Dr Abe V Rotor
Textbook used in Humanities subject, and as reference for related subjects under the new curriculum (K to 12), by Dr AV Rotor and Dr KM Doria, published by C&E Publishing Co., Inc.
Humanities
makes a beautiful tapestry of humanity. It presents the wholeness of the human
being worthy of "perfection" the Creator conceived of man.
1. Humanities brings out the sense of awe and wonder.
“Son, what do you remember as the happiest moment in your life?” asked a dying
old man at his deathbed.
“When we went fishing, dad, and caught fireflies on our way back to camp.”
“Thank you.” And the old man smiled. It was a parting sealed by sweet memory of
childhood.
Humanities brings out the sense of awe and wonder, specially to the young, of
the things around , of life processes and cycles, the passing of seasons and
ages. It makes one aware of even the minute existence of things, the
transformation of the ordinary into something beautiful.
Children Fishing in the field, painting by the author.
Wonder the summer night, camping by a
lake, home outside of home,
no roof but the sky, no walls, no gate, stars and
fireflies mingle as one;
Wonder the breeze blow and weave through the trees, comb
the grass,
carry into the sky kites of many colors and make greeting
the rainbow;
“The sense of wonder is indestructible, that it would last throughout life, an
unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years.” Says
Rachel Carson, author of an all-time favorite novel, Silent Spring. It is true,
the sense of wonder prepares the young to face and conquer the world.
2. Humanities builds on the framework of truth and values
Even with few words the mind is set to
explore, giving way to imagination beyond mere reason. Brevity is the framework
of the mind, the heart and spirit in the Lord’s Prayer and the Gettysburg
Address of America’s most loved leader, Abraham Lincoln. It is also a path to
humility in greatness, a union of the classical and the contemporary
The Gleaners by Jean Francois Millet
If the story of the Creation can be told in 400 words, if the Ten Commandments
contain 297 words, if Lincoln’s immortal Gettysburg Address was only 266 words,
if an entire concept of freedom was set in the Declaration of Independence in
about 1,300 words – it is up to some of us to use fewer words, and thus save
the time energy, vitality, and nerves of those who must read or listen. (Jerome
P Fleishman)
3. Humanities brings out the human spirit
Guernica, a plaza mural made by the greatest modern painter Pablo Picasso,
ignited popular revolt against the Nazi regime. On the huge mural were embedded
hidden images that conveyed principles of truth and freedom.
Similarly, in an earlier era, our own hero Juan Luna painted Spolarium,
(centerpiece of the National Museum), a mural depicting the Filipinos under
Spanish rule suffering like the gladiators during the Roman times, a visual
message for the people to realize their plight. Later Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere,
one of the greatest books ever written in the category of War and Peace by
Tolstoy, and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, extolled the coming of a new world
order – post-colonialism and the birth of new nations.
4. Humanities brings tranquility in crisis
It may be strange to know that Winston Churchill, the great English hero of
WWII, still found time to paint by the bank of the Thames. Arts bring
tranquility in times of crisis, and elevate the senses on a higher vantage
plane of vision. Putting down his brush and easel, he would then return to the
battlefield with greater revolve to save Great Britain from the ravaging war.
And to a greater surprise, what was it that Churchill painted? Peace.
Graffiti Art on Berlin Wall speaks of peace and unity. The wall fell down after more than twenty long years.
It was the other way around five hundred years earlier when the great
Michelangelo who single handedly painted the huge ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
would descend from the scaffoldings, exchanged his paint brush with sword and
fought side-by-side his benefactor the Pope, and when victory was apparent
would climb back to finish his masterpiece. The result: the biggest composite mural
that brought God, the angels and saints, down to earth., making the Sistine a
microcosm of the Kingdom of Heaven.
5.
Humanities is guardian of movements and schools
From the paintings of early man in the Lascaux caves in France, to the
surrealism of Salvador Dali, humanities has kept faithful to the evolution of
human creativity expressed in various aspects of human life, pouring out from
palaces and cathedrals to the villages and streets. For arts no longer belong
to selected societies and cultures. Impressionism took over Romanticism and
translated Realism for the grassroots, subsequently bypassing standards of
perception, and permeating into the unconscious seeking expression and
catharsis. Expressionism founded by Vincent Van Gogh opened a wider door to
abstractionism that subsequently spilled into post-modernism.
Old bridge across Banaoang Pass, realistic painting by the author
“What’s abstract? a young art enthusiast
once asked, dutifully I answered:
“When you look through the window of a car
running so fast that views are blurred.”
“What’s expressionism?” an elder one asked;
“When the car stops, or just about,
yet still running inside, seeking, searching
for the spring of life to pour out.”
“And what is impressionism?” a third asked,
and I said: It’s sitting on a fence -
On one side Amorsolo, the other Ocampo,
It’s the spirit of art past and hence. ~
6. Humanities aims at goodness and peace
Propagandism and license are perhaps
the greatest enemy of Humanities. The world plunged into two global wars,
followed by half a century of cold war - the polarization into opposite
ideologies that froze mankind at the brink of Armageddon, awakening Humanities
to a new dimension - the search for peace.
And as in the Renaissance, Humanities centered on rebirth and renewal of man’s
faith in his destiny. Peace reigned the longest in contemporary times in spite
of local conflicts. And for a century or so Humanities blossomed into wide
popularity and acclaim, and rich diversity today, dominating media, commerce,
industry and in practically all aspects of life, which often venture on the
boundaries of humanities itself, among them pornography, religious extremism,
acculturation, among others.
7. Humanities is keeper and pioneer of the arts
Humanities gave the world the finest of human achievements and continues to do
so - timeless classics from novel to cinema, painting to photography, colonial
design to high rise structures, stage play to TV and Internet show. Man’s glory
is akin to humanities - Venus de Milo, Taj Mahal, Borobudur, Eiffel Tower,
Hallelujah, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, The Little Prince. to name a
few.
Humanities discovered superstars like Elvis Priestley and Michael Jackson, and
our own local sensation Leah Salonga.
8. Humanities faces challenge of the cyber age
But arts has also plunged into a deep and unknown global pool bringing across
the world cultures heretofore unknown and appreciated, and riding on
postmodernism into the chartless world of cyberspace. Which leads us to a
puzzle, Quo vadis, Humanus?
9. Humanities elevates reverence for life and Nature
Flowers - universal symbol of love, devotion and peace. On the occasion of Cecille's birthday.
And yet humanities is anchored on a strong foundation, none other than the
place of his birth and his ascension into Homo sapiens - Nature.
Reverence
to Nature is reverence for life, the highest expression of man through
humanities. From this relationship he finds inspiration in his arts and
technology, in seeking knowledge and wisdom, and in enhancing the unity and
harmony of creation, and among mankind into a living network.
10. Humanities is the custodian of the network of humanity
We are the World – the song that united the world by the compassion it created
for the dying is perhaps the greatest humanitarian movement in recent times,
originally USA to Africa in the eighties, and was repeated during the Haiti
disaster twenty years later. Translated by different races, beliefs, ideologies
into a common call, it brought consciousness to the whole world, that humanity
is a network, a closely knit fabric beautifully expressed in the lyrics of the
song -
There comes a time
When we heed a certain call,
When the world must come together as one.
There are people dying
And it’s time to lend a hand to life,
The greatest gift of all
[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me.
It is a most fitting tribute to mankind through this song, that no man is an
island, that when somebody dies, a part inside each of us also dies, and for
every man’s victory, we too, feel triumphant. Humanity is a beautiful tapestry,
and Humanities is Arachne on the loom.
Humanities makes a beautiful tapestry of humanity. It presents the wholeness of
the human being worthy of "perfection" the Creator conceived of man.
In summary, Humanities
- is a beautiful tapetry of humanity
- brings out the sense of awe and wonder
- builds on the framework of truth and values
- brings out the human spirit
- brings tranquility in crisis
- is guardian of movements and schools
- aims at goodness and peace
- is keeper and pioneer of the arts
- faces challenge of the cyber age
- elevates reverence for life and Nature - is the custodian of the network of humanity.~
Disney's fabled mickey mouse at Avilon Zoo, Rizal. The rat, Rattus rattus mindanensis (field rat) and Rattus rattus norvigicus (city rat) is the worst disease carrier, mainly Bubonic Plague that killed one-third of the population of Europe in the Dark Ages. 
