followed by cloud formation, and consequently rainfall. Where the land is barren and dry, clouds are not attracted to fall, compared to areas that are covered with forests, such as the tropical rainforest.

48. When there is too much rainfall, the soil becomes saturated and water moves over land as runoff. The abundance of trees helps trap water and deposit it into the ground for future use, rather than directly consuming it and losing it through transpiration.

Drynaria fern on acacia, Tagudin, Ilocos Sur

49. Habagat wind becomes laden with clouds that bring rains, while Amihan wind is dry and cool because it originated in Siberia, for which reason we call it also as Siberian High.

50. If a red rose is crossed (pollination-fertilization) with a white rose, their progeny will consist of all pink roses. If two of these pink roses are crossed, their progeny will consist of a proportion of 1 red, 2 pink and 1 white rose. (25-50-25 percent, respectively).

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid DZRB 738 AM, 8 to 9 Evening Class
Monday to Friday with Dr. Abe V. Rotor and Ms. Melly Tenorio

Nature Poetry Writing and Reading - A Wonderful Experience

Nature Poetry Writing and Reading
- A Wonderful Experience

Take time out from work, forget worries and care. Go to where Nature is. Visit the countryside. Feel happy and healthy and free. All you need is a pencil and paper, to write simple poetry. Here are poems I wrote that brought me back to my feet.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Farm Life in acrylic painting by AVRotor

Farm Life Memories 

Rain and river meet on the plain and farm, 

A simple life for the old and young; 

The school, the woods and field are all but one, 

Shielded from the other world beyond. 

Ah, childhood is when nobody misses 

The thousand thrills as the sun rises, 

Watching the herons and the finches, 

With slingshot for simple prizes.

 

Stillness reigns around a kingfisher, 

A coming rain, tells the dragonfly; 

A bird’s nest waits, a secret of its finder, 

These early lessons - joy to live by. 

Conflict is solved by kites and fishing poles, 

In hide-and-seek and barefoot races; 

Faith lies in the sky and march of seasons, 

Virtues all that friendship embraces. 

Come thunder and lightning that cut the day, 

Sending the fowls early to their tree; 

The children catch the raindrops, and soon 

Across the field, dash for home in glee.

 

Summer is short and rainy days are long, 

But it’s only passing imagery, 

For the young cannot wait, and all along 

The years are gone, save sweet memory. 

When and where in crisis and in retreat, 

In another place, at another time, 

Rises one where once the rain and river meet, 

To bring the sun shine over the clime.

 Freud and Jung long foretold, we know, 

What the seed was and how it grew, 

Makes a man the child of years ago 

From the countryside – oh, it’s true. 

Waterfalls 

How many falls do you tumble all the time? 

And songs you sing in rhythm and rhyme? 

Oh, you are simply filled with awe and joy. 

And I, I wish I were forever a boy - 

I ride on your crest, plunge into your floor, 

Inside your womb I’m a child once more, 

Together we flow, and I’m weaned out to sea 

To tell the world of a beautiful story. ~

Home, Sweet Home in acrylic, AVRotor

My Brick Hut 

Small is my home but wide is its lawn; 

Its walls solid, its tiles of the earth; 

Its windows open to the yard and path 

That leads all feet to the hearth. 

Vines and herbs they grow wild and free, 

They cool my head, they hide the crack, 

And the trees call the birds to build their nest, 

They shield the sun and the cold gray rock. 

Small is my home but wide is its lawn, 

Where quaintness reigns and fresh is the air, 

Fence there is none, with neither road nor gate; 

This patch of Eden, my little lair. ~ 

Moth Season 

Do moths ride on the wind to bring a message, 

Brave the chilly kiss of the Siberian wind? 

Or lay in their hammocks on browning trees 

Counting stars, drawing the face of the moon? 

Do moths fly to places they have not been before, 

To search a suffering or lost soul and share his pain? 

Do they tell the world how easy darkness comes 

When the pen is still after an idea is born? 

Alas, how little a candle means at dawn.  

You may use these poems for poetry reading in the classroom, in literary criticism, or simply as guide in making your own poems. It's a rare experience: poetry reading with music background around a bonfire on a peaceful evening under the stars with your family and friends. AVR

Children and Nature - An Omnipotent Treaty

 Children and Nature - An Omnipotent Treaty 

“Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.” ― Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

Wall Mural by Dr Abe V Rotor (7ft x 90ft)


"A thing of beauty is a boy forever." AVR wall mural at author's residence, 

Barangay Greater Lagro, QC

"A thing of beauty is a boy forever."

  Dr Abe V Rotor

Three young musketeers are set to conquer the world
away from the mall, home and school;
If Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were real and alive today,
we wouldn't know who's genius, who's fool.

Who is the primitive, who is the civilized, oh brother!
when we prefer the city over the quaint village,
car for walking distance, processed over fresh food,
philosophy over instinctive knowledge.

Everything defined in rich vocabulary, but a rose is a rose
and nothing else, energy to matter and back,
universal cycles no genius will ever truly understand,
Homo sapiens! it is humility we lack.

Innocence in children, we make up for the falsehood
of the world of grownups and sages;
Einstein and Darwin never knew the whys of the world,
children have been asking for ages.

If genius is reborn in the innocence of children,
then knowledge into wisdom distilled,
compensated in old age for the young ones' sake:
'tis the fate of humanity in Nature sealed. ~

“When we are children we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” ― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

 
 
 
 
“I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.” ― Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

“and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.”
― Ruskin Bond, Scenes from a Writer's Life

Children and Nature “Because children grow up, we think a child's purpose is to grow up. But a child's purpose is to be a child. Nature doesn't disdain what lives only for a day. It pours the whole of itself into the each moment. We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in its flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung? The dance when it's been danced?

It's only we humans who want to own the future, too. We persuade ourselves that the universe is modestly employed in unfolding our destination. We note the haphazard chaos of history by the day, by the hour, but there is something wrong with the picture. Where is the unity, the meaning, of nature's highest creation? Surely those millions of little streams of accident and willfulness have their correction in the vast underground river which, without a doubt, is carrying us to the place where we're expected! But there is no such place, that's why it's called utopia.

The death of a child has no more meaning than the death of armies, of nations. Was the child happy while he lived? That is a proper question, the only question. If we can't arrange our own happiness, it's a conceit beyond vulgarity to arrange the happiness of those who come after us.” ― Tom Stoppard, The Coast of Utopia ~

Unspoiled environment is key to happy life, specially to those with Infirmities

 Unspoiled environment is key to happy life,

specially to those with infirmities

Dr Abe V Rotor

I took these photographs in Catanduanes on October 29 2011 on the occasion of BIOME-SEDTECH 2nd national conference in Virac. Thanks to Prof Rico Masagca and Dr Jimmy Masagca for inviting me as speaker in the conference.

 Picnic River in the heart of Virac

 Highest mountain in Catanduanes

 

Hidden waterfall deep in the virgin forest near Virac

Catanduanes' chocolate hills

“Good bye,” said the fox to the Little Prince, “And here is my secret.”

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
(The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

It’s rightly so. Take it from Water Lily (Nymphaea), which is perhaps the last painting of French impressionist, Claude Monet (1840-1926) before he became totally blind. The scenery draws deeper meaning from the accompanying verse from Auguries of Innocence, William Blake’s late prophetic poem – fearless and free.

How perfect is the combination of these two masterpieces - made by artists who “saw” the world differently from that of ours – we who are unaffected of sight or any sense, we who are not infirmed in life. Nymphaea represents our natural world, undisturbed and unspoiled by human hands, while Auguries of Innocence speaks of the purity of mankind, reverent and subservient to a Higher Principle, and sensitive to the world.

Edgar Degas also suffered from very poor eyesight towards the end of his life. Surprising it is in this twilight zone that artists made their masterpieces.

Here are other famous people with sight problems
• Andrea Bocelli - opera singer
• Loiuse Braille - inventor of braille
• Ray Charles - American singer and composer
• Helen Keller - American author, philanthropist
• John Milton - English poet
• Horatio Nelson - British admiral
• Rembrandt – Dutch painter
• Stevie Wonder – American singer
• St. Paul - Apostle
• Homer - Greek poet
• Samson - Biblical hero

Here are biblical, religious and fiction characters, too, that are popular to many of us.
• Tiresias - mythological, Greek seer
• Odin - Norse god
• Horus - Egyptian god
• Oedipus - mythological Greek King
• Cupid/Eros - Greek/Roman god of love

We have local Blind Musicians in our midst performing in malls, fiestas, and in various occasion. A live band of five to as many as twenty plays instruments and sings as other famous bands do. In spite of being blind these musicians find joy in entertaining people. They pursue a happy life and live normal like other people do.

Quite often we hear people invariably asking this question on who is fit to live? Who of us best deserve life? How do we earn our worthiness to live? It’s a casual question, yet it is perhaps the most difficult to answer, because the art of living is the most difficult of all the arts. Perhaps we can draw some thoughts from John Milton’s works, the most famous is Paradise Lost.

“God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best.
His state is kingly.
Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
                                              - John Milton, When I Consider How My Light Is Spent, 1652

Many people have various versions of how live is well lived with nature. In Living with Nature in Our Times, a book I wrote in 2006, I tried to make a capsule that tries to capture my own definition, greatly influenced by my associates in the field and academe. To wit:

“Nature shares her bounty in many ways:
He who works or he who prays,
Who patiently waits or gleefully plays;
He is worthy of the same grace."
                                              - A V Rotor, Living with Nature in Our Times

Priorities & Choices in Life

Helen Keller, deaf-blind since infancy became a role model for millions of people. She wrote a moving essay that challenges us who have the power of vision on how we would value “Three Days to See” if we were blind like Helen Keller blind since infancy. (The Story of My Life)

Try this exercise. If you were given Three Days To See just as Helen Keller told in her essay, how would you prioritize these? (Please indicate the day after each item; or it is not applicable.) Please refer to the answers below

1. Lives of people everyday
2. Theatre – concert, performing art
3. Transformation of night to day
4. Views from top of a high building
5. Loved ones and friends
6. Nature - landscape and garden
7. Museum of arts and natural history
8. Historical records of man & society
9. Things at home, favorite books, etc
10. Comedy, the lighter side of life.

After checking your work with the answers guide below, compare it with the priorities of Helen Keller.
1st Day - Loved ones, Favorite Things, Nature
2nd Day - Natural History, History, Humanities,
3rd Day - The Business of life. (NOTE: The lighter side of life closes the episode.)

Three Days to See challenges us to look into our priorities and choices in Life
• City or countryside life
• Aesthetics or materialism
• Permanence and transience
• Love and Friendship
• Spirituality and faith
• Computer graphics or fine arts
• Perception or sensitivity
• Affection or companionship
• Vice or hobby
• Knowledge or Wiisdom
________________________________________________________

Answer Guide
Lives of people everyday - 3rd day
1. Theatre – concert, performing art –end of 2nd day
2. Transformation of night to day –opening of 2nd day
3. Views from top of a high building – 3rd day
4. Loved ones and friends – 1st day, immediately.
5. Nature - landscape & garden – 1st day pm to sunset
6. Museum of arts and natural history – 2nd day
7. Historical records of man & society – 2nd day
8. Things at home, favorite books, etc – 1st day
9. Comedy stage play - End of 3rd day
_________________________________________________________

From this exercise we can better appreciate Helen Keller’s philosophy of life.

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I am, therein to be content.”

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen and even touched. They must be felt within the heart.”

Ode to the Kite in the Sky

                                      Ode to the Kite in the Sky 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Kite Flying on the Lakeshore in acrylic, group project, 

Children's Summer Art Workshop, circa 1995.  

Fly high into the sky, until you see us but minuscule on the ground, 

how insignificant we all are, to the world and to the universe;

Fly with the wind with all your might, that we too, feel we are flying,

save our strength, our will and faith to remain with Mother Earth,

our home, our only planet, our spaceship, the place of our birth.

Fly high with our dreams, our fantasy of conquering space and stars,

how lofty dreams are, how ambitious, how proud we humans are;

Fly away from our hold, be free, drift aimlessly if you call that freedom;

then neither you are a friend, nor we are your master, but a renegade, 

breaking away from the rules and order that humanity has made. ~ 

"Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country." - Anais Nin

A Glimpse on Ecocentrism* - Environmental Revolution

 A Glimpse on Ecocentrism*

Environmental Revolution 

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Man has emboldened the causative agents of human diseases – both old and new - into epidemic and pandemic proportions, which include COVID-19, HIV-AIDS, SARS, Ebola, and today’s threats of pandemic diseases, the Avian flu (caused by a new virus H5N1, a hybrid of the human flu virus and the bird fly virus) and obesity (caused by Ad36 virus)

A corner of Eden mural in acrylic, AVRotor

2. Through biological specialization or mutation – natural and man-induced – causative agents have crossed natural barriers of transmission across species, such as bird to man (bird flu), civet cat to man (SARS), and primate to man (HIV-AIDS, and Ebola). Man has built bridges between the non-living to the living as well. We have paved the way for the Prion, an infectious protein, the causative agent of mad cow disease or BSE (Bovine Spongiosform Encephalopathy ) to cross from cattle to man and cause a similar disease affecting humans, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). Viruses have acquired new ability to infect and spread not only among humans but also in animals and plants. Viral diseases of plants have been responsible for the decrease in agricultural production in many parts of the world.

3. In the midst of enjoying the good life in a postmodern world more and more people are victims of accidents, heart attacks and strokes, anxiety and depression – and various forms of psychosomatic disorder - that often lead to ruined lives and suicides. Cancer, diabetes, and the deleterious consequences of vices (tobacco and alcohol), are on the rise among other modern diseases. Surprisingly, the number of years a person is healthy in proportion to his life span is not significantly longer than that of his predecessors, and that a person’s life span has not significantly increased at all. It is the average longevity of a population that has increased, not the individual’s. The fact is that modern medicine has increased survival of infants and young people, most of them are now in their past fifties, thus gross longevity appears to have increased, up to 78 years in some countries. On the contrary, more and more young people are getting sick and dying.

4. Modern society and science and technology no longer fit into the Darwinian theory of natural selection. There is a growing burden placed on the shoulders of the able and fit in our society who, without choice, is responsible in taking care of the growing number of dependents – many are the infirm and the aged.

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There are few frontiers of production left today. We have virtually pushed back the sea and leveled off the mountain. Prime lands have all been taken, swamps have been drained, and even deserts are being reclaimed. But as we continue to explore the marginal edges of these frontiers the more we are confronted with high cost of production that is levied on the consumer, and more importantly, the danger of destroying the fragile environment. AVR
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All these lead us to re-examine our values. It challenges us to look deeper into a paradigm of salvation through our concern for the environment. The prolificacy of the human species sans war and pestilence, plus growing affluence of our society has led to a population explosion which had doubled in less than fifty years. We are now over six billion. Under this paradigm, there is no master and subject. All must join hands to prevent the exploitation of the earth’s finite resources. Today’s economists must also be good housekeepers of Nature, so with those in the other professions. While man’s aim is directed at the Good Life, he has unwittingly reduced the very foundation of that good life – the productivity and beauty of Mother Earth.

Ecological paradigm endorses an ecocentric approach where all forms of life and non-life are important to human life. Spirituality points out to a unitive force: the sacredness of everything. God’s divinity flows in everything. There is integration in the universe. And we are part of that integration, exceedingly small as we are, notwithstanding. Under ecological paradigm of salvation, the one responsible in the destruction of the environment leading to loss of lives and properties should be held accountable for it to God, nature and fellowmen.

The environment and the economy need not be viewed as opposites. It is possible to have a healthy environment and a healthy economy at the same time. More and more businesses have begun adopting this concept as a business philosophy. People behind business organizations are becoming more aware of the ethical decisions they face, and their responsibility for their consequences.
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Industrialization and urbanization are akin to each other. Industrial growth spurred the building of cities all over the world. Today there are as many people living in cities as those living the rural places. A mega-city like Tokyo has a population of 15 million people. We are 10 million in Metro Manila. Cities are fragile environments. Cities are more prone to epidemics such as the bubonic plague that killed one-third of the population of Europe in the 13th century. Now we are confronted with COVID-19 pandemic, HIV-AID, SARs, Meningo cochcimia – and the dreaded Avian flu which hovers as the next human pandemic disease. AVR

There are organizations that have set some rules of governance of the environment, among them, GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), CERES (Coalition of Environmental Responsible Economies), and UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program). In line with these a multi- national corporation came up with the following thrusts:
• Restore and preserve the environment
• Reduce waste and pollution
• Education of the public on environmental conservation
• Work with government for sound and responsible environmental program
• Assess impact of business on the environment and communities.
This approach is gaining respect and more and more businesses are looking at this model with favor.

The Question of Governance

Environment scientist Dr. Tai cited three themes in order that man can live in harmony with nature. Man is part of the ecosystem, Man is steward of the earth, and Man is finite. Dr. Tai cited models with which man can change his views about the environment and change his style of living. We have also models in the business world, in the church, and in the government, in fact all sectors of society. 

There are models everywhere in this or that part of the world, whether developed or underdeveloped. There are as many models in less developed countries as in highly industrialized countries. It could be that the less developed are closer to tradition, and still have strong ethnic roots, like the old civilizations mentioned in the paper – the native cultures of America and Africa.

But the world has never been one. It has become more diverse in views and interests though in many respects share the same aspirations towards progress and development. And this is the problem. Man is always in a race. In that race awaits at the end not a prize mankind is proud of and honorable. It is tragedy, which Garett Hardin calls, the tragedy of the commons. It is a greedy competition for a finite resource, each his own, until it is gone. The forests are disappearing today, the lake are dying, the fields are getting marginal, the pastures are overgrazed, the air is loaded with destructive gases, the sea is over fished. All these point out to the syndrome - tragedy of the commons. And because time is of the essence, many believe that the world needs a new revolution now? Is revolution the only way to solve global problems of the environment today?

Definitely, while we need to reform to save our environment, any means that is contrary to peace and unity, is definitely unacceptable. And we would not adhere to the rule of force or violence just to be able to succeed. It is said, that revolution starts in a small corner. It starts in this congress.

Ethics is the foundation of aesthetics; it is something very difficult to explain that makes beautiful more beautiful, rising to the highest level of philosophy where man find hope, inspiration, and peace. It is a beacon. While ethics sets the direction, aesthetics is its beautiful goal.

In closing I would like to thank Dr. Tai, for his scholarly and incisive paper from which I was not only able to prepare myself as a member of the panel of reactors, but found an opportunity to review and expand my current research works in ecology as well. Lastly, I would like to recite this short prayer I made for this International Congress on Bioethics, and dedicate it through the little child who visited the two workshops in the village and exclaimed. “But there are no neighbors! But there are no trees, birds, fields and mountains!”

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There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings…Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change …Mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens, the cattle and chicken sickened and died …There was a strange stillness… The Few birds seen anywhere were moribund, they trembled violently and could not fly. It is a spring without voices.

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

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*Ecocentrism is a term used by environmental philosophers and ecologists to denote a nature-centered, as opposed to human-centered, system of values. The justification for ecocentrism usually consists in an ontological belief and subsequent ethical claim. Wikipedia

Meteorology and Allergy

          Meteorology and Allergy

Weather and allergy forecast the conditions of the environment,

and health.

World Meteorological Day was established in 1951 to commemorate the World Meteorological Organization creation on 23 March 1950. This organization announces a slogan for World Meteorological Day every year, and this day is celebrated in all member countries.

 “We must have something to cling to. Some things must not change.” – Dr Arturo B Rotor ( Dr Rotor, The Quiet Observer by Lily Lim )

Abercio V Rotor, Ph.D.

1. Greetings: Dr Maria Carmela Agustin-Kasala (PSAAI President), Dr Rommel Crisenio Lobo, (Convention Chairman); Mr Nathaniel “Mang Tani” Cruz; members of the Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, guests, ladies and gentlemen. Good Morning.

2.  First of all, I would like to convey our sincerest thanks and gratitude to Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology  on behalf of the Rotor clan, for honoring the late Dr Arturo B Rotor in this biennial convention. The theme of this convention Allergy UPdates and INnovations is most appropriate to the thrust of Dr Rotor’s research and teachings which he advocated in his lifetime.   

                                                                                                                                Dr Arturo B Rotor (1907-1988)

3. It’s an opportunity to meet Mang Tani in person who is the leading meteorologist on media  today. On the Internet I read Mang Tani’s definition of meteorology when he was applying for a job. Meteorology is the study of stars and meteors.  It is original, brief. holistic - and I say, a  philosophy.  

4.  Meteorology connects human life with the stars for hopes and dreams. It reminds us of  human vulnerability when stars fall, when a meteor appears in the sky, which old folks associate with unfortunate events like natural calamities and war. Listening to Mang Tani makes us  aware of our relationship with Nature – and our relationship with Nature brings us closer to our Creator.

5. It reminds me of a story about an unbeliever, a professed atheist. One stormy afternoon while he was walking with a friend, a thunderbolt struck close to them. The atheist automatically made a sign of the cross. His companion was surprised and asked. “I thought you don’t believe in God?” “Pare (friend) reflex action lang ‘yan.”

I asked the fellow who told me this story kung may pinagbago siya.  Did this atheist change after this experience.  He never made the sign of the cross again?  No, he returned to his faith and found God again.

6. The focus of this story is the other person. Yun hindi natakot. Wala lang sa kanya ang kidlat, Wala lang ang bagyo at baha. Acid rain, El Niño, and other vagaries of Nature.  Like in the parable of the Prodigal son, the bigger problem perceived in our present is the other son, who was obedient but cold and indifferent.  Wala lang ang pagbalik ng kanyang kapatid. 

7. We cannot be the wala lang brother on issues of the environment today. A weather report is not just news. It is a warning.  It calls for reform.  It is a challenge.  Can we go back to the CO2 level in the air 50 years ago? (An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore) Can we arrest global warming. Can we reduce the chances of wild fire? Prevent flood?

8. What makes weather is the result of interacting conditions of the environment.  When considered over a length of time and within a particular region which we call climate - we ask the same question. Today’s modern – or postmodern - living is an unending pursuit of the Good Life.  It can’t be that weather is the making of Nature alone. Weather today is greatly influenced by man.  Climate change is traced to industrialization, urbanization, population explosion, etc.

9. Ang buhay ay weather, weather lang.” may just be an expression. It is deceiving. It cannot erase man’s responsibility and accountability to Nature and ultimately to our Creator. We are largely to be blamed for global warming, the ozone hole, increasing frequency and strength of typhoons, hurricanes, tornados, rising sea level, etc.

10. And the problem of pollution is in the hands of everyone of us. It is easier said than done to   Reduce, Replace, Regulate, Recycle, Replenish.  More so to reserve for the next generation.  And what is the missing R, which is primordial, which brings us together in respect and harmony?  Revere.  Reverence for life.

11. Mang Tani's lecture urges us to give more importance to environmental medicine.  Environmental Medicine,  the most practical and original to the point of being primeval approach, if I may say so. Its rules are universal and as natural as Nature’s laws.  It is dependent on ecological principles in the conservation of a clean and balance environment. It is complementary to conventional medicine, modern medicine.  And Alternative medicine, being part of Filipino culture and closest to local remedies, time-tested and practical remedies - the mainstay of folk medicine which caters to the grassroots.

12. If we revere somebody or a thing we care for him, we care for that thing. Caring is more than loving. Caring is a sacred act because we are concerned with the well-being of a person or thing. To take care of a tree, is more than loving it. Reverence for life is a philosophy.  Advocates of this philosophy are Rachel Carson, Albert Schweitzer, Charles Darwin and our very own Jose Rizal. The ecological concept of sin and formative conscience are changing the way we profess our faith, our reverence towards the Almighty, paradigm of salvation.  

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Meteorology takes us closer not only to the stars but to heaven where that Great Almighty watches our world, our lives, at the way we make use of His gifts, particularly rationality which He gave only to man. His greatest expression that brings us altogether as one globally integrated ecosystem is Nature. Nature is God’s greatest expression of love and harmony.

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13. Quite often the enemy is ignorance, and the real enemy is no other than us, ourselves. Which leads as to ask ourselves, “Are we doing our part as guardians and custodians of our Planet Earth.” I see head moving, - more sideways that nodding.  Meteorology is an important catalyst to know more about nature. Whatever may be our beliefs, race, affluence, all of us young and old. Aware and keen at the ways of nature is a bridge to knowing nature’s laws and principles  – tulay – and it must be strong to carry across millions of people towards gaining functional  knowledge on how to live in our natural environment properly and peacefully.

14. There is a saying that the two things we cannot escape in life are death and taxes. It is just one of the witty expressions.  There is a third one, and it is the most important in our postmodern times - formative conscience.  It takes us out of a syndrome of neutral morality.  When we spew gas into the air, we contribute to global warming. We contribute to the occurrence and spread of various ailments, including allergy.  We supply the ingredients of acid rain that destroys crops.  Our airlines stir the atmosphere into typhoon and flood. Imagine how many millions of small volcanoes erupt daily from the tailpipe of our cars and chimneys of industry. Put together worldwide is it surpasses Mt Pinatubo erupting continuously.

15. As I watch Mang Tani on TV I could sense that he is addressing not only THE person, but the inner person.  We cannot escape from that inner person in us – The Little Prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’ book. We are not only responsible, we are also accountable for our actions and inactions, and time is running out that we ourselves are victims of self-destruct, which in biology is called autotoxicity, 

16. I would like to address these thoughts to the theme of this convention:  Allergy Updates and Innovations.  On the point of view of medicine – conventional, modern, and environmental, it is the third – environmental medicine - that Mang Tani has brought its awareness into this hall.  On the other hand, his paper urges us to look beyond this hall, to learn to live simple and honest, and to be friendly with Nature.

17. Meteorology makes people aware that they are part of nature and nature a part of them.  Living friendly with Nature means less frequency and strength of typhoons, cleaner air to breath, less smog that blankets cities, cleaner rivers and lakes for more fish, less fear and anxiety about weather disturbances. Lower CO2 level, less acid rain, shrinking of the ozone hole and less cosmic radiation. A great relief from human health problems– on all aspects –physical, mental and emotional.   How we wish better peace and order, more time with the family, return to the humanities, the classics in music and literature,  How we wish there were new Amorsolos , Abelardos,  Dimalantas, and humility aside, more Arturo Rotor doctors.

Not only as a reliable forecaster of the conditions of the atmosphere Mang Tani is a teacher. Teachers aim for the stars.  Stars guide people to dream, stars make people happy.  Stars make beautiful song and poetry that give meaning to life as well as quaintness of living. Teachers know how to separate the grain from the chaff, so to speak, opinion from facts, true and fake news, superstition from reality. That meteors are not apocalyptic they make us look at heaven, too.

18. CONCLUSION;  Weather and allergy are both barometers, they forecast  the conditions of the environment, and that of health, respectively.  Scientists behind meteorology like Mang Tani, and doctors attending to allergy cases see to it that they warn their audience and patients to take heed of the warning. And most important they mobilize people into action, individually and collectively. It is the latter that creates cooperation, love and compassion.

Lastly, and it is the most important. If we protect nature, live up with her laws and ways, revere creation, our environment will be kept balanced, people will be healthier, there will be less man-induced calamities, and the world will be a better place to live in for our generation, and especially the next generations if only we do our part, Change must start somewhere. And it starts here in this hall and we carry it outside after this convention.

Thank you to Mang Tani, to PSAAI, and all those who made this gathering successful.  Again on behalf of the Rotor clan, associates and friends of the late Dr Arturo B Rotor Maraming, maraming salamat po.

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Dr Arturo B Rotor, to whose memory this convention is held biennially by your Association, reminds us of his teachings that will always serve as beacon in this fast changing world. Your theme is most fitting to remember him as

the first Filipino allergist;
· the discoverer of a rare disease named after him. “Rotor Syndrome” that is internationally recognized and discussed in medical textbooks and in diagnostic procedures,
· one of the best short story writers in the world (ZITA, Dahong Palay, Twilight’s Convict among others);
· Accomplished pianist of classical compositions (graduate in Conservatory of Music, simultaneously with a MD degree, at the University of the Philippines)
· Horticulturist (A new species of orchid has been named in his honor, Vanda merillii rotorii
· Public servant having served President Quezon and President Osmena as Executive Secretary
· Columnist, Confidentially Doctor, Manila

·       

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     Dr. Arturo B. Rotor, the first Filipino Allergist, tells us that the human being should be regarded holistically, therefore too, when it comes to attending to his health  – body and spirit, psyche and intellect. And we realize that man is truly divine with these attributes:  Man the Thinker (Homo sapiens), Man the Maker (Homo faber), Man the Player (Homo ludens) and the Man the Reverent (Homo spiritus).  Dr Rotor was revolutionary in his own right and time.
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Response to the lecture of Mr Nathaniel “Mang Tani” Cruz, GMA resident meteorologist 

 17^th Biennial Convention, Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, September 4, 2018