Ipil-Ipil, the Miracle Tree in the 70s, has not fully recovered.

   Ipil-Ipil, the Miracle Tree in the 70s, 

has not fully recovered 

Former title:  Return of Ipil-Ipil Shows Nature’s Healing Process

Dr Abe V Rotor

Psylla, a minute Homopteran, destroyed ipil-ipil plantations all 

over the country in the seventies.

Ipil-ipil (Leucaena glauca), the miracle tree in the sixties and seventies has provided Filipinos much hope for cheap wood, fuel, paper, board, feeds, compost, and in reclaiming our denuded forests and wastelands.

The Department of Agriculture came up with a “litany” on the miracles about this tree. Ipil-ipil as a new source of dendrothermal power; ipil-pil for high-protein component feed for poultry, piggery and livestock; ipil-ipil as construction material, scaffolding, pole, furniture, toothpick, matchstick – to name a few.

Ipil-ipil can be used in the manufacture of organic fertilizer to reduce our dependence on imported chemical fertilizer. It is also used for rip-rapping, terracing and strip cropping to save our lands from erosion and desertification. It is an excellent source of firewood and charcoal for many homes.

Ipil-Ipil “Gold Rush”

The ipil-ipil fever spread throughout the country that no home lot or farm was virtually without this leguminous tree. Plantations sprouted. As a biologist I know that there are nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Rhizobia) which reside in its roots, adding to the fertility of the soil. With the tree continuously shedding off its leaves, there is free mulch with which to conserve water and control weeds choking the plants intercropped with the tree. Along levees four to six rows of ipil-ipil could effectively serve as windbreak, buffering strong winds and filtering the sand and dust that affect sensitive field and garden crops.

As Forest Wood Substitute

Because the wood is white, soft, and uniform grained, many entrepreneurs tried making toys and decorations such as fans, spin tops, picture frames, knife handles out of it. Since it is easy and fast to grow, it helps in conserving forest trees. This means we can spare harvesting our forests’ reserve. We can keep our narra, almaciga, apitong, and mahogany that are considered rare. Ipil-ipil is also a good substitute of acacia, a favorite of woodcarvers.

Because of its success as a plantation crop in Hawaii and Peru, we did not only import its technology, we introduced its varieties into the country, in favor of our own native variety which is small. In fact one would consider it a mere shrub which happens to be growing in places where no other plants grow, usually on scrubby and inclined slopes, wasteland where only the sturdy talahib and bamboo grow. The early uses for native ipil-ipil are firewood and bean poles.

On closer look the secret of success of the native variety is its tap root system. Few trees can grow on rock with their penetrating deep through cracks in order to reach deep-seated water. In the process, they pry off the rock itself helping in weathering it. And if it is adobe rock, the locked up nutrients are released as soil formation progresses. One drawback of the native variety however, is its high mimosin content.

Mimosin as Pesticide

“Don’t allow the goats to browse too much on ipil-ipil,” my father used to remind me on the farm. I would then secure the rope that restrains the animals feeding in the open. Years later I found out that the warning is based on the fact that mimosin causes poor growth (bansot) and falling of hairs in animals. I believe that early balding is one of the effects of drinking coffee clandestinely mixed with ipil-ipil seeds.

Initial experiments show that mimosin can be made into pesticide against weeds, insects and pathogenic fungi. It has been also observed that it repels insects such as flies and mosquitoes.

Re-vegetation of Corrigidor Island with Ipil-ipil

Our native ipil-ipil is perhaps the first plant used for rehabilitating wastelands in the countryside. Immediately after the war, sacks of native ipil-ipil seeds were air dropped on Corrigidor island at the onset of the rainy season. The project facilitated the re-vegetation of the war-torn island, and prevented it from further destruction, this time from the ravages of erosion.

What Wiped Out Ipil-ipil?

With the introduction of Hawaiian and Peruvian ipil-ipil varieties, the expected performance level in terms of fast growth, adaptation and yield were achieved. This stimulus caused universal acceptance of the new crop, creating a new field in agriculture: dendrothermal (or firewood) farming.

But the boom was short lived. Nobody knew that the foreign varieties also carried with them a deadly pest – the leafhopper of the genus Psylla of the Family Psyllidae, Order Homoptera, the same group of insects that are the scourge of many agricultural crops, such as the   leafhopper, aphids, scale insects and mealybug.

Cause of Widespread Infestation

In biology, natural enemies control a pest. If the enemies are not around, the pest multiplies rapidly. Despite quarantine procedures, the Peruvian and Hawaiian varieties carried the Psylla insect from their port of origin. Unlike in their native countries abroad, this pest while here, lost all natural predators. Thus the insect began to multiply to epidemic proportions. Thousands of trees, and plantations, succumbed to the pest.

This is how the pest attacks. First, it establishes a foothold on the young leaves and shoots, where it builds a colony. Being highly prolific the colony can explode into thousands of insects inside of a few weeks, nurtured in all stages of development by the virtually endless supply of nutrients from the growing tree.

The final blow comes when the insect drains the tree sap dry, stopping the growth of healthy shoots to replace the dying ones. Interestingly the bigger the tree is the more it is prone to attack and eventual starvation.

Homopterans are among the most adaptable of all insects. They are very small, reproduce rapidly and can adopt through seasons through alternate tree hosts. Having studied their unusual reproductive development, I have found that when stressed for food or due to a harsh environment, they can shorten their life cycle to accelerate reproduction. Under extreme conditions they either lay eggs prematurely or directly bear young. Sometimes nymphs can reproduce. Biologists call this phenomenon paedogenesis.

Abandonment of Ipil-ipil Projects

In the late 1970s many farms of ipil-ipil were laid waste by the insect. Owners cut down the trees prematurely. Tree, after tree, was felled not by the ax but by the ravages of the pest. But our own native ipil-ipil stood healthy, a proof of genetic resistance of the indigenous variety.

Abe V. Rotor at 4:35 AM
Share

1 comment:

viJanuary 25, 2012 at 12:24 AM

Wow such an amazing tree. I missed these trees. When I was a child, I used to see them at the park. It gives a perfect shade while jogging in the morning. A friend told me ipil ipil is one ingredient in Thai cuisine

Lesson on TATAKalikasan, 2nd Session on Kalikasan, Kalusugan, Karunungan ng Kabataan (4K) Happy Children's Month

                             Lesson on TATAKalikasan Ateneo de Manila University

87.9 FM Radyo Katipunan, 11 to 12 a,m, Nov 23 & Nov 30, 2023 Thursday

 Kalikasan, Kalusugan, Karunungan ng Kabataan (4K)

Happy Children's Month

United Nations Celebrates Children's Month, November 2023.

 

In the Philippines, it is a month-long celebration every November of each year. The celebration aims to give Filipino children access to a healthy environment, good education, and healthcare.

Part 1 - Clay and the Child
Part 2 - Discover and Develop Your Multiple Intelligence (8 Realms)
Part 3 - Children and Nature Mural
Part 4 - Ode to the Kite in the Sky
Part 5 - Integrated Art Workshop for Children
Part 6 - 24 Ways of Building a "Children of Nature" Culture

Dr Abe V Rotor

Co-Host with Professor Emoy Rodolfo, AdMU

 

 Future scientists attend a Summer Workshop in Lagro QC

        Part 1 - Clay and the Child

Knead and mold, knead and mold,

     Time may tarry with its demand;

Let not the clay sit still, I am told,

     and wait for the child to be man.

Knead and mould, knead and mould,

     Again and again, and trying still;

Godly and oblate, lovely to behold,

     For Heaven's sake, don't move the keel. ~

  “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

Part 2 -  Discover and Cultivate Your Multiple Intelligences (The 8 Realms of Intelligence)

Dr Abe V Rotor*

All of us are endowed with a wide range of intelligence which is divided into eight domains. It is not only IQ (intelligence quotient) or EQ(emotional quotient) or any single sweeping test that can determine our God-given faculties. Here in the exercise, we will explore these realms. With a piece of paper score yourselves individually in each of these areas. Use Scale of 1 to 10)

1. Interpersonal (human relations)

Sometimes this is referred to as social intelligence. Leaders, politicians excel in this field. “They exude natural warmth, they wear disarming smile,” to quote an expert on human relations. Name your favorite person. I choose Nelson Mandela, Condoleezza Rice and Henry Kissinger.

2. Intrapersonal (inner vision self-reflection and meditation) Priests, nuns, poets, yogis, St. Francis of Assisi is a genius in this domain. Didn’t Beethoven compose music with his inner ear? Didn’t Helen Keller “see” from an inner vision?

3. Bodily-Kinesthetic (athletics, sports, body language, dance, gymnastics)

Michael Jordan excels in this domain. Now think of your idol in the sports world, or in the art of dance. Lisa Macuja Elizalde is still the country’s top ballet dancer.

4. Verbal-Linguistics

There are people who are regarded walking encyclopedia and dictionary. The gift of tongue in the true sense is in being multilingual like Rizal.

5. Logical-Mathematical

Marxism is based on dialectics which is a tool in studying and learning. Likewise, this realm includes the intelligence of numbers – math, accounting, actuarial science, etc. This is the key to IQ test. Einstein, Newton, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle are my choices.

6. Musical (auditory art)

Mendelssohn, Mozart, Chopin, Abelardo, Cayabyab, Lea Salonga – name your favorite. Beethoven is one of the world’s great composers, yet he cannot dance. I like to listen to Pangkat Kawayan play Philippine music.

7. Visual-Spatial (drawing, and painting, sculpture, architecture, photography)

The great artist, Pablo Picasso, was robbed in his studio. Hog-tied, he carefully studied the robber, the way an artist studies his model. After the incident he sketched the face of the robber and gave it to the police. The police made 100 arrests but never succeeded in pinpointing the culprit. The sculptor Rodin wanted his subject to look as if it is melting. What could be a better expression of poverty for his masterpiece, The Burghers of Calais?

8. Naturalistic (Green Thumb, Relationship with the Natural World)

There are people who are said to have the “green thumb”. Their gardens are beautiful even with little care. There are those who can predict weather, and tell you if the fish bites, or it is a good hunting day. They pick the reddest watermelon, fullest macapuno nuts, just by feel and sound. Good doctors, I suppose have the green thumb too.

What are your top three? Can you see their relationships? Relate them with your strength. On the other hand, in what ways can you improve on the other realms?

Make full use of your strength. And remember there are early and late bloomers. Nothing is too late to be able to improve on one’s deficiencies.

Maybe you lack a good foundation to explore your talents in a certain domain. But why don’t you catch up? Do you recall late bloomers who succeeded in life? As you reflect on your scores I’ll play for you on the violin On Wings of Song by Felix Mendelssohn. Fly, fly high and be happy like the birds. Just don’t be Icarus.

Reflect on the following:

1. Your strength and you weakness

2. Your “idols” and models

3. Resolution and affirmations ~

 Multiple Intelligences of Great Men and Women Who Changed the World

Identify the particular realm of intelligence of each of these great men and women.

1. Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the great English explorer and the first white man to penetrate the heart of Africa and establish the first hospital for the natives there, was very effective in his mission not only because he was a good physician, but he was gifted with other talents. He was a minister, a musician, a naturalist and a philanthropist. Although he was criticized by his detractors for his philosophy on “reverence for life,” his outdated medical practices, and racial attitude, he was admired by mankind, and his legacy of dedication to others endures. The world will always have the memory of a giant who tried in his singular way to love as Jesus loved, oddly but honestly lived his beloved song: The deed is everything; the glory naught.

2. Carl Gustav Jung was a master of the abstruse. His explorations took him through yoga, alchemy, fairy tales, tribal rites of the Pueblo Indians, Hindu mandalas, extrasensory perception, prehistoric cave drawings – and an estimated 100,000 dreams. But when Dr. Jung was accused of having left medicine for mysticism, he replied that psychiatry must reflect all of man’s experiences, from the most intensely practical to the most tenuously mystical. If the details of his work were sometimes foggy, his overall purpose was clear: to help man live at peace with his unconscious. 

3. Mother Teresa required poverty, chastity and obedience but also a fourth vow, service to the “poorest of the poor.” More than 3000 sisters of the missionaries of Charity joined her to pursue the religious path, aided by brothers in a separate men’s order and a host of lay co-workers. Together Sister Teresa and her followers operate a network of some 350 missions, spread across scores of nations, that administer hospices, food centers, clinics, orphanages, leprosaria and refuges for the insane, retarded and aged. What drove Mother Teresa into this deep dedication? She received a “call within a call” – a special vocation in which she felt God directing her to the slums. Such call is reminiscent of the voice that commanded Joan of Arc to lead the French army against the English. She did not live to see the liberation of her native land. 

4. Alexander the Great – His teacher was Aristotle, the greatest scholar, naturalist and philosopher, who said, “It is easier to make war than to make peace,” an advice that guided Alexander as he conquered the whole of Europe, the Persian Empire and Asia, as he tried to unify empires into One World, the idea of “united nations.” 

5. Winston Churchill, one of the greatest statesmen the world has known drew the chart to victory and peace not only with the pen and in the war room, but with paint brush on  canvas. How did he find time and concentration to paint on the bank of Thames when Hitler was pounding London with prototype ballistic missiles? 

6. Amadeus Mozart was compared to anything in Nature that the author Helen Henschel thought of him as beautiful smiling sunny landscape. “There would be gray skies too – and rain, and cloud, and always in the end, a shining rainbow.” The music of Mozart exudes this vivid imagery. 

7. Robert Baden-Powell, the father of scouting is said to have saved his small camp which withstood 217 days against 9000 well-armed Boers – through the art of bluff. There must have been something else beside bluff that made his plans work effectively. 

8. A fine soldier though Alfred the Great was, his heart was elsewhere – in religion and law, education and art and literature. At his court he gathered all the scholars he could persuade to settle with him, while he consulted the elder men who were wise in the law. 

9. Francis of Assisi was also a poet as is proved by his hymn “The Canticle of the Sun”, the song full of the freshness of a re-born life, expressing his love of all creation. 

10. Jean Henri Fabre PHOTO, explorer of the insect World, grew up a happy child in spite of poverty. He paddled and went about exploring, found the stream that fed the pond and made a little water wheel. Throughout his life he was a shy man, ill at ease with adults but happy with children. He wrote in his diary, “There were five or six of us: I was the oldest, their master, but still more their companion and their friend.”

11.The loss of an arm and an eye did not stop his career. When he was ordered to retreat facing apparent naval defeat with the Spanish armada outnumbering his own fleet, Horatius Nelson, put on the telescope on his blind eye and said, “I don’t see the enemy, sir,” and then proceeded to fight and won. Dying on the deck of his fighting ship his last words were: “Thank God, I have done my duty.” 

12. Florence Nightingale the founder of the nursing profession had the love, almost the adoration, of her patients. Her patience, her determination and persistence were tested during the Crimean war. Miss Nightingale and 37 women volunteered to work in the war front’s hospitals. In a few weeks the death rate in these hospitals dropped from approximately 42 percent to 2 percent. Florence Nightingale brought healthcare in the battlefield, bringing reforms in management and technology in military hospitals in Crimea where a war was then raging. She instilled discipline among the wounded and sick soldiers while keeping their spirit high, and brought to the attention of the political leaders and society their plight. She demonstrated how valuable women are in a world dominated by men. The world still loves and remembers her as “The Lady of the Lamp.” 

13. Excerpt from the autobiography of Louis Pasteur PHOTO: “I have not yet dared to treat human beings, but the time is not far off, and I am much inclined to begin by myself – inoculating myself with rabies and then arresting the consequences.” Pasteur had never lacked the courage and had never hesitated to come in contact with the most dangerous of the contagious diseases. But it never became necessary because of the arrival of little Joseph Meister, who was bitten by a mad dog. The test was made on the boy and saved his life.”  

                                        

14.The most exciting stories in science involve the sudden spark when mundane observation meets sudden inspiration. Such is the case of the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming, Galileo watching the swing of a lamp in the Cathedral of Pisa and deduced from it the law of the pendulum, and Sir Isaac Newton watching the fall of a apple and deducing the law of gravity.

It is as humorous as the sudden realization by Archimedes of the law of buoyancy. But stories of this sort are not coincidental or incidental; they are deliberate efforts of testing a theory and looking for evidences and application. Such is the story of Louis Pasteur whose discoveries in microbiology led to a new field of medicine which is immunization, Christian Barnard revolutionizing surgery when he conducted the world’s first heart transplant. Such stories continue to amaze us. The Human Genome Project has opened before us a new horizon in medicine heretofore unknown - gene therapy. 

Cause – The Common Denominator.  The common denominator in the lives of these great men and women is that they cling to a cause. Often, it is a very personal one that this borders on egotism. But the cause for which one lives is not for him - it is for others, others’ welfare. That cause is therefore bigger than oneself. It is for which one can give himself away, unselfishly, convincingly at sacrifice level, often renouncing good life. 

Great men are those whose vision and mission are aimed at entering that great hall of humanism – the regard for love, equality, justice, compassion and faith in fellowmen. We quite often hear that the lives of great men and women are the influences of heredity, training and environment. True. But the great reserve is the eight realms of intelligence. We do not go far to prove this contention for our own national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal lived this model life.~ 

 Part 3 - Children and Nature Mural

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 

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

                            

“and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.” 

― Ruskin Bond, Scenes from a Writer's Life

 

“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 dis 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?" ― Tom Stoppard, The Coast of Utopia

                     Part 4 - 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

Part 5 - 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.

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. ~

“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

 Part 5 - 24 Ways of Building a "Children of Nature" Culture

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

 Young biologist studies a specimen. 

 

 Summer  workshops for kids.

 

Tree planting and home gardening 

1. Our children need to know the true meaning of biodiversity. Four attributes - richness in kind, population, interrelationship, dynamic stability (homeostasis)

Biodiversity per se does not guarantee sustainability unless integrated with functioning systems of nature.

2. Our children’s development must be holistic In all four stages: genetic, childhood, lifestyle – and fetal (in the womb). Sing, talk to your baby while in the womb.

3. Our children are at the front line and center of people’s revolution spreading worldwide.

Russian war on Ukraine is accelerating; there is no clear solution seen. Arab Spring is sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, so with the escalating unrest questioning the present world order. All over US the young are angry at economic inequity. Resurgence of instability is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza Strip, Sudan.  The Philippines wakes up to the greatest scandal in government in its history - Pork Barrel (PDAP) and Development Acceleration Program (DAP). 

4. Our children become new heroes – heroes for the environment, martyrs for Mother Earth. Heaven is in a regained Paradise on earth.

The coming of a universal faith, irrespective of denomination. To be saved is not by faith and promise. Heaven starts here on earth.

5. Let’s prepare our children to face the consequences of loss of privacy and secrecy, from personal to institutional transparency.

“You can no longer hide. There is no place you can remain with anonymity.” Wikileak unveiled classified information about the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Bank secrecy laws and safeguards are changing. Citizens have the right to know many hidden financial transactions.

6. Our children’s involvement in social media makes them actors and not mere spectators. They become involved, concerned with issues, local and far reaching.

There is need to strengthen Development Communication (DevComm) over conventional entertainment and reactionary media.

7. Our children will inherit our aging infrastructure. Aging Infrastructure pulls down the economy, increases risk to disaster, creates ghost cities and making life miserable.

A new field of biodiversity has been born in deserted towns, on the 38th Parallel between South and North Korea, in land mines areas, ghost towns, among deserted high rise buildings, in high radiation areas like in Chernobyl (Russia) and Fukushima (Japan).

8. Our children are deprived of natural beauty and bounty with shrinking wildlife, conversion of farms and pastures to settlements, and destruction of ecosystems.

“Canned Nature” (delata) have become pseudo Nature Centers. Gubat sa Siyudad, Fantasyland, Ocean Park, Disneyland

9. Our children, and succeeding generations are becoming more and more vulnerable to various infirmities – genetic, physiological, psychological, pathologic.

Computer Syndrome is now pandemic, and its toll is increasing worldwide. South Korea is the worst hit.

10. Our children’s learning through codification defeats logical thinking and creativity. Thus affect their reasoning power, judgment and decision, originality of thought and ideas.

More and more children are computer-dependent. They find simple equations and definitions difficult without electronic gadget.

11. Our children face the age of singularity whereby human and artificial intelligence are integrated. Robotics robs human of his rights and freedom – new realm of curtailment and suppression. (2045 – The Year Man Becomes Immortal – Time Magazine)

This is falsehood!

12. Our children find a world of archives - memories, reproductions, replicas – of a real world lost before their own time.

We are making fossils, biographies, dirges and laments, as if without sense of guilt.

13. Our children will realize that optimism will remain the mainstay of human evolution, rising above difficulties and trials. Hope is ingrained in the human brain that makes vision rosier than reality.

Anxiety, depression will continue to haunt, in fact accompany progress, but these all the more push optimism up and ahead.

14. Our children are overburdened by education. They need freedom to learn in their own sweet time and enjoy the bliss and adventure of childhood and adolescence.

E-learning is taking over much of the role of schools and universities. Open Universities, Distance Learning will dwarf classroom instruction. Beginning of a new University of Plato’s dream.

15. Our children will witness in their time the beginning of a post-capitalism order, environmental revolution, rise of growth centers and shift in economic dominance and order, more green technologies, and space exploration.

This is Renaissance in the new age.

16. Our children will continue looking for the missing links of science, history, religion, astronomy etc, among them the source of life itself and its link with the physical world.

Linking of disciplines, narrowing down the gaps of specializations, making of a new Man and culture.

17. Our children become more and more transient in domicile where work may require, and for personal reasons, and when given choice and opportunity in a global perspective, intermarriages notwithstanding.

“Citizen of the world” is a person without a specific country. He is therefore, "rootless," so to speak. Humans since creation are rooted politically, culturally – and principally, biologically.

18. Our children will have a family size of ideally 2 or 3 children, enabling them to achieve their goals and dreams in life. They will strengthen the middle class the prime mover of society.

A natural way of family planning and population planning, trend of industrialized countries.

19. Our children will clean the land, water and air we the generation before littered. They will heal the earth we defaced, damage. With generation gap closed, the task will be shared by all.

We must be good housekeepers of Mother Earth now.

20. Our children will be part of devolution of power, decentralization of authority, a new breed of more dedicated leaders.

Children hold the key to change. It’s the Little Prince that changed and saved the pilot in an ill-fated plane crash in Sahara.

21. Our children face acculturation and inter racial marriages. Mélange of races is on the rise – Eurasian, Afro-American, Afro-Asian, etc. – a homogenization process that reduces as a consequence natural gene pool.

Culturally and scientifically, this is dangerous. Homogenization leads to extinction of races and ultimately the species.

22. Our children will live simpler lives, going back to basics, preferring natural over artificial goods and services. In the long run they will be less wasteful than us.

There is always a hidden desire to escape when things get rough. This is instinct for survival either by detour or turning back.

23. Our children face the coming of the Horsemen of Apocalypse – consequence of human folly and frailty (nuclear, pollution, poverty). More than we grownups, they are more resilient to adapt to the test.

History tells us that this is true.

24. Postmodernism may do more harm than good for our children in a runaway technology and culture. They cannot and will not be able to keep with the pace and direction of change.

This is not true. “I am the master of my fate, I’m the captain of my soul.” And this is what we want our children to become – but only when they are CHILDREN OF NATURE. ~

* LESSON on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

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

 

Attain Peace of Mind with Nature in Ten Ways

Attain Peace of Mind with Nature 

in Ten Ways 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Part 1 - A Walk with Nature - Leisure and Therapy

Part 2 - Excellence is next to Perfection

Part 3 - Discover Nature and Discover Yourself

Part 4 - In Pursuit of Happiness - A Self-Assessment

Part 5 - In Praise of Nature

Part 6 - Capture the Happy Moments

Part 7 - Kids' World of Nature - Where childhood is forever

Part 8 - MOTHER is the sweetest word in any language.

Part 9 - Home, Sweet Home in 50 Ways

Part 10 - Key to Peace of Mind

             Part 1 - A Walk with Nature - Leisure and Therapy

When was the last time you took a nature's trail? Camping in the wood? Walking down the beach? Nature invites you to relax, to find peace of mind - and to be healed.

Walking among pine tree saplings. Tagaytay 2008

Walking is leisure and therapy when you combine and harmonize your body, mind and spirit with nature. It is an exercise that restores gait and adds strength, and it brings inner peace. The mind becomes sharper; sensitivity is honed. And just like what the Greeks believed to be the fountain of youth, it could be the missing key to “a healthy mind in a healthy body.”

They say that to keep yourself healthy and active you must exercise regularly. It is one way to keep yourself fit with their environment. But more than physical fitness, the psyche must be given equal treatment. They must be exercised altogether. And the catalyst is Nature.

This is particularly true to one approaching middle age or old age. It is important to slow down, harmonizing the body and mind. Slow down in the same way jogging comes to the pace of easy walking. Make exercise not as a task but leisure.

To achieve this, first you must condition yourself to
• have peace of mind,
• be positive,
• be keen with nature’s presence and rhythm, and
• remember, it’s your day.

While the body responds to the physical world such as the condition of the road, and presence of people and objects, the mind is keen with the beauty of the surroundings and creates images that only the person concerned personally experiences. Here environment and imagery become one.

Listen to the Songs of Birds
One morning on the grounds of the University of Santo Tomas I heard a Philippine black-headed shrike or tarat or panal (Lanius schach nasutus). Its crispy calls signal the arrival of the Siberian High. It tells of harvest time and kite flying. The chilly air is exhilarating to breathe. Listening to its rhythmic calls, I soon found out that its kin had arrived at the same tree, and soon I became an audience of their concert. I stopped walking to hear and watch them until they moved to another tree.

At one time I saw another bird – pandangera (Rhipidura javanica nigrotorquis), named after its tail that constantly moved and opened like a fan. I searched for it in a nearby fire tree about to shed its leaves, and while it sang and danced, sent showers of yellowing leaves to the ground. Happier and more musical than that of the tarat, it also came with the annual migration of birds as the Northern Hemisphere approached winter.

What an unusual experience to find these rare creatures in the heart of a crowded metropolis – indeed a sanctuary in a concrete jungle. To me there is nothing sweeter than recollecting of farm life, giving zest to urban living.

Take time to appreciate the creatures of the air - the epitome of freedom. Watch them soar and ride on the wind. Play hide-and-seek with them among the trees. Listen intently to their songs. Pick up a tune, imitate and put them into notes. Observe their kinship. Search their nests. Birds are among the most beautiful creatures, especially the males. Study their plumage. Marvel at how nature engineered them for flight and arboreal life. Reflect on this, “If I have wings, will I find freedom and peace?”

Understand the Ways of Nature
While strolling along the water edge of the man-made lake at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, I stopped to rest beside a mudflat where water had earlier receded. Seeds had begun germinating while minute snails combed its the slimy surface, leaving trails glistening in early sunshine. Holes suggested there were creatures living underneath it. And yet the mudflat looked like a wasteland – a paradox, because there was much water around.

Not far away was another mudflat, much older than the first because plants have colonized it and were vigorously competing for sun and space. I saw grasshoppers trapped in spider web, a house lizard stalking for its prey, beneath it was a toad, eyes half open. It was a mini forest of sort.

Taking the same route in the weeks that followed, the bare mudflat turned into greenery, while the older mudflat become part of the lakeshore which was to become part of its bank. I pondered on the gradual transformation of the mudflats every time I took the same route.

The ways of nature are mysterious. Learn to adapt to its laws and order continuously and without end. While you will never fully understand them, you will find them useful to living in many ways, enriching it with so many blessings.

Some years ago I wrote a verse and I quote:

“You are alone at your lowest ebb.

At low tide the sea reveals her shore

That bathes under the sun to its edge.

Go to the sea and learn its chore.” 

    - A.V. Rotor, Nymphaea: Beauty in the Morning

Learn the realities of life as may be gleamed from the mudflats – or from the seashore in this poem. You realize that renewal is a fact and is happening everywhere. There is renaissance everyday. The cycle of nature is dynamic aimed at rebirth and stability - so with your life.

The mudflat became part of the shoreline and soon enough, became strong to protect the lake from erosion and siltation. How do we compare this with life? Similarly the foundation of life undergoes an orderly process, seasoned with time, and aimed at a goal. Stop now and then, and reflect on the dynamic evolution of the landscape and life itself.

A Short List for Sharing
How do we share our experiences with others?

Take these practical clues. Take notes and seize the moment. A scribble here, a scribble there will certainly refresh thoughts and memories. They enshrine feelings and capture imagery. Here is a list I made from my observations on the UST campus and while strolling at the Parks and Wildlife Center.

1. I discovered germinating seeds along the sidewalk and under the trees, pale green in the early sun rays, shy and delicate but daring to meet the world. Get close to them and observe the beginning of life.

2. It is the olfactory sense that works this time: the white, clustered flowers of dita (Alstonia scholaris) are most fragrant at dawn and dusk. They are inconspicuous during the day. Stop and smell their fragrance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the mind keeps us up in our work, so does it makes walking with nature an enjoyable experience.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Nymphaea water lilies come in white, yellow, red and purple, and are most beautiful if they come out spontaneously in the same pond. The flowers open slowly with sunrise. Sit down by the pond and observe them. Bees hover and alight on the open flowers, taking time to gather pollen, and kissing the dew and nectar.

4. The fire tree (Delonix regia) casts a dainty veil in the sky. What a contrast with the fire it breathes in summer! Shy, the veil is the finest of all foliage, filtering the morning sunlight into long fine rays converging in the misty air below. Such are the contrasting characters of this tree – one associated with fire and blood, the other of calmness and humility.

5. The traveller’s palm (Ravenola madagancariensis) is supposed to guide a lost traveler, providing him direction and precious water. But the fan-like arrangement of its leaves are in disarray, apparently because it has lost its sense of direction in the crowded garden. How many of us have also lost direction in our lives in crowded cities?

6. A giant African snail (Achatina fulica) leaves a slimy trace during the night, and remains docile during the day. Introduced by the Japanese soldiers during WW II, it has become an orphan and a pest, an enemy of gardeners. What a way to live!

7. A house lizard darts on flies and gnats. Either it is a late or early feeder. For the house lizard is nocturnal and sleeps during the day. But early morning finds them still on their prowl. Creatures have different biological clocks.

8. Balete (Ficus benjamina) – I find it a villain, strangling its host tree with massive prop roots. The parasite uses its host as prop and trellis until it has gained enough body to stand by itself like any tree. Man can be as cruel as the balete. Don’t get within the strangler’s hold of the balete.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being a biped is an advantage of man over all other creatures, for at this level we are most keen to what is happening around.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. The Philodendron is kinder, it is a soft vine, it snakes up into the branches to catch the sun, its roots clinging on its host, but not harming it. As summer arrives, it retreats, leaving but some stems from which new buds grow the next season.

10. Old camphor trees are as old as two generations, I saw them for the first time I came to Manila in the sixties. They were already mature trees then. Now they senile and dying. It is the polluted air that is killing them. So with the agoho trees (Casuarina equisitifolia). I don’t find the old ones anymore.

Oasis: Fancy or Myth?
It used to stroll at the Sunken garden of the University of the Philippines in Diliman. On a couple of occasions I conducted an on-the-spot painting contest for a summer workshop here. Even during summer this one place remains like an oasis in the desert. It is because it is the basin of the surrounding watershed. The ponds are always full. Ducks are friendly to picnickers, cicadas sing in the trees unafraid, and frogs even croak in the day. Some people throw something in the water, a coin perhaps, wishing for something.

I looked at the calm water. It was perfect mirror. I took a piece of paper and wrote my thoughts.

Tell me your throes,

Worries and woes;

And to the fishes

Your wistful wishes.

I laughed at what I wrote and threw a pebble. Ripples erased my thoughts.

Now and then you look for a “oasis” because there is drought around. Here you feel detached, even while others suffer, even if the world is in trouble. While you prefer the lighter side of life, you can’t remain in the comfort zone of the oasis forever. Otherwise you miss the many challenges of life that bring about its true meaning.

Walking is not a means of escape. It is not one when there is trouble at home, or when we want to evade responsibility. It is not recourse either. You simply can’t reason out, “Sorry it’s time for my leisure.” Even if it is in keeping with good health and groom. There must be something bigger that should aim at.

Teachers on field trip follow nature trail on Mt. Makiling, Laguna

Keep on walking. Pass through the UST botanical garden, walk on the banks of the Parks and Wildlife lake, and promenade in lush greenery of the Sunken Garden. While you take time in these places, keep on walking into a bigger world to meet people, to share with them the great experience of walking with nature. It is yet the best walk you ever did on earth. ~

Part 2 - Excellence is next to Perfection 

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether this happens at twenty or at eighty.

In response to several requests, I am writing down this third part of Excellence.  The first and second part are posted in this blog. 

Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian man, circa 1490 is also called the Canon of Proportions or Proportions of Man. The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius who described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical Orders of architecture.

1. "There is more to life than increasing speed." (Mahatma Gandhi)

"Haste makes waste,"  Stop-look-listen, has saved many lives. "He who runs fast cannot see the countryside." "Who walks fast gets a stabbing wound." "Stop before you reach deadend." These are some lessons I learned early from my dad.

I remember a story about a trader driving a cart loaded with coconuts for the market.
"How can I get there quickly?" he asked an old man on his way.

"Just go slow." quipped the old man.

"Foolish old man," he muttered and galloped on the dirt road.  The nuts spilled and rolled, he had to stop now and then to retrieve his nuts.  He reached the market late.

 2. We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

Novelist Ernest Hemingway's favorite photo is one showing him kicking an empty can on the road, football style.

The lost pilot in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's novelette, The Little Prince, found company with a  "little prince"  in the desert while trying to repair his plane.  The child turned out to the little child in oneself, the one who never grows old, who never loses hope and idealism. It is this child that enabled him to go back to civilization.

3. Whatever we possess becomes of double value when we share it with others. 

And if that possession is more than its material value such happiness or love or compassion, it does not only double but will multiply every time we share it with others.  Good deeds defy mathematical law. Kindness, in fact is the highest wisdom. (Talmud)

What makes Gone with the Wind an all-time top grosser is its superb portrayal of human frailties that continue to haunt us.

4. "Although the world is very full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." Helen Keller.

  
Helen Keller was blind since infancy.  She rose to fame to become one of the world's greatest women - author, teacher, philosopher - and proved that no infirmity in a person can prevent him or her to live fully and be of service to others. 

Many great men and women were able to overcome their own limitations.  Beethoven was totally deaf when he wrote his musical masterpieces. Claude Monet was losing his sight when his painted Water Lilies, his ultimate masterpiece in huge murals. We know of people around us who succeeded in life in spite of their sufferings.  Suffering to them  could be the compelling reason for success.  They took the least trodden path of life that is most challenging, yet the most rewarding. 

5. Anyone who stops learning is old, whether this happens at twenty or at eighty.
People struggle to learn to earn, to earn to learn, but the most difficult is to learn to learn.  If we do not open the door to knowledge, the world closes and leaves us behind. 

6. In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on. (Robert Frost) In fact it is Frost's theme in many of his poems such as Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, which ends with this stanza. 

                                          The woods are lovely dark and deep,
                                                  But I have promises to keep,
                                          And miles to go before I sleep, 
                                               and miles to go before I sleep. 

7.  "From the errors of others a wise man corrects his own." Publilus Syrus
This is not often the case.  Developing countries follow the path of industrialization of advanced country and commit the same mistakes. There are more broken families today than before, and in fact, increasing.  

8. When opportunity knocks, some people are in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers.
Many people take the four-lobed clover leaf as a symbol of good luck like marrying a rich guy, winning the Lotto's jackpot, stumbling on a gold mine. Mother luck is one-in-a-million chance, a castle in the sky, a wish come true in a falling star.

Luck is opportunity you take by the horn, so to speak. it is the fruit of labor.  Or one we read on a jeepney, "Katas ng pawis," a reward from perspiration.  Or "Katas ng Saudi" (Oversea's earning)  

 

Mimosa pudica (makahiya)

I pulled a joke on my students in a field lecture, "Whoever can pick an unfolded leaf of makahiya (Mimosa) will find his or her wish come true." Meantime I took a rest under a tree.                                                              

9. To some people truth is not only stranger than fiction, but it's a total stranger. 

A survey revealed that more and more Americans believe the Holy Bible as fiction. Others, to the extreme, detached themselves from organized religions.  They call themselves nones.  

I remember a story of two friends. One said, "I don't belief in a God." Evidently he is an atheist.

"Oh, I see!" quipped the other, as they continued walking on the golf range.

The sky was heavy.  Suddenly a bolt of lightning cracked nearby. The atheist automatically crossed himself and mentioned God.   

"I thought you don't believe in God." 

"Reflex action, lang yan."~

Ignorance is false reflection of truth. (UST Fountain of Knowledge) 

10. Nothing makes an argument more interesting than ignorance.

A debate may go on and on in the name of justice and honesty and love, ad infinitum. And quite often, ignorance hides under the skirt of Motherhood Statements where no one appears to be wrong. And truth becomes more difficult to find.

Argument for the sake of finding the truth tells us why Socrates, the father of philosophy and the most revered citizen of Athens in "the glory that was Greece"  was condemned to die.   Why Aesop, father of fables - moralism in animal stories - was pushed to his death from a cliff?    Ignorance is truly dangerous. the enemy of truth. It is not falsehood. 

In the list of the world's best political novels are Tolstoy's War and Peace and Rizal's Noli Me Tangere. Excellence has its own time and often accompanies a great idea whose time has yet to come.  

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]

  Part 3 - Discover Nature and Discover Yourself

Get out of your confine, find a place in nature, live with her beauty and bounty, her people and community, you may yet find the meaning of life.

Idyllic Farm Life mural by the author, circa 2002

If you've been in all your life living on the fast lane, trying to beat everyone, though you know you'll never win this nameless race;

If you've been residing in a high rise building, taller than everything around,
and touching the clouds, and you know your feet is off the ground;

If you've been missing the passing of seasons, the wonders that each brings,
though you keep the holidays and weekends;

If you've been constantly bothered by ailments that medicine can only relieve,
and not cure, and doctors can only advise;

If you've lost contact with your roots through the years of searching for fame,
wedging farther your connection, feeling like an orphan;

If you've succeeded in your career, rising to the top to the awe and admiration
of your colleagues, yet deep inside is a feeling of emptiness;

If you've reached retirement after all the years of work and its responsibilities,
but trapped in a dull, prosaic life of boredom;

If you've lost your loved ones, alone you gather the pieces of happy memories,
nostalgic they are the rest of your life;

If you've been a good and loving guardian to your own children and other children,
and they call you dad or lolo, and feeling being young again;

Get out of your confine, find a place in nature, live with her beauty and bounty,

her people and community, you may yet find the meaning of life. ~

 Part 4 - In Pursuit of Happiness  - A Self-Assessment 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index has recently gained a place in measuring the level of development of a country by inputing an elusive parameter which is happiness.  GNH Index can be downsized for local application, individually or by group or community that is closely knit.

Relationship is still the Number One source of happiness

However, the standard development index remains: Gross National Product (GNP) Index, the annual total value of goods and services generated by a country within and outside its shores, as differentiated from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total value generated within the country only.

This was modified to include Human Development (HD) Index, in order to determine how a country's wealth and earnings are used for the  welfare of its citizens in terms of health, education, housing, and the like.

Parameters of Happiness of GNH Index:

1. Psychological Well-Being

2. Health

3. Time Use

4. Education

5. Cultural Diversity

6. Good Governance

7. Community Vitality

8. Ecological Diversity and Resilience

9. Living Standards

10. Family

11. Spirituality

12. Sense of Achievement

Enjoying the beauty and bounty of Nature 

Quaintness of living (Bannawag Magazine staff) 

Individual perception of course, varies, so that it is suggested that a kind of self-evaluation be conducted using the Likert Scale: 

1 Very Poor, 2 Poor, 3 Fair, 4 Good, and 5 Very Good. 

Compute the average by adding the values of all the parameters, and divide the total with 12.  This is the general perception of happiness of the person concerned. What is equally - if not more important - is in being able to find out the main source of happiness, at the same time, the least. This exercise therefore, is aimed at re-affirming our sense of values in the pursuit of happiness. So does a community or country.

NOTE: The Gross National Happiness Index was coined by the fourth king of Bhutan, a small country on the Himalayas, claimed to be the place where "the fountain of youth can be found."  Anyone who has seen the movie The Lost Horizon -  better still read the novel - will certainly wish to live here. Bhutan started using GNH as a broader measure of national progress than GNP, following an old Eastern philosophy.   

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

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

    Part 5 - In Praise of Nature 

Dr Abe V Rotor

“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.” —Leo Tolstoy

Green Planet, acrylic on wood, by AVRotor, 2021. On display as 

chandelier at San Vicente Botanical Garden, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Lifeless, our planet turned green in a billion years;

another billion into a living world,

in chains and webs and pyramids, and ecosystems, 

with man arriving late in accord. 

Convergence in Nature

                        Convergence in Nature, detail of painting by AV Rotor 2017

To see the world in every living tree,

And Heaven in dawn’s solemnity;

Hold infinity in birds flying free

And eternity in peace and unity.

Adapted from William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence

Dimorphic Drynaria Fern

Dimorphic Drynaria Fern in acrylic by the author, 2014  

Two kinds of leaves have you to catch the sun,

rain and organic matter;

when in summer time, one dies into cap and pan

to give life to the other.

Spring on the meadow

Spring on the meadow in acrylic by the author

Mist into dewdrops like beads of pearl,

cling on grass before the sun is up,

else vanish in the air and lost forever;

come and drink from my little cup.

Rainforest Stream

Rainforest Stream. A composite wall mural by the author of a running stream 

through the woods, apparently near human habitation as shown by the 

presence of promenades and fishing enthusiasts enjoying themselves 

as in a park. Also, the stream empties into a pond of Nymphaea and Lotus

 (foreground} giving the impression that the scene is at the edge of a clearing. 

Nonetheless the whole scene speaks of an undisturbed ecosystem. The 

presence of wildlife shows that this is their natural habitat. (9ft x 12ft) 

St. Paul University, QC

Gather the clouds into fog and mist,

       rain and stream;

Gather the fish, the birds and the beasts

       to a peaceful reign. ~

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." 

- John Muir

Part 6 

 Capture the Happy Moments  

 “A good life is a collection of happy moments.”

― Denis Waitley

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Happy moments are fleeting like passing cloud,

hovering with hope of rain falling;

though at times they come along like a shroud, 

       full of surprise or just sweet nothing.  - avr

  

“A happy moment can last a lifetime if you remember to smile when 

you think of it.” ― Anonymous

 

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what 

you do are in harmony." —Mahatma Gandhi

Smile makes the world smile, too;

weep, and you weep alone, they say;

while playing or whatever you do,

    create an aura of love to stay. - avr 

 

 

Little things mean a lot may be a simple phrase,

         yet no deed is too small to deserve the praise. - avr

“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends 

will leave footprints in your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Each to his or her own, goes the saying;

    perhaps in quiet moments and prayer;

but not when others are around sharing 

       the joy of the occasion altogether.  - avr

"Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget 

about it."  -  Jaques Prevert

 

“The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.” – Elisabeth Foley

 

Who is brave, who is humble,

    matters not in peace or trouble;

     the world will little note the joy,

       the innocence of a little boy. - avr

"The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us." —Ashley Montagu

 

“Never forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, 

as you will always find me yours.” – Ludwig van Beethoven

 

     We don't outgrow sweet memory,

      whether real story or fantasy. 

 Oh! how time flies - and today -

                                    it seems to be only yesterday. - avr    

“Go on! Live a true happy life – in spite of odds, difficulties and pains – and proudly say at Angelus time, “Yes, I have had a successful life.” This is the highest form of prayer and thanksgiving you can offer to the wonderful, benevolent Creator. “ -  AV Rotor

Part 7 - Kids' World of Nature -

 Where childhood is forever 

(In celebration of UN Children's Month, November 2023)

Kids' World of Nature -

Where childhood is forever

"Fleeting moments are most precious,

ephemeral yet eternal. The child in you

lives to the golden years of your life."

Dr Abe V Rotor

Catching land crabs with a bamboo trap. Palauig, Zambales

How I love to catch gammarong (Ilk) crab

when I was like my son Leo Carlo;

he learned the skill early from me, passed on

by old folks by the sea; Leo in turn

shall teach others before the art is lost,

as treasured trade and tradition.

Building sandcastles. Morong, Rizal

Building sandcastles, building dreams,

on waking up are gone, but they return

as sandcastles and dreams again

throughout youth, higher and bigger,

crumbling leaving ruins of memories,

ruins where castles once stood proud,

uniting reality and fantasy into a happy,

wonderful and fulfilled life.

Summer fun on the beach. San Juan, Ilocos Sur

Frolic in company with the waves and tides,

when the sea is as blue as the sky, and wish

boyhood is forever and never dies;

or you'll always tarry in later years if you don't;

for fleeting moments are most precious,

ephemeral yet eternal in that child in you

who lives into the golden years of life.

Christmas for under-the-bridge children. Pasay MM

The bells of Christmas sound louder among the poor;

the Bethlehem star shines brighter, too.

The angels come earlier in their homes without door.

in exchange of a simple lantern or two.

Instant swimming pool from busted pipe. Sta. Mesa, MM

A swimming pool in the middle of a street,

a busted pipe blessing to a dozen kids

in the neighborhood in frolic and laughter;

like a Riviera or Thoreau's Walden;

it's a children's world, a corner of Eden.

Mushrooms growing on a tree stump. UP Diliman QC

Mushrooms on a stump, home of the dwarfs:

red, yellow, white, or in disguise,

each color a character, a foe or a friend,

to find where the pot of gold lies.

Nipa Hut by the river, Tagbilaran, Bohol

Frolicking - game of the vibrant and the young,

recreating a primordial social bond;

where innocence means freedom and adventure,

In sweet abandon, here and beyond. ~

Part 8 - MOTHER is the sweetest word in any language.

 In Celebration of Mother's Day May 14, 2023

Dr Abe V Rotor

8.1 "My mom is a never-ending song in my heart."

Author's spouse, Cecille, and their daughter, Anna Christina, on the latter's graduation day at Ateneo de Manila University with an MS degree in Information Technology, 2010 

Mother is perhaps the most popular subject in all fields of endeavor and in all walks of life.

It is one of the most powerful words, specially when used in personification, analogy, simile and other figures of speech. It is used to describe both animate and inanimate objects, often putting "life" in an inanimate thing.

Mother pertains to origin and everything has an origin - innate and immanent, and from the time of conception, be it biological, idea or thought. The meaning of mother is readily absorbed in the human mind without undue restraint it is closest to love itself.

Of the definitions of a Mother I have chosen these quotations from famous men and women whose success is undoubtedly traced to the greatest queen and ultimate image of Mother Earth.

But how little do we know the vast goodness, beauty and magnificence of a Mother! Lo, to us who only see them through a keyhole, and not have the key to unlock the door.

The sweetest sounds to mortals given
are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven. ~William Goldsmith Brown (author)

I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine - she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights. ~Adabella Radici (author)

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving (author)

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. - Abraham Lincoln (US President)

Some mothers are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together. ~Pearl S. Buck (author)

The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes (philosopher, historian and author)

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. ~Honoré de Balzac (philosopher)

My mom is a never ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune. ~ Graycie Harmon

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty (actress)

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day for the year 2023 is celebrated/ observed on Sunday, May 14th. Mother's Day is observed the second Sunday in May. It is a time to honor mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers for their contribution to family and society. Since it is not a federal holiday, businesses may be open or closed as any other Sunday.

8.2 - "A boy's best friend is his mother."

There has never been, nor will there ever be, anything quite so special as the love between the mother and a son. (Unknown)

                                                         Markus 3, and his mom.

                           Mother - the sweetest sound:

mommy, mama, mom, nanay, inay;

there's mother in all languages,

her breath, whisper the same thing,

her face, smile, all her images.

Mother Earth, motherland,

universal, living and non-living,

mother's forever, in everything;

when in comfort, when lost,

there's always a mother calling.

Great men, a mother behind,

angel on earth or hereafter,

mother, first word in the cradle,

mother, last word on the dying bed,

first and last rays of the candle.

A Song for Mama, Ave Maria,

on her birthday, on Mothers' Day;

to Ceres, mother of good harvest,

with Gaia, goddess of the earth,

Rhea, mother of all goddesses.

Mother, guardian and teacher,

to her own, orphans, abandoned,

faith is but one, so with love,

old and young, any brethren

are seen as mothers Above.

                                   - avrotor 

Markus, on his 3rd birthday, with his mom. During the first 3 years of life, a child’s brain develops at an astonishing rate. By age 3, the brain has reached 80% of its adult size. Developmental experiences determine the organizational and functional status of the mature brain. It is therefore critical during this time to focus on quality care taking and building a strong and healthy attachment, particularly with the mother or guardian who takes care of the child as a biological mother does.

8.3 Favorite Quotations about Mother

1. A boy's best friend is his mother. - Joseph Stefano (Screenwriter, Black Orchid, and Hitchcock's Psycho)

2. Sons are the anchors of a mother's life. - Sophocles (Ancient Greek writer-dramatist,
Oedipus the King)

3. A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. - Irish Proverb

4. Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged. - Louisa May Alcott (author of The Little Women)

5. A good son will never allow sorrow to befall her mother...and act as if he is an only child that cares...protects when no one dares...serves with his life in return...and most of all finds a wife that will love his mother too. - Helen Rebibis Ramos (Philippine author, Bluemoon of Memories)

            Part 9 - Home, Sweet Home in 50 Ways

"Home provides gives us the sense of belonging and comfort. Home takes the cold out of the body and spirit."

Home on the Farm in acrylic by the author, 1999 Here is a beautiful poem to start the lesson. In the movie, The King and I, Anna the English teacher sang the theme of the song, Home Sweet Home. It was typical in her time when Europeans left their homes and became pioneers in the New World, which was to become the United States of America. Others found the Orient, and for Teacher Anna, it was a special arrangement for her to serve the King of Siam (Thailand) as tutor to his children.

Home Sweet Home
John Howard Payne
Music by Henry Rowley Bishop (1786-1855)
(Arranged for the violin and piano by Henry Farmer)

‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere.
Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;
O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
The birds singingly gaily, that came to my call –
Give me them – and the peace of mind, dearer than all.
Home, Home sweet, sweet Home.
There’s no place like Home! There’s no place like Home!


There are 101 definitions of home. Here is a short list, compliled from our radio audience and website visitors.

1. Home is a roof for everyone, residents and guests.
2. Home is a wall with large windows that let the sun and the breeze in.
3. Home is where fish in the aquarium sparkle in the morning’s sun.
4. Home is a baby smiling, of children playing.
5. Home is a faithful husband and wife.
6. Home is a “place for everything and everything in its place,” but not always.
7. Home is dad and mom waiting for us from school.
8. Home is a workshop for hobbies and inventions.
9. Home is where our dog lies on the doormat waiting for its master.
10. Home is a litter of puppies and kittens.
11. Home is a rooster crowing, nature’s alarm clock.
12. Home is a house lizard’s crispy announcement of a guest coming.
13. Home is a frog croaking in the rain.
14. Home is a safari of wildlife – from insects to migratory birds.
15. Home is a warm embrace of a cat.
16. Home is a cup of coffee, a sip of wine, a newspaper.
17. Home is a warm bath, a cold shower, a bath tub.
18. Home is National Geographic, Time Magazine, Daily Inquirer.
19. Home is ripe tomato, succulent radish, dangling stringbeans,
20. Home is a brooding mother hen in her nest.
21. Home is fresh eggs everyday.
22. Home is the sound of birds and crickets.
23. Home is the sweet smell of flowers, falling leaves, swaying branches in the wind.
24. Home is the sweet smell of the earth after the first rain in May.
25. Home is a singing cicada in the tree.
26. Home is a swarming of gamugamo in the evening.
27. Home is a sala too small for so many friends.
28. Home is a cabinet of books, a study table, a computer.
29. Home is Beethoven, Mozart, Abelardo, Santiago.
30. Home is Charlotte Church, Josh Groban, Sharon Cuneta.
31. Home is Amorsolo. Picasso, Van Gogh.
32. Home is potpourri of appetizing recipes, of the proverbial grandmother apple pie.
33. Home is pinakbet, lechon, karekare, suman, bibingka.
34. Home is a garden of roses, a grass lawn to lie on.
35. Home is an herbarium of plants, a gene bank.
36. Home is home for biodiversity, a living museum.
37. Home is doing repair that has no end.
38. Home is disposing old newspapers, bottles, metal scraps, used clothes.
39. Home is a midnight candle before an exam.
40. Home is a shoulder, a pillow, to cry on.
41. Home is Noche Buena.
42. Home is fireworks on New Year.
43. Home is general cleaning on weekends.
44. Home is a soft bed that soothes tired nerves and muscles.
45. Home is a fire place, a hearth, which takes the cold out of the body and spirit.
46. Home is a Prodigal Son returning, Good Samaritan.
47. Home is a round table where thanksgiving prayer is said.
48. Home is laughter and music, prose and poetry.
49. Home is forgiving, rejoicing, celebrating.
50. Home is angelus and rosary hour.

To sum it all, Home is Home Sweet Home.~

Part 10 - Key to Peace of Mind

How balanced are you today?

Yes, you can earn and enjoy the most elusive state of happiness - Peace of Mind. 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

When you wake up in the morning, go to the mirror so to speak, and look at yourself. Imagine you are at the center of a square. In a perfect square setting you find Peace of Mind. POM has four attributes, which are associated with positive feelings, such as happiness, feeling of good health, mental alertness, calmness, resoluteness, and the like.

A hearty laugh

At one time science tried to devise a biorhythm clock to indicate the ups and down of each of the four attributes. The premise is that every person has his own biological clock greatly influenced by body physiology. A woman's menstrual cycle, for example influences physical condition and temperament. Transition in life stages is a major factor such as the age of puberty, and mid-life crisis which is beautifully expressed, "Life begins at forty." And how about reaching the golden years and the sunset of life?   

    
The coming and passing of seasons dictates the shape of our "square." Winter is generally the loneliest, thanks to Christmas. Spring brings pep and hope, when buds peep from the bare trees, when the birds herald its coming. Summer is vacation, it is a time for loafing and respite. Autumn is sad, but it is a beautiful season.

Then there are circumstances beyond human control such as tragedy in the family, sudden loss of health, broken relationships, and frustration over failures in personal goals.

Whatever conditions you are in today, go to the mirror and see for yourself who you are today.
 
The Magic Square.

1. Intellectually, are you sharp or dull? Have you been forgetful lately? Maybe you have to postpone making a major decision if you are not mentally prepared. On the other hand, make full use of sudden mental alertness. Deliver a paper in a conference, call a staff meeting. Finish a chapter of the book you are writing. It's a new idea, it comes as a spark of genius. Capture it! Just don't submit to your intellectual mood - create one that would bring you the best mind for the day.

2. Psychologically what's eating you? Hold your horse away from anger or aggression. You'll only regret if you submitted yourself to unguarded moments, spurts of emotion which when uncontrolled will lead you to trouble. On the other hand, get out of bed, go to nature, there is a calming effect when you are close to her. Don't deny your genuine feelings though, for good reason. People will love you for being kind, for being compassionate. Remember. "Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone." (The Way of the World, Ella Wheeler Wilcox).

3. Physically, are you fit for the day? Assess the rigors you have to face. If you have been exercising regularly, keeping away from smoking and drugs, and taking the right food, your fitness is not only for a day. True fitness is a long term reward of strict regimen of good health. And remember to keep a positive disposition, just like the Greek philosophy, "A healthy mind in a healthy body."

4. The spirit - the Little Prince in every person (The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery) - is key to attaining an ideal square of your life. Feeling of emptiness is traced to a spiritual vacuum - when the inner person is neglected. When the "why" in life gets more and more difficult to answer, when life's true meaning comes to a crossroad - or even to a dead end. When spirituality can be neglected even in the midst of religious fervor, and therefore will not grow. When winning is not a win-win equation, when the pedestal is out of reach, the spirit fades away. Take heed, don't wait for the day you get lost in the Sahara desert.

Balance yourself today, the best way you can. Continue doing so day after day, until it becomes a discipline - self-discipline. Only then can you earn and enjoy the most elusive state of happiness - Peace of Mind. ~

---------

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