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