Practical Composting (SVWorld Series)

Pul-oy (Breeze)

San Vicente Ilocos Sur RP to the World Series

Practical Composting

Dr Abe V Rotor

"Composting is Nature's recycling, organic to inorganic matter,

breaking compounds back into elements, for the use of the new set of living things." - avr 

Converting dead parts of living things like leaves, into soil is the key to composting.  All you have to do is help Nature do the process.  Don't interfere by burning, or throwing them as waste.  Rather, provide the necessary conditions. Take the case of composting mango leaves as shown in these photos. 

Rake the leaves into a pile under the trees, and keep the file damp. The rainy season favors composting.  This is pile composting, in situ, which keeps the nutrients in place.  Do not ever build fire on the pile.  Meantime, prepare a pit nearby.  Dump the undecomposed leaves after harvesting the mature compost pile. Continually replace the pile every time you rake the surroundings. Your pit compost will soon be ready for harvesting.  See photos. 

Composting is a continuous process.  Include other compostable materials like stems, fruits, weeds, stalks, but never plastics and glass.  Composting continues in the sacks.  Partially decomposed leaves will soon catch up in time.  Avoid exposing harvested compost to direct sunlight.  Don't allow compost to dry up in the sacks.  Use soonest you can.  Ideal compost has the typical earth smell.  Foul odor and signs of heat mean the compost is not mature, or done by installment.  There is a saying, "garbage in, garbage out."  Composting is an art, it is a virtue to convert potential waste into a valuable product - more so, in helping Mother Nature keep the environment clean, healthy and balance.  This is a  key to sustainability, which in the long term is called homeostasis. ~   

 

 

Compost commonly contains 2 percent nitrogen, 0.5–1 percent phosphorus, and about 2 percent potassium. It promotes healthier growth of plants, and balances soil density, increases retention of soil moisture, and discourages pests, diseases, and weeds.

Compost is cheap and can be made at home from farm and home wastes, as compared to chemical fertilizer which is expensive, and a poor farmer can barely afford it. Compost is environment friendly. Chemical fertilizer on the other hand, is harmful to the environment. It pollutes waterways and increases acidity in soil which is harmful to most crops. Compost harbors beneficial soil organisms like nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and earthworm. On the contrary, chemical fertilizer, which is often used with chemical pesticide, destroys these organisms. ~

Practical Composting helps in reducing pollution and global warming, and their attendant ill-consequences.  It is also a personal and collective means in contributing to food production, and keeping our environment balance, healthy and clean.  

Natural way to ripen fruits (SVWorld Series)

PUL-OY (Breeze)

San Vicente Ilocos Sur RP World Series

Natural way to ripen fruits

When harvesting the rule is, "Pick only the ripe fruits."

Or pick those that are fully mature. They will soon ripen. 

Never pick those that are not ready. they'll just shrivel away.

Dr Abe V. Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog (avrotor.blogspot.com)

Madre de Cacao or kakawate

Photography with Dr. Ernie.: Trees: Madre de cacao, 

gliricidia sepium dr-ernie-photography.blogspot.com

There are however, fruits that are harvested either green or ripe, or at a particular stage. Take mango and tamarind, for instance. And there are fruits that are harvested in their juvenile stage (kamias), or early maturity (breadfruit). Grapes and strawberries ripen on the tree or vine and stay a little longer to attain uniform ripening and maximum sweetness.

Then there are fruits that fall off the tree when ripe. Guyabano is one. Avocado is another. There are plenty of guava, chico, papaya, kasoy and other fruits in season that go to waste if you don't harvest them on time.

Leaves of madre de cacao or kakawate hasten the ripening of fruits.
Old folks use fresh leaves of Gliricida sepium to ripen banana, papaya, mango, chico, guyabano, atis, avocado, and others. The fruits are placed in an earthen jar lined with kakawate leaves. The jar is closed or inverted in order to trap the ethylene gas that catalyzes the softening of pectin and the conversion of complex sugar to simple sugar that resulting in ripening which takes around three days. Unlike the commercial method of using carbide (carburo), kakawate ripened fruits, as long as they were picked at proper maturity, develop natural taste, color and aroma as if they were ripened on the tree.

Rub table salt on the cut stem of newly harvested fruits to hasten their ripening.  Sodium chloride seals the base of the peduncle (fruit stem) and protects the fruit from fungi and bacteria that may cause rotting during ripening. Not all fruits though respond to this treatment, but this is a common practice of old folks on chico, nangka, atis, guyabano, papaya, mango, and the like. It is usually effective. Try it. ~

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

Karimbuaya or Soro-soro is best stuff of lechon baboy and manok (SVWorld Series)

PUL-OY (Breeze)

San Vicente Ilocos Sur RP World Series

Karimbuaya or Soro-soro is best stuff of lechon baboy and manok 

To Ilocanos, no lechon is complete without karimbuaya. When combined with herbs and spices, karimbuaya lends the lechon a distinct taste and aroma. The milky sap of the plant has medicinal properties and helps remove the unpleasant odor of meat and fish.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Cebuanos and Manileños stuff lechon with tanglad or lemongrass, 

the Ilocano style is to put in a native plant, karimbuaya.

Not so many people know that karimbuaya or sorosoro (Euphorbia neriifolia) makes an excellent stuff for lechon and relyenong bangos. The mature leaves are chopped tangential and stuffed into the prepared pig to be roasted, so with dressed chicken - and bangus for broiling. It has high oil content in its milky sap. It leaves a pleasant taste and it serves as a salad itself. It has a slight sour taste. Like tanglad, sorosoro removes the characteristic flesh and fishy odor. Add chopped ginger, onion and garlic as may be desired.

One word of caution: The fresh sap of sorosoro may cause irritation of the eye and skin. Wash hands immediately. Better still, use kitchen gloves.

Relyenong bangos with karimbuaya

Adobo with karimbuaya (inquirer.net)

Facts about Karimbuaya or Sorosoro

Philippine Medicinal Plants (Internet)This information is helpful to medicine, pharmacology, botanical research, and to the public in general. It is the intention of this program, Paaralan Bayan sa Himpapawid to encourage the use of natural medicine and food, and to potential scientists to direct their attention to our own indigenous resources as the subject of their study.

Botany
Soro-soro is an erect, shrubby, branched, fleshy, cactus-like plant growing to 2 to 4 meters. Trunk and older branches are grayish and cylindric; medium branches slightly twisted and stout, fleshy, 4- or 5-angled or winged, the younger ones usually 3-winged, the wings lobulate, with a pair of stout, sharp, 2- to 4-millimeter long spines rising from the thickened bases of each leaf or petiole-scar. Leaves, arising from the sides of wings towards the end of the branches, are fleshy, oblong-obovate, 5 to 15 centimeters long; in young plants, longer pointed or blunt at the tip. Cymes are short, solitary in the sinuses, and usually of 3 involucres. Involucres are green or pale yellow, about 6 millimeters in diameter, with the lobes fimbriate.

Distribution
- Cultivated in gardens as a hedge plant.
- Nowhere spontaneous.
- Also occurs in India to Malaya.

Constituents
- Studies have yielded euphorbon, resin, gun caoutchouc, malate of calcium, among others.
- Phytochemical studies have yielded triterpenes like nerifolione, cycloartenol, euphol, euphorbiol, nerifoliene, taraxerol, ß-amyrin among others.
- Fresh latex yields 10.95% solid with 18.32% total resinous matter, and 24.50% and 16.23% of total diterpene and triterpene respectively.
- Phytochemicals yielded steroidal saponin, reducing sugar, tannins, flavonoids in the crude extract.
- Phytochemically analysis of leaves yielded flavonoids, phlobatannins, saponin, tannins, cardenoloids, phenol, and terpenoids. (see study below) (18)
- Study of an ethanol leaf extract isolated a new flavonoid: 2-(3,4-dihydroxy-5-methoxy-phenyl)-3,5-dihydroxy-6,7-dimethoxychromen-4-one. (see study below) (21)
- Study isolated eighteen new diterpenoids, names eurifoloids A-R (1-18) including ingenane (1 and 2), abietane (3-7), isopimarane (8-12) and ent-atisane (13-18) types, along with four known analogues. (see study below) (22)

Properties
- Considered purgative, rubefacient, expectorant.
- Leaves considered diuretic.
- Root is considered antiseptic.
- Latex considered purgative, diuretic, vermifuge and antiasthma.
- Studies have reported cytotoxic, antiarthritic, anti-inflammatory, wound healing and immunomodulatory properties.

Folkloric Uses
- Roots have been used for snake bites.
- Fluid from roasted leaves used for earache.
- The milky juice used for asthma, cough, earache. Also, used as an insecticide.
- Mixed with Margosa oil and applied to limbs in rheumatism.
- Tumeric powder mixed with the juice applied to piles. Thread steeped in the same mixture used for ligaturing external hemorrhoids.
- Milky juice used internally as purgative; rubefacient, externally. Applied to glandular swellings to prevent suppuration.
- Externally, applied to sores, cysts, warts, and calluses.
- Used as a drastic purgative.
- For internal use: decoction or infusion of 10 grams for 1 liter of water, 2-3 cups daily.
- Juice of leaves used for spasmodic asthma.
- Leaves used as diuretic.
- In India, used for bronchitis, tumors, leukoderma, piles, inflammation, fever, earaches, anemia and ulcers.
- In Malaya, used for earache.
- In French Guiana, leaves are heated, squeezed, and the salted sap used for wheezing in babies, colds and stomach upsets. Also used for infected nails, fevers, coughs and diabetes in NW Guyana.
- In Ayurveda, whole plant, leaf and roots used for abdominal complaints, bronchitis, tumors, splenic enlargement, coughs and colds.

Acknowledgement: Philippine Medicinal Plants
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

Posted by Abe V. Rotor at 3:26 PM


1 comment:
Rob Kjelle Gabrielle Mabilangan said...
San po makakakuha ng pananim na soro soro...July 24, 2021 at 8:09 AM

Post a Comment: Soro-soro grows in the wild, particularly on uplands and along field borders as long as the soil is well-drained. Farmers, gardeners and old folks readily know this fleshy shrub in the area and may help explain its uses, including its propagation by cutting.  It may be cultivated as ornamental plant, and can be potted as well.  - avr  

Corals - Nature's Architectural and Engineering Wonder

Corals - Nature's Architectural 

and Engineering Wonder

Corals keep our islands and coast lines from being swallowed by the sea.

                                                 Dr Abe V Rotor

Skeleton of staghorn Coral. SPUQC Museum; children selling corals;

corals in natural formation (coral reef)

With the unabated destruction of our coral reef it is not common to see undisturbed coral fields. Corals are animals in colonies belonging to Phylum Coelenterata, which is often associated with Cnidaria, of the Class Anthozoa.

Coral reefs make the forest of the sea, the counterpart of our terrestrial forest. With their association with microscopic algae and seaweeds, they constitute the abode of fishes and countless kinds of marine life, without which our seas would not be as productive as they are today.

However, the destruction of coral reefs through illegal fishing like muro-ami and dynamite fishing, as well as the conversion of shores into resorts and fishponds have greatly reduced fish catch and the diversity of marine species.

Today our laws prohibit coral gathering, more so in exporting them. Coral reefs conservation is a priority program of many countries. Without corals our islands would fall back to the depth of the sea and our continents would be greatly reduced through cutbank erosion.

Thus, corals are nature’s architectural and engineering wonder for they serve as riprap and barrier against the restless sea, while making the underwater world a truly beautiful scape that is beyond compare with any kind.

Let's all give a hand to the conservation of corals. Let's join the campaign. No to the following:

1. Dynamite fishing, muro-ami and paaling, and bottom trawl fishing.

2. Reclamation of coral reef areas.

3. Conversion of shorelines to resorts and fishponds

4. Pollution of rivers and seas.

5. Settlements on coral reefs and seashores.

6. Goods and commodities made of corals.

7. Coral decors and jewelry

8. Deforestation - it causes erosion and siltation, forms mudflats over coral reefs.

9. Collection of shells, rocks, and the like, within coral zone

10. Quarrying of coral deposits.

Let's remember that corals are virtually a non-renewable natural resource because they grow very, very slow. It takes fifty years to grow to the size of a man's head. We have but very little time to witness and be part of a noble task of keeping our islands and continents from being swallowed down into the depth of the sea. Our foothold is but skin deep to the enormous sea. ~

                                  Coral reefs, painting by AVRotor

Cry of the Philippine Hawk LAWIN

Cry of the Lawin

Lawin symbolizes the young generations. It brings in the morning sun, it connects us grownups with the young generation.

                                                 Dr Abe V Rotor

We, in Greater Lagro are blessed with having a rare bird called Philippine hawk or LAWIN in our language. It is a close relative of the Philippine eagle, which is considered a symbol of our culture.

Painting of a lawin on a backboard by the author

On a clear day we may see the lawin* hovering over our subdivision, alone or with a partner in dalliance, simply gliding and circling up in the sky, in a spectacular kind of show that this bird now categorized as threatened is still around. Its home is the La Mesa watershed, just across our subdivision. It is in deference to this bird that our association has adopted it as our symbol and acronym - LAWIN.

We thank our gazette editor Mr Fil Galimba who brought the idea of the organization, and Atty Riz Quiaoit for adopting Lawin as our symbol.

But what really does the lawin symbolize?

One early morning my granddaughter pointed at the bird in the sky. I explained what I know about the bird. Lawin symbolizes the young generations. It brings in the morning sun, it connects us grownups with the young generations. It gives our children a break from iPads and TV. .

One time children in the neighborhood in our place could not play their favorite game basketball. Somebody rebuilt their backboard, and games resumed. There one difference: the other player on the back bard is a big lawin with outstretched wings seemingly playing with the kids.

Nearby a garbage dump began to transform into a vegetable and herbal garden. The children called it Lawin Garden. It is a local version of the Phoenix bird rising from the garbage ashes.

The lawin has a peculiar cry while in flight - clear and loud whistle of two notes. But most often, it is a silent flyer with panoramic and telescopic vision.

It can see like a satellite monitor what is happening over its broad area of vision, yet able to focus on the slightest movement - a prey or an enemy.

Writers and artists to a great degree are like the lawin. Like the lawin, true writers and artists are a vanishing breed, they are an endangered species victim of instant and unguided social media, and worst assassination of journalists. The Philippines is compared to worn-torn countries like Syria and Afghanistan for having the highest number of killings in mass media.

The lawin writers and artists have "eyes for news and the arts," Their aerial perspective is holistic and contiguous. They see the multiplicity and unity of space and time, people and events. And they never veer away from their community which they watch over.

At the onset of organizing LAWIN, we did some research on our trust and functions, and on the long run - our projected goal.

Our reference is the our own Gazette. Lawin is DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION. DevCom recognizes the power of communication as a catalyst for social development. It utilizes the tools and principles applicable in the community they serve for the advancement of society.
In an outline DevCom is

• Information disemination and education
• Social Marketing - ideas, knowledge and wisdom
• Purposive communication - it sets targets
• Social mobilization - involvement and militancy
• Community improvement mainly on felt needs
• Positive change (social, political, economic, moral, environmental, etc)
• Participatory development - bottom-up approach
• Humanities development - applied aesthetics
• Sentinel and vanguard of code of media
• Pathfinder - pioneering and visionary

Development Communication as the INTEGRATION OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION IN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, based on a clear understanding of real and down-to-earth situations, with people's participation and shared equitable benefits.

What then would be our guiding principle in our program? It can be summarized as follows, for an anonymous source:

"If it is of high quality, people will respect you;

 If it is relevant, people ill need you;

 If it is measurable, people will trust you;

 If it is innovative, people will follow you."

If you were the lawin up in the sky over Greater Lagro, you are likely to see these -

1. the need to train students in our schools in the field of mass media and applied art to run their school paper.

2. the need to take care of the trees, and plants more tree, to make Lagro an extension of the shrinking wildlife.

3. the need to expand outdoor activities, participate in wholesome games and sports, creative activities.

4. the need to guard Greater Lagro from the incursion of bad elements, vices, violations of human rights, peace and order.

5. bringing in honors and prestige to the community through the talents of its citizens, particularly the young.

6. unifying relationships of families, strengthening bonding, making the community senior citizen friendly, grandchildren friendly as well.

There are one-thousand-and-one other visions that challenge the organization LAWIN and its members giving meaning to their membership, above all leaving their legacy for the next generations.~

Neighborhood projects of LAWIN 

(Lagro Association of Writers and Artists, Inc)

  

      Sports development: Lawin Backboard; Green Revolution: Lawin Garden

About the Philippine Hawk Lawin

by Naomi Millburn

Philippine hawk-eagles (Nisaetus philippensis) are raptors native only to the Philippines. "Lawin" translates to "hawk" in the Tagalog tongue. Philippine hawk-eagles survive in very low numbers, so their population is considered vulnerable.

Philippine hawk-eagles (Nisaetus philippensis) are raptors native only to the Philippines.

Physical Appearance

Philippine hawk lawins are typically about 26 or 27 inches long. The top portions of their plumage are deep brown, and their lower portions are reddish-brown and adorned in black markings. Philippine hawk-eagles have pale throats, yellow limbs, deep gray beaks and dark crests. Their crests are made up of four to five feathers, some of which can reach 2.75 inches long. It takes about four years to develop their mature feathers. Fully grown Philippine hawk-eagles tend to have lithe physiques.

Living Environment

Philippine hawk lawins inhabit numerous islands throughout the Philippines, including Mindoro and Luzon. They haven't been confirmed as migratory, though they might occasionally travel between islands. They are prevalent around outer portions of forests, sometimes even in airy settings. Philippine hawk-eagles spend a lot of time hidden in the top layers of forests. They do a lot of high flying within their habitats.

Population

The number of Philippine hawk lawins in the wild is dropping swiftly. Their total population is thought to be 1,000 and 2,499 specimens, two-thirds of which are adults, according to BirdLife International. Key factors in their decline are the clearing of trees for logging, farm animals, and farming expansion in general. People also sometimes hunt Philippine hawk-eagles. Efforts to conserve this species include captive reproductive programs and protected locations such as Bataan National Park.

Vocalization

The signature call of the Philippine hawk lawin is a clear, loud whistle of two notes. These birds call out over and over again, sometimes in intervals of three seconds.~

*Inaugural speech of the author upon assuming the position as first president of LAWIN (Lagro witers (and artists) Association Inc, June 20 2016 Barangay Greater Lagro QC

Integrated Art Workshop for Children (SVWorld Series)

PUL-OY (Breeze)

San Vicente Ilocos Sur RP to the World Series

Integrated Art Workshop for Children

Conducted by Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature Center 

Poblacion, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

First Batch graduates with guest Vice-Mayor Ma Nancy Dy Tabanda (middle row, 4th from right)

Workshop Overview

1. Workshop sessions: every Sunday (3 to 5 pm) from Jan 22 to Mar 5, 2017.

2. Participants: schoolchildren, boys and girls, 8 to 13 yrs old, from SVIS, other schools.

3. Graduates: 16 completed 5 sessions (10 hours, including makeup sessions). 

 

4. Other participants: to complete required sessions and output, for second batch.

5. Teaching Method: lecture, hands-on and on-the-spot, Dr Abe V Rotor as instructor.

6. Syllabus: based on Multiple Intelligence (8 realms), Rizal et al, as models.

7. Integrated art: principally drawing and painting, introductory music and literary art.

8. Critiquing: selected works on exhibit, others returned to owners, or on file. 

9. Management: art tools and materials, and snacks provided by organizer for free.

10. Decorum: classroom and laboratory discipline, values oriented.

11. Foundation: back to basic, talent search, skills development, application.

12. Respite or break from boredom, anxiety, cartoons, rock music, TV, computer

      games.   

  

Workshop participants work before a wall mural painted by the author; 

on-the-spot painting session under the trees

 

13. Creativity: based on the saying, “imagination is more important than knowledge.” 

14. Freedom: self expression, self confidence, freedom and independence.

15. Learning alternative, and bridge with school, church, community – and home.                     

You may take pride in having a state-of-the-art smart-phone, but not more than a painting you yourself made. A gadget can’t be part of you, but a piece of art you made – painting, melody, story, verse - is your own. It is part of you. It is a prize you give yourself and no one else can take it away. It is a lifetime achievement; in fact it is your legacy. Kids learn early in life the struggle for excellence, not only in the classroom, social media, or on the street, but in themselves. The greatest struggle is with oneself – it is the biggest triumph, but it can be the biggest failure, too. Yet there is always the opportunity to conquer that opponent. This is the road to excellence. Each day you become a better person, ad infinitum. ~

San Vicente Ferrer Church: Spanish Greco-Roman Architecture in my Hometown (SVWorld Series)

PUL-OY (Breeze)

San Vicente Ilocos Sur RP to th World Series

San Vicente Ferrer Church

Spanish Greco-Roman Architecture in my Hometown

Dr Abe V Rotor

Detail of Greco-Roman column and frieze of San Vicente Ferrer parish church. European Renaissance art introduced by the Spanish colonizers. 

I am humbled by my origin, the disparity of temple and hut,
     the finest limestone-marble and rough fired-clay.
of my forebears: one from across the seas, the other in the field,
     the color of my skin, and the language of my heart;

How the two converged in my birthplace, oh! what a wonder;
     designed by periodicity, sanctioned by providence;
built by labor of obedience to God and the colonial masters,
     muted by faith and fear, and behold! a masterpiece.

I saw the Ziggurats, the Pyramids, and the Great Wall.
     and asked how deep is my loyalty and devotion;
if not implanted in the genes - why the Stonehenge -
     was it not a part of the order of creation?

The column and frieze, symbol of glory, of war and peace,
     of triumph and conquest, imprimatur of power,
tapestry of humanity woven by will, faith and destiny;
     and I, I am but a thread, of li’l color and strength. ~ 

San Vicente Ferrer Parish church, Ilocos Sur, The author's residence 

is just across the western perimeter wall of this 17th century church. ~

Springtime - Season of Metamorphosis

Springtime -  Season of Metamorphosis

“Springtime is here.

I sing with the warbler,

laugh with the stream,

whistle in the breeze.

Time matters not when,

and for how long I shall

from here meet my Creator

who makes them all.”- avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Hibiscus flower awaiting sunrise to open. Photo by Carla Lea Salamanque

                      Inflorescence of a weed, Living with Nature Center 

"The spirit of the new springtime is renewal," said Mother Teresa after receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace. "It is a time of conversion, to be a new person." It is metamorphosis.

It is when "All the World's a Stage" begins, when every creature, big or small, wakes up to a "Whispering Within". When the sound is pure and clear and the happiest of all sounds - and not a "Big Bang" - it must be springtime. And the sound comes from deep within, a calling closest to the heart, ringing the bells of hope and joy to be alive.

And the sleeping buds wake up with the dewdrops heralding the end of drought or winter, breaking into emerald, the first color of spring. Soon a myriad colors comes at its heels in the promise of bounty. The hollow of tree is filled with hungry groan. The stream whispers, the brook laughs. Up on a branch a robin sings, his notes crispy in the chilly air. A butterfly metamorphoses, her wings catching the color of rainbow. And the rainbow makes a huge cathedral in the sky that dwarfs us and we are filled with wonder and awe.

If one finds meaning in the risen bud, in the cathedral of rainbow, then he is blessed. For he is a man in the new springtime, a person renewed.

It is in the image of springtime, which according to Pope John XXIII, connotes newness and freshness. It is when music is soothing to hear and colors are a kaleidoscope. It is when growth and hope are nurtured.

But it is not always that in the life of a person springtime means renewal. The regularity of time and seasons has made the experience an ordinary one, routinely like a cycle, prosaic as rules one has grown accustomed to throughout the years. Matters of importance are no longer in the stars or about a sheep eating flowers with thorns.

Here is a news story that we glimpse into a new syndrome in today's society. It is about a unique incident in Paris a few years ago when farmers built overnight a piece of the countryside right in front of the Arch d' Triumph. In the morning people of all walks of life put off their urban chores and dreamily enjoyed the rustic scene they apparently had been missing.

"Gubat sa Siyudad", "Disneyland", "Fantasy Island" are more of a symptom than fancy. More and more people who are tired of city life and the fast lane are yearning to go back and live in less congested areas where they are close to nature, and corollary to God. And before we ask ourselves, "Quo vadis?" we must realize that everything in this world, without exemption, is interconnected.

It is this interconnection that is the key to unity and understanding, respect and reverence, compassion and humility. Such interconnection links the parts of the living and the non-living world, the abstract and the concrete, the past and the present, the macroscopic and the microscopic world, diverse cultures and races - and most fundamentally, the relationship of man and God.

But as a country becomes progressive, economically and technologically that is, more and more of its citizens become disconnected from the countryside as they flock to cities in some kind of frenzy, a kind of Gold Rush reminiscent of the old West. And what is paradoxical is that cities are growing at the expense of the countryside, eating out precious productive areas, draining precious manpower and resources, supplanting tradition and values with "modern culture".

It is like the human body enticed with material things with adornment leading to self adoration that the spirit is left unattended like a countryside laid in waste. Here a dichotomy emerges, one leading to what we call "modern civilization" while the other lingers in limbo of neglect and false rationalization. It cannot be that there are two seasons that occur at the same time. It cannot be that the body enjoys the cares and abandon of youth, the "glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome" while the spirit lies in winter or in the desert.

This "disconnection syndrome" buries deeper that attachment between us and God, us and nature, which is intrinsic in our genes. The memory of that attachment surfaces now and then in our language, painting, music, legends - even in our thoughts over a sunset or a flowering weed. That is why we yearn to go back, but quite often find ourselves busy, and afraid to set aside things of "consequence" that now threaten to disturb our present lives. We are afraid to take the path of the Prodigal Son.

Sharing makes the world go round and around. How beautiful Reader's Digest puts it. To wit:

"Every human being on this earth faces a constant problem: how to make the most of life. There is no single solution, the art of living is the most difficult of all the arts. But fortunately for all of us, experience can be shared. Insights can be learned. Wisdom can be taught. Experiences, insights and wisdom of men and women - from teachers to clergymen, housewives to scientists, ordinary citizens to statesmen - who have lived deeply, thought profoundly and cared enormously about sharing with others what they learned have found some fragments of truth that cushion the harsh impact of reality or brightens the marvelous tapestry of living. From them we find some answers to the most fundamental of all questions: how to live with life."

This excerpt demonstrates human relationship on the highest plane. Simplicity as a common denominator for all those willing to live by it as a virtue breaks the wall separating today the haves and the have-nots, the whites and the colored, and the barriers of distance, belief, ideology and fame. But it is only when one takes the road less trodden that he can truly touch the lives of those who are poor and are living in poverty, not as a choice or virtue, but because they are inevitable, unwilling victims of it.

This is the road the Good Samaritan took. Here sharing takes a higher category, that of compassion. Compassion comes from a deep source, it springs from the hadal depth, not so much of reason but of love which reason cannot fully explain. From here flows the stream of openness and availability, that compassion becomes universal - in both time and space - respecting all mankind, and going back to ecological paradigm, respecting too, all living creature, big and small, and all the things that make this world a place of Paradise. It is only through deep prayer and faith that we can regain that place we lost. John Milton saw it only when he became blind and illumined its beauty with the power of the pen, while Helen Keller shared it to us on the Braille.

Are these enough to live by? No. Still there is a higher realm of human virtue, and this is the element of taking risk and sacrifice. "If you truly love and care," says Mother Teresa, "you are not afraid."

But it is more important to work with others. This is the element of collaboration. It is in collaboration that we do not only come up with collective strength but build interdependence with which we re-enforce the efforts of others in the magic of synergy. It cannot be explained why collective effort surpasses the sum of individual efforts, why spiritual love can not be equated with human love, why happiness when shared multiplies, why in quiet prayers comes a great resolve.

These are difficult to understand in theory and in good times, when we are only witnesses, nay bystanders. If we are teachers and not disciples, critics and not doers, victors and not the vanquished.

It is easier to teach than to learn, to lecture than to share, to welcome than to accept, to accept than to forgive. It may be easier to treat a friend than a brother, receive awards than show recognition, walk up to the podium than stoop to lend a hand. How do we know endurance from sacrifice? Responsibility from accountability? To help from to care?

Wake up. It is springtime. ~

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 marbles, 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 on 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 a 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]