“Race” should have been made obsolete a long time ago.

❤ ((!egad! 😳 the pretty red heart has been changed to a black one! I like my hearts red!… ottoke???!!!))

————————————————- To the post now (updated with info on 2 documentary films about the First Nations):

The conclusion is this:

Thus, given current scientific data, biological races do not exist among modern humans today, and they have never existed in the past. Given such clear scientific evidence as this and the research data of so many other biologists, anthropologists, and geneticists that demonstrate the nonexistence of biological races among humans, how can the “myth” of human races still persist?

If races do not exist as a biological reality, why do so many people still believe that they do? In fact, even though biological races do not exist, the concept of race obviously is still a reality, as is racism. These are prevalent and persistent elements of our everyday lives and generally accepted aspects of our culture.

Thus, the concept of human races is real. It is not a biological reality, however, but a cultural one. Race is not a part of our biology, but it is definitely a part of our culture. Race and racism are deeply ingrained in our history.

Excerpt from: “There Is No Such Thing as Race” by Robert Wald Sussman, here:

http://www.newsweek.com/there-no-such-thing-race-283123

There’s no sense in referring to persons by the color of their skin. It’s a subtle form of discrimination at the least.

On to a related topic…

This is an excellent huge documentary film first put out in 1995 in a series of parts. It was hosted by Kevin Costner and it is accessible in YouTube (just look for it); or simply buy the DVD. It has also come out in book form so you can try looking for it in your favorite bookstores.

If you hear somebody say that this or that civilization was the best ever, caution, because that person has not actually done research and so the rest of what he is saying could just be his opinion backed by half-truths (ergo, not the truth).

If you liked 500 Nations or if you are interested in the current events associated with the First Nations (American Indians) then you won’t regret seeing this documentary (it looks at the Lakota today; and please “share” it as well as download it if you can 🙂 THANKS!):

Peace

🙂 I made my ‘hearts’ for here 🙂

Hoping for Hope

Sep28

(September 20, 2021. Hello there. How are you today? I have to insert a note here, saying, that I am not “politically motivated” regarding this post. My personal sentiments here is from a person-to-person, or human-to-human, standpoint. That is, I am seeing President Duterte as a person raher than as a politician. Yepper, these are two diferent things where the Philippines (and many other countries) is concerned right now. This post may be polarizing, but I’d rather not remove it because this is true not only for me but for many Filipinos as well, especially those who have experienced the president’s heart ever since he came into the political arena decades ago. Alles gute und viel Spass! Danke!)

(Update. 14th July 2021. Good morning, Everyone. As you can see, this post is already more than half a decade old. And this is on politics. We know how things in politics change very fast. I ask myself how much Pres. Duterte has changed over the years while he’s the president. Honestly, I have no answer. I am a bit disappointed at how much he missed doing what he had planned to do at the start. I’m sure he is, too. My heart goes out to him. His dear friend, the Honorable Perfecto Yasay, Jr., whom he appointed as Secretary for Foreign Affairs (please see blow) is not with us anymore. He succumbed to cancer-complicated pneumonia last year. May he rest in peace. Of what I can sense from the president’s speeches lately, he has become increasingly tired, more tired than when he first said so years ago. I’ll see which Filipino-authored biographies of his speak out from the heart of the common Filipino. Oh, no foreigner-authored biography for me, please. It will be bound to be propagandistic (just being cautious here!), for the revenue and fame. Thanks all the same.)

I’ve just decided that the world is free to condemn Duterte an a_s.

However, for us who understand what’s happening, he’s our chance at making it good in this life ever since European Christianity destroyed our society until today (one can read about it in, for example, “Colonial Mentality: A Review and Recommendation for Filipino American Psychology” by E. J. R. David and Sumie Okazaki, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign). That’s about 500 long years. But whereas Europe has “devalued Christianity,” we to this day remain a “God-fearing people,” maybe all not meticulously “religious” but certainly with a very strong sense of the spiritual <<< this I have no doubt.

The other day an illegal-drug laboratory capable of producing 400 kilos in one day was discovered. The operators abandoned the building when Duterte won the election.

The world can call us a nation of idiots, that’s fine. We’ll just do what we think is right. Anyway, when Duterte talks publicly he actually means it for our consumption, ergo his complete array of colorful expressions — such contextual emphatic expressions that non-Filipinos will find difficult to understand — so that we finally begin to think for ourselves, be free from “colonial mentality” that is our bane.

We had been stu_id as a people and now is our chance to make up.

The industrialized world does not know all this, how we have suffered all these centuries, so they have no right to meddle with how we solve our problems. Instead they should be asking us in what ways we need help, because we urgently need help. But Duterte will not sell our national soul just to get help. If we can educate ourselves to the truth within Duterte’s term, either before he retires or before he is assassinated, then we’d have a hope at stopping the oligarchs’ excesses and give more chances to our poorest folks to better their lives.

The world condemns Duterte just on the basis of his stupid stupid mouth but for us his mouth is the least of our problems. And if indeed he was a cold-bloodied killer then that’s his business before God. (How can his neighbors of/for decades love him if he violates human rights?) But right now he’s not being a cold-bloodied killer as a president. I understand what’s happening. As of now he has restored the power of the law in the land. He constantly lectures us in all of his speeches that we must abide by the law. We have hope now in witnessing the culture of impunity disappear among the elite moneyed class. These are little gods, out of the reach of law. These elite are the remnants of the colonizers. Duterte has made enemies among them simply because he won the election. (There are mga elitista, many of them, who work for the plight of the people, and they are not part of who I’m referring to. There are non-elitista who are biased against Duterte simply because they are embarrassed of his rough ways and they want to distance themselves from him — these are the ones who are slaves to colonial mentality and many of them are fans of Leila de Lima<– that’s link to a video where she hysterically defends herself in front of media, a very un-lawyer-ly and cowardly procedure, instead of facing her accusers at the parliamentary investigations.) 🙂

The police and the wo/men-at-arms have once more become honorable to the people’s eyes. They’re back with their dignity in their correct places because they are sure now that the law will not abandon them to the moneyed-powerful. My people have not felt more safe and more hopeful for a very long time. The 700,000 who voluntarily identified themselves to the police got scared of the power of the law by way of the police. This was what Duterte wanted to happen. The majority were identified, had their names put on record, and were released back to their homes. The rest of us who have not violated the law are not scared of anything at all.

When the world calls Duterte an ass it’s us the people who feel the pain and we are at a loss because the world is more quick to condemn that to find out what’s true. The only way to stop Duterte’s foul mouth is to simply not provoke him in the first place. If the world thinks we’re a stupid primitive bunch, then so be it. We are only trying to survive as humans with dignity.

Here is the Philippines’ foreign policy (DFA Secretary Perfecto Yasay privilege speech, UN General Assembly, Sept. 20-26, 2016). The Secretary of Foreign Affairs Pefecto Yasay, Jr. is a pastor’s kid, a lawyer and teacher in the U.S., and Duterte’s dormitory roommate while both were in law school. Watch and listen: https://youtu.be/ySLG0NVdUZc

—–> Here is a summary of that speech from the UN webpage, below. (Source: https://gadebate.un.org/en/71/philippines )

Statement Summary: PERFECTO R. YASAY, JR., Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, said that after his country’s hard-fought and hard-won independence, it zealously valued and guarded its rights and liberties through democracy and a system of checks and balances. Five months ago, the people had elected new President Rodrigo Roa Duterte with an unprecedented and resounding electoral mandate. For far too long, the Philippines had been unable to fully advance due to corruption, worsening crime, and the prevalence of illegal drugs, and corruption had become the breeding ground for the illegal drug trade. The Government was determined to eradicate illicit drugs and their manufacture, distribution and use. The rule of law and strict adherence to due process fully governed the campaign against corruption and criminality. Noting that the Government’s actions had grabbed national and international attention for all the wrong reasons, he urged everyone “to allow us to deal with our domestic challenges in order to achieve our national goals, without undue interference”. Extrajudicial killings had no place in Philippine society, and the Government did not and would never empower its law enforcement agents to shoot-to-kill any individual suspected of drug crimes, though police had the right to defend themselves when their lives were threatened.

The goal of the Government was to “leave no one behind” in its development strides, he said. The Philippines continued to enhance the delivery and quality of social services, including in health, education, food, water and housing. As one of the most disaster-prone and vulnerable countries to the adverse effects of climate change, the Philippines reiterated its call for climate justice and the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities in the implementation of obligations under the Paris Agreement. The country remained committed to the rule of law and to peace, including the recent decision on the Arbitral Tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with regard to the disputes in the South China Sea. Noting the final and binding nature of the Arbitral Award, the Philippines reaffirmed its commitment to pursuing peaceful resolution to regional disputes.

Here’s another speech that Secretary Yasay gave on September 15 at the CSIS Southeast Asia Program (Center for Strategic and International Studies): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1F1kgh7cbg

. ❤ . I pray that no evil intents interfere with the plans of the president and his cabinet for the nation. I pray that the cabinet officials and their staff stay motivated and creative in all their activities. I wish them all the best of health. I pray that the malicious elements in the senate and the house of representatives listen to their conscience, and change their hearts for the better. I pray that the elite who insist on being blind, up there in their white fanciful tower, come down and have their fancy shoes dirtied with farm manure so that they begin to see reality. I pray that the youth, the young ones who are in schools, study their lessons well and study some more beyond what their teachers could deliver to them because there’s much more truth out there that is not taught in our schools. I pray that all teachers and all of the religious and sacerdotal add to their duties the aim of eradicating “colonial mentality” from the nation’s collective consciousness. I pray for the complete healing of everyone who has decided to turn their backs on drug addiction, and start to be really happy. I pray that persons in government who used their positions for the purpose of enriching themselves stop at their tracks and start giving back to the people the money and goods that they have stolen from everyone. I pray that the person on the street, the ordinary everyday person, hold on to his/her God-given strength, continue to hope, continue to work hard and honestly, until our nation is collectively delivered from the constant threat of poverty. I pray that Filipinos all over the globe take care of their health, stay sane and reasonable, not be blinded by the power of money, and stay spiritually intact in the face of any form of discrimination and cold treatment. I pray that the foreigners in my country stay safe, healthy, happy, and appreciative of the people’s friendliness. And I pray that the little ones, the children, imitate the president’s sweet little daughter and not follow our Tatay or Lolo Digong in speaking bad words. 🙂

My dear president, my virtual teacher, our leader, our elder brother, our friend, please continue to be in good health, stay humble, stay grounded, don’t forget to pray everyday, don’t forget your children’s and grandchildren’s birthdays, stay strong-willed, stay sane and lucid, stay reasonable, stay “transparent”, and manage your stress so that it doesn’t affect your rational judgments. Stay compassionate and sensitive to the poorest among us. May God bless you, our nation, and all peoples of the world.

❤

battle-of-bud-dajo-march-7-1906

Source of picture above: http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/moro-insurgents-1906/

That was the picture that Duterte was referring to at the meeting with the ASEAN leaders. Here is an account of that meeting: https://www.eaglenews.ph/duterte-shows-obama-asean-leaders-photos-of-moros-killed-by-americans/

… and here is an account in relation to the picture when he was not yet a president: http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2005/10/the-bud-dajo-massacre-a-hundred-years-later-will-america-apologize-2/

… and here is a 2011 scholarly/academic study of that 1906 event …

Hawkins, Michael C. “Managing a Massacre: Savagery, Civility, and Gender in Moro Province in the Wake of Bud Dajo.” Philippine studies 59, no. 1 (2011): 83-105.

❤

We are not a country of haters. Japan was not less cruel to us (that’s why my grandfather had bitter memories of such cruelty) but we have no problems with Japan anymore. My cousin even teaches English to school kids there and is now starting her own family there, too.

Stay well, everyone, and let’s try to be happy in whatever peaceful we can. It doesn’t need much to be happy (yeah, and here’s my recommended book on that topic: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28254.Stone_Age_Economics

🙂

❤

❤ .

Not Likeable: Duterte and His Swear-Words

Sep14

(September 20, 2021. Hello there. How are you today? I have to insert a note here, saying, that I am not “politically motivated” regarding this post. My personal sentiments here is from a person-to-person, or human-to-human, standpoint. That is, I am seeing President Duterte as a person raher than as a politician. Yepper, these are two diferent things where the Philippines (and many other countries) is concerned right now. This post may be polarizing, but I’d rather not remove it because this is true not only for me but for many Filipinos as well, especially those who have experienced the president’s heart ever since he came into the political arena decades ago. Alles gute und viel Spass! Danke!)

Once I shouted “bullshit” to a bunch of kids. That was when I was only a little more than a kid myself, my control on my emotions not as good as expected of adults, and besides my country does not cater to a culture that prevents and frowns on the public display of emotions.

It was actually at a classroom of seventeen or eighteen year-olds, I think, and they have known since they were seven what was expected of them inside the classroom: order, hushed voices if any, and avoidance of chaos MOST ESPECIALLY when a class activity is being conducted. And especially when a person of academic authority is present. They violated the standards of decorum at all counts and I wasn’t able to hold my strong dismay over their lack of respectfulness. So there was silence all at once, they knew that they deserved the strong reproach, they were strongly reminded where the class stands with respect to misbehavior, and they didn’t do it again.

As little kids until adolescents we were taught and expected to stand up and greet a visitor in unison. When a teacher was at our classroom door everything stops in the classroom because we’d all stand up as one and say together, “Good morning, Mrs. Santos.”, or something like that. If we did not know the person’s name we’d say, “Good morning, visitor.” All public primary and secondary schools in the Philippines, and even the private ones, practice this. So when I went to college I felt awkward when we weren’t allowed to do that kind of greeting anymore. I felt that it was disrespectful. But it seems that “adult” education does not expect such standard of respectfulness anymore. I slowly learned to live with the awkwardness and adapted to the non-practice. However, all teachers that I met in campus always got a “good mornig, ma’am” or a “good afternoon, sir” from me and from most of the other students, too.

That was the only time, as far as I can remember, when I spoke a swear word in public. I would remember it because I do not speak swear words at all in the hearing of another person. Not even with my family. Not even with my closest friends. I hardly think with swear words except when I am aggravated and then I can let myself deal with the issue with swear words that are commensurate to the gravity of the disturbance created in me — but all this would be silently and mentally, where only I can hear them being spoken out in my brain. I only “swear to myself”, so to speak.

The complementary set-up to my no-spoken-swearing stand is that I also do not receive swear words from anyone, and that I would take it as a grave insult if anyone swears at me. At home this is easy because nobody speaks swear words in our house. The worst that we would concede to is “gaga” or “gago”, for female or male as the case may be, and this not straight out but instead we modify it to “gagagaga” or to “ogag” to soften the impact to our own ears AND ALL THIS NEVER TO ONE ANOTHER IN THE HOUSE BUT TO SOMEBODY ELSE OF WHOM WE MAY BE ABLE TO CRITICIZE AS SIMPLY A MATTER OF OPINION DUE TO THEIR MANIFESTED ACTIONS AND NEVER DUE TO GOSSIP, AND ABSOLUTELY NEVER TOWARDS A RELATIVE. “Gaga” and “gago” may be best translated as “stupid”. There are families who speak swear words freely to each other, I have friends who use swear words freely, and I have nothing against them. I understand the context of their usage and they don’t swear at me besides. I leave them be and we stay friends. I know many persons who hold similar opinions to mine regarding this matter. There are also many families who are like mine.

However, as it stands now I could hear myself freely speak to my close friends (BUT NOT AT HOME!) this opinion: “Dipuga! Din ka pa kakita prisidente nga parihas sini?!!” This will elicit amused chukles all around because this signals a concession on my part on behalf of a strong conviction as evidenced in the emphatic use of a ‘dirty’ swear word.

Translated into English that will amount to: F**k! Where else can you get a president like this one?!!

Or, that swear word can also be Bu*s*it!

Dipuga is a mellower variant of yudep*ta or of the shorter dep*ta. “Yudep*ta” is the short form of “iho de p*ta”. Those who speak Spanish can see it clearly that it is the adaptation of “hijo de p*ta”, which into English is the common expletive SOB. However, not everyone prefers the length of that expletive even when the end part is modified into “gun!”. Many would ordinarily use the faster-said f**k or b**ch. English speakers know that this expletive, SOB, does not say anything about one’s mother. The expletive is not directed to mothers. The expletive is just an expression that is commensurate to the degree that an emotion is felt. It, or any similar to it (like “damn”), may even be breathed out in times of pleasant surprises.

I do not buy the disdain of the elitists in my country towards the foul mouth of our president. That’s all BS and they can all go to he*l. They can go f**k themselves. If they do not like swear words then so do I. If they have a high standard of abhorrence against swear words then so does my family. They do not even know from what standpoint they are on in their attack against the president’s manner of speaking. If the son of a pastor, and a former pastor, and a friend of a pastor can work closely with our president then I have no problem with their willingness to do so. Their participation speaks volumes about the character of the real Duterte. (If you think that these principled persons surrounding him will condone what is being accused of him (read: “illegal executions”) then there is something wrong with your basis. The head of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), Atty. Acosta, can help you be clarified with this issue. )

Those who just keep on harping (without saying anything else analytical, informative, and substantial) that the president “behave himself” are a bunch of gaga and gago. The executive branch of government has a mountain-load of urgent matters to attend to and all they recommend is that the president soaps out his mouth. These misguided elitists have opinions and preferences that are more blind than a bat. More than being blind they are navigating at a wrong course, and in this instance a bat’s non-sight is not a matter for criticism because bats zero in perfectly towards their aims even without sight.

These elitists in my country (I’m describing those who fit in the description; it does not mean ALL ELITISTS; I concede that there are possibly many exceptions), those who are shoot-high-up-to-the-moon-proud about their prowess in manipulating the English language, they generally know nothing about real life and real poverty and real suffering. (They’re the kind who who have the skills to write in opinion columns of newspapers.) All they know is how to keep their faces smooth and white like porcelain and how to keep their car tires mud free. And how to keep smelling like flowers and cologne the entire day. And how to keep dirt from under their fingernails. They know nothing about having to skip a meal because there simply are no means to get one. If ever they’d skip a meal it would be because they wish to subtract from the fat that’s jiggling in their overfed bodies. Being fat is not the issue here: the picture in this context that I speak of points to the indiferrence to human suffering that’s surrounding these elitists.

Today I heard the president reiterating his purpose of keeping friendly relations with all nations, and this without any exception. We are a small nation and we cannot afford to pick fights with anybody, as the president also says so. If his speeches are, again and again, painted out of context and with colors that feature only one or two hues then the richness of his thoughts are wasted. When he gives speeches (this one that I heard today is for the Philippine Air Force at Villamor Air Base) he is like a professor who is giving a lecture on contemporary governance in the Philippine context against the perspective of recent history. His speeches are extemporaneous and are sourced from his own decades-long observations and conviction as a public servant, aside from being an academician himself. His speeches are for the purpose of putting forth the real picture, the more comprehensive picture, the bigger picture, that part of our national reality that does not get talked about in the mainstream media’s just-bits-and-pieces-commercialized-segments. Of course we can hardly demand more from mainstream media. They are running a business, after all. They have to figure out how to have lots of income.

Our president, for the most part of his speeches, is actually expressing his disagreement in his own authentic way of the so-called ‘educated’ Filipino’s lack of capacity to analyze deeper and wider the implications that their dearly held colonialistic views are continuing to disregard the real issues that are right there before their eyes. There is a severe lack of venues for discussing opinions beyond the simple and safe pat labelling. It is a kind of ‘education’ that has not kept up with the global movements and is continuing on its course of mis-educating the young ones. It is in fact preventing our youth from being empowered, keeping them relatively ignorant against the present global situation. If being modernized means having citizens who are capable of thinking out things for themselves and not to simply depend on cooked-up peddled views, then my country is far from modern. However, there are ‘modern’ nations that are suffering because big range media that started out as an institution for the people have digressed from their noble profession. If you are keeping up with the news then you know what this nation is.

Peace. Stay healthy. Thanks for thinking out with me. I wish you the best in life, in whatever area you wish blessings for. May He-Who-Blesses-All bless us all in His and our own good time.

❤

Peaceful. That’s Bernie Sanders.

Jul27

. ❤ .

Bernie, the bird, and peace

. ❤ .

For all the enthusiasm over this season’s US presidential elections that Senator Bernie Sandes has generated in me, I will be eternally grateful to him. Not only that I had something to look forward to daily — peeking in the internet over the development of the “movement-revolution” — but I also learned an overwhelming lot about how elections are run in the US. I inevitably learned a whole wide world lot about the Clintons, much more than I suspected there could be. (This is not the time for attaching references here; everything that I say here is research-able.)

Senator Sanders has conceded and has dropped his bid for the office. For the second time this month my heart was broken. I would have loved to see the US led by him.

To the many ex-supporters of his who are now denigrating him, calling him betrayer and coward, shame on you. The man is stronger and wiser than any current political analyst can fathom —- but since I don’t know that many political analysts, then I’d say except maybe for Noam Chomsky. 🙂 peace ❤

Bernie Sanders has kept his cool until the end. He has not gone berserk and unreasonable despite the intense pressures hourly from all sides. He was fighting social cancer, after all. When you fight cancer you don’t get rid of it by simply eradicating the host body. You don’t defeat cancer by killing the person who has that cancer. You can’t get rid of the corruption by mitigating chaos and social unrest —- and with a society that has lots of guns floating around!

(Okay, we can say that in a way Gandhi did it, risked the chaos. The bloodshed, which he did not intend, that followed that movement was horrendous. It was not an all-out war, yes, but it is something that, even at the tiniest scale, Bernie’s circle would rather not risk. It did cost Gandhi his life. There are not a few scholars now who say that the “colonial mentality” that was generated by what Gandhi ousted is still there, alive and in operation. The “whites” were gone but the “whiteness”, hence a mutation from the cancer, remained among the people.)

Bernie has in fact been rallying people —- all voters, but more urgently those who are mature enough to understand what he has been saying for decades without having to spell everything out to them —- to fight the cancer while at the same time boosting the immunity of the host body. Others would say: to fight the cancer by boosting the immunity capabilities. It is a true strengthening of the whole body and not just a spot eradication of the little nasties. That is, to let the cancer be, to let it trick itself of its normality, and then let it implode on itself without knowing it.

When the cancer cells cease from perceiving threats of annihilation they will also cease their aggressive fight for survival and proliferation. Cancer cells thrive when they are fed the wrong things and are deprived of the right things —- when they are fed with cheap nutrient-empty refined sugar, and are deprived of oxygen and sunshine and hopeful-thankful thoughts.

The US had the chance of electing one of the most honorable (emphasis on the honorable!) men that ever rose to Bernie’s fame but they blew it. “We may never pass this way again.” I have never seen a major political figure as peace-loving and as meek as Bernie Sanders (read: not cowardly, but of a controlled strength). There is much hope, though, within/among those who have started and are starting to work towards similar to Bernie’s vision of a society that takes care first of the concerns of the ordinary everyday working person and especially of the powerless and the voiceless.

If Bernie was able to generate such sentiments from a “third-world” citizen like me whose country had forever been “abused and used” by his past leaders, then history can rightly say that Bernie Sanders is an exemplar of the Homo sapiens sapiens-excellence.

I am broken-hearted but, as Bernie said it clearly, “Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in.” ❤ I’m with you, Bernie. Thank you very much from the unbroken bottom of my heart. 🙂

❤

Celebrate Bernie Sanders!

Jun10

Hi! 🙂 Today is actually Thursday, June 9, 2016. Senator Sanders and President Obama had just concluded a short meeting at the White House. I was writing this post while waiting for the senator to come out after the meeting and speak to the journalists who were eagerly waiting for him outside. I had just finished writing when he came out to speak and so I was able to add the fresh info at the last paragraph. 🙂

celebrate Bernie Sanders!

First thing I did Wednesday morning was switch on the TV to check how Senator Sanders faired at the California primaries. I couldn’t believe that the difference was that big! Some things must have happened at the polls much like many things happened at the other polls previous.

I had to bear listening to CNN because I wanted to hear what he had to say. Oh boy was I rewarded! He won’t quit! I was so happy yesterday and until today Thursday I still am celebrating for this decision of his. Right now I’m waiting for his meeting with the US president to be streamed live and I’m afraid again that he’ll be pushed to quit. That will be a real downer not only for me but for the millions who are following this election process on the Democratic side.

I’ve decided to name Senator Sanders as my newest hero today. I hope I won’t change my mind in case he gives way to pressure and drop the campaign. If he does that I’d know that it was because it has become a matter of life and death for him, and not especially to his person but to the welfare of the people especially — like a sort of a hostage situation. Otherwise he’ll push through until the end of the election process.

He’s become my hero because it was though his campaign that I began to understand how immediately tangible corruption is even in the country that boasts itself as a bastion of democracy. I began to understand that ‘democracy’ can be used by an institution to describe its dynamics even though the process does not really involve the freedom given to citizens to decide collectively how they should be governed by leaders that represent their interests.

In this election season I have seen how campaign choreographers have manipulated information and rhetoric so that attention is taken away from the most important aspect of the voting process: to scrutinize the issues in a clear and systematic manner. What happened instead is that money, power, and prestige are being used so that the winner is the person who will continue to allow these very influential entities to continue with their various interests. If there were no adverse effects coming out of this then there’s nothing to gripe about. However, this activity affects in a great way those on the other end of the spectrum — residents who have no money, no prestige, no power, no influence, no education, and the worst, those who have no houses.

Senator Sanders’ platform is clear and simple: subtract privilege and power from one end and distribute these throughout the spectrum in a manner so that there is enough left until the other extreme end is reached. Does this mean that privileges and power are flattened out so that everyone will have equally the same? Nope, that’s not it. Property and privacy are maintained. What is being changed is the defective dynamics that allows uncontrolled greed to effect an unchecked hoarding of resources by an extremely few entities so that only a few individuals suctions the benefits that should have been shared at relative degrees by everyone else who have participated in the overall economic machinery.

What the Senator Bernie Sanders proposes is simply this: a clear check and balance machinery be imputed into the system so that nobody goes houseless and hungry in this beloved land of plenty. If you want the specifics then all is explained at his campaign’s website: https://berniesanders.com/issues/ .

Again, so why is he my hero? — Because he is not in this race simply for the sake of winning. He is in this race for the sake of the people and he is doing it after decades of working for the people without himself getting rich or hoarding power. In fact, he has not involved himself with the moneyed sector. This by itself is factor enough for his cause to be ignored. What appears now is that, more than just being ignored, he has been continually elbowed out of the process for months now. It does appear that the status quo is indeed very threatened by the movement that he has generated. It must be understood, though, that this “movement” had been there for almost a century now but every time its voice gets heard a bit the powers-that-be lashes back eventually if not immediately and reestablishes its pedestal. However, at this juncture of American history Senator Bernie Sanders had the privilege to eloquently utter the voice of this “movement” — which is the collective sentiments of all of the everyday working persons. Because of him millions of Americans have finally come to understand what has been happening and they have become enabled enough to make a choice on the aspects of the political and economic life within which they are a part of, within which they have invested their talents and time, and within which they will get the resources to enable them to lead a life that is compensatory to their investments.

This much information and awareness have not been disseminated to so many in a way that is happening now through the Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign. Many are still blind to the truth, still blinded because the ongoing information blockage by the mainstream media, but this will change. The millions of young people, 45 years old and younger, will spread this knowledge and realization all throughout their lifetime and beyond, and America will again become the land of the free.

… and!!! … woohoo!!! Nothing has changed! After his talk with the president just now his rhetoric remains and he says he stays in the race until the end!!! May God bless Senator Bernie Sanders! Mainstream media must be “seething” by now!!!

Thanks for dropping by! Take care!

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Somebody Can’t Trust CNN Anymore

May19

I used to feel fortunate that CNN is accessible to me for free. Not anymore. I’m talking of CNN International – Europe. I had learned to enjoy the segments, all of them, and have become familiar with the anchor persons and field reporters. All of them.

Until Bernie Sanders happened. ❤

My first disappointment was when Fareed Zakariah discussed the claim of Sen. Sanders that had “no credible economic research”, so four economists said, about some economic dynamics (it’s also found here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sanderss-plans-make-republicans-look-serious/2016/02/18/4dbddb40-d684-11e5-b195-2e29a4e13425_story.html ). I was disappointed that the program and the post sounded like it was pounding Sen. Sanders’ opinions to the ground and so I had to search for information on names involved in the narrative. I counted the four economists out, as it’s obvious that they’re not supporting Sen. Sanders’ ideas on this. What I found out about the other name mentioned, an economics professor, (I read it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/18/the-economist-who-validated-bernie-sanders-big-liberal-plans-is-voting-for-hillary-clinton/ ) is that aside that he is voting for Sec. Clinton, his calculations involve variables that can be “adjusted” to a point where the four economists involved would not have been able to criticize his results the way they did. I wish that Fareed Zakariah would have done a narrative in such a way that Sen. Sanders did not come out like an ignorant babbler. On the other hand, that he’s voting for one or another doesn’t say anything about his calculations. If indeed he is voting for Sec. Clinton and still talks positively about Sen. Sanders’ ideas, then it shows his innocent intention about the whole thing. (He speaks in an interview, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G-oHzb6DX8 .)

Moreover, another economics professor (in agreement with 169 economists) clarifies the correctness of the senator’s plan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqIr45gRr-k .

My next disappointment was when Jonathan Mann made it sound in one of his Political Mann segments that Sen. Sanders was not saying the truth when he claimed that he had been invited to the Vatican. The narrative ended by putting across to the viewers that it appears that Sen. Sanders had invited himself to the Vatican. Of course the senator was invited, by the Academy of Social Sciences that was started by Pope John Paul II in 1994 ( http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-04-08/so-who-exactly-invited-bernie-sanders-to-the-vatican ).

Today at this writing CNN International – Europe makes it sound that Sen. Sanders’ stay in the campaign is “hurting” the campaign of Sec. Clinton. It is an idiotic notion as seen from a few basic assumptions. (1.) If the election is democratic, and Sen. Sanders is winning a tremendous amount of votes, then staying in the campaign if fair both to Sen. Sanders’ aim and to the citizens who are yet to vote for him. These are both Democrats and Independents. (2.) Saying that Sen. Sanders should drop out implies that his right to try for the office of the president is not acknowledged and the right of those who are yet to vote for him is denied. (3.) Instead of being positive about the fact that Sen. Sanders is injecting vitality into the whole voting process, making a myriad of formerly apathetic voters to come out and participate, Sen. Sanders is constantly and subtly being elbowed out of the process.

Just now CNN is discussing, with Wolf Blitzer, how the senator should own up to the Nevada chaos. It’s not as if he is altogether outrightly absolutely denying responsibility for the event. He has in fact said that he will investigate. He has in fact spoken that he does not condone any form of campaign violence (here’s a news segment on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVPHNbTszUI&spfreload=10

and an analysis of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEY_KYD3sCY

and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0YT03p6qqQ ). The issue is not with the senator but with the people who were directly responsible for the chaos. They are independent-thinking individuals who were witnessing a process that they perceived to be unfair. Why they were angry, why they were protesting, and why they became that passionately expressive cannot be assumed to have resulted from irrational idiotic views. It does not imply that the senator wanted the chaos to take place or that he had instigated or encouraged the reaction. It implies that there were real stimuli happening at real time that caused a corresponding reaction from those who felt disadvantaged by the process. What was the stimulus that produced this reaction? Were those people involved totally unreasonable? The other side dancing the tango has to be investigated, too. Here’s another analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTuH3jeIS-I

If Sen. Sanders’ voice had been largely ignored by the big media, his gargantuan campaign events not shown on air, his views sold as plain “socialism” with a poisonous tinge attached to it, and the phenomenon that millions have now become convinced of his vision in so short a time is not even a topic for mainstream-media discussion are just a few reasons why any sane supporter of his would now be calling the entire so-called democratic process nothing but foul. There are other issues that they also have the right to be angry about like the voting irregularities that are not discussed, the incidences of voting suppression, and the alleged disregard for votation laws by the former president Clinton; here: https://www.change.org/p/massachusetts-attorney-general-maura-healey-arrest-prosecute-bill-clinton-john-f-mitchell-violation-of-ma-election-laws

and here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/2/1494728/-Bill-Clinton-Law-Breaking-at-Polling-Station-Beyond-Doubt-Video-Shows-Loudspeaker-Campaigning ).

I have no choice now but to surf the internet for news with regards to the US elections. CNN had just made my life less easier, so to speak! 😀 The downside is that I have come to slowly un-like their entire station! After all, a human being is entitled to her feelings. 🙂

Have a great day, everyone. Thanks for dropping by. Stay healthy!

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🙂

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…may never pass this way again

Aug22

After two attempts I realize anew how difficult it is to present a script against a non-even background. Maybe you can share a tip with me?

This is among my favorite songs. If it’s yours, too, then please you’re welcome to save the image to your files. If you have just gotten acquainted with its lyrics then for sure you’ll see that it’s very engaging. That is without the melody even. The melody is a happy one and it produces so many pictures in my head, but I have only two here to share with you.

Again, a favorite picture for it depends on which side of life’s experiences I’d choose to focus and hold on to. So I have a darker and a lighter picture here. However, I reflected that the darker picture that I have here shouldn’t necessarily represent gloominess or regret or any “down” expression. It has been said that the darkest part of the night is immediately followed by the break of light. So in my background-picture I tried to bring out the reds, and then made the font in pale yellow, a gentle sun. This picture does not let me dwell in sadness, therefore.

As to this lighter picture, the original is a brilliant contrast of yellows against the overwhelming leaves. This picture reminds me a bit of how the Japanese would say that life is an illusion, and hence the high regard for the fleeting presence of the cherry blossoms. Similarly here, though there are leaves instead of the cherry blossoms (sakura), this riot of life seems to be aware that not for long everything has to be minimized. Soon exuberance has to ebb, activity has to hibernate.

🙂 (clicking on each image above enlarges it many times)

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: the originals :

Both pictures belong to life, both pictures can represent the song, and many more, for each of us.

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I think I’ve managed to say a bit about the song for now.

🙂

please have a nice weekend, and thanks for dropping by

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Still, Like Deep Waters

Aug8

Recently along my studies of honoring the parents I uncovered a Finnish paper that discusses falling in love among the elderly, a bracket the researcher sets as between 50 to 90 years old.

It was for me like taking a peek into a magical world, something I would not have known existed unless someone who has gone there told me of what it’s like. On the other hand I felt that such a world does perfectly make sense because the elderly, after all, are distinguished only from the rest of the population by the length of experience-years they have already logged in. I would even say that they, when all is said and done, are the ones who know better about most things, especially love, than the rest of us. love found me

That information led me to think of a friend who “fell in love” with a man many years older than her. The time has come to talk about it.

There is, however, a point of contention. By her life story I understood that “falling in love” for her was not a matter of fireworks and hoopla but a going down into the water table. It’s as if her psyche simultaneously absorbs the phenomenon through the pores of her subconscious and lets it dwell deep down among her base components, at the level where her foundational reservoir of soul-existence constantly shift shapes while remaining the same so as to keep her propped up, like the way her skeletal system does.

In that foundational reservoir is her love for God, for family, and her self. The many instances of infatuation in her life is not found in there. Then, again, she (let’s name her here as Firith) classifies her “infatuations”. So I would say that there’s one guy (that is, neither a boy nor a man, and let’s call him Pama) with whom she was infatuated but who became like a favorite cousin to her. Pama is someone whom Firith has a high respect for and she does not classify him now as among her “infatuations”. Infatuation, for Firith, is what she would feel for a face but with whom she doesn’t give a hoot of how they perceive her. She just, uh, finds them fascinating, and that’s where the buck stops. She won’t even care to come up to them to say hello, even for friendliness’ sake, of which Firith always takes with respect, too.

Firith and I have long ago agreed that “falling in love” is a very relative experience. Some speak of it, or even shrill, all the time. Others never speak of such a thing happening to them for their whole lives. Firith spoke only to me of her recent encounter of it and she will remain silent of it forever, so she said, and knowing her I think she could do it, too. However, she herself suggested that I talk about it some time here, as her way of celebrating it with the rest of creation (that’s my way of saying it, though 🙂 ) At least this is something our circle of friends agree on: that loving is life is free is living is freeing is celebrating.

fireworks While we were still kids I wouldn’t have known it of her but when we were about to leave college and go our separate ways, when we began to analyze our past in face of the apprehension for our future, Firith related (with great laughter and relief) how she would easily be infatuated with a boy starting when she was 5 years old. She recalled the names (dozens!) with whom she “fell in love at sight” and on average their names started with either J or D. Girls do tend to do this, finding patterns among whom they fall in love with and such, and though I found it a bit silly (really, what’s with J and D?) I now understand that these ruminations are part of a growing girl’s subconscious effort at trying to get to know her own self. And so J and D, and let’s leave it at that, for Firith, haha.

For Firith, however, falling in love does not make her “lose” her head. We’ve heard and read about these things, in novels and television drama series, and the recurring theme is that angst comes along in romantic situations. That is, falling in love almost always presents with it either problems or intrigues. In fairness, though, I can understand a bit how the menfolk in my family can simply exhale audibly and turn their backs on me for a hasty retreat when they see me absorbed in an emotional acting-session on screen. This may be one of the reasons why Firith didn’t elaborate on her many infatuations. She found them insubstantial topics for conversation, except for the few times when it could contribute to our lighter moods.

But one time I became fearful for Firith when I saw her almost losing it, and, unbelievably, to a youth many years her junior (let’s call him Tim). To others’ eyes they were either the very best of friends, or lovers. Firith still would not tell me much about it, for reasons I can only have an inkling on, but the way I know my friend she would never play at “love”. She’s like this: if boyfriends are for the purpose of marrying then why get one with whom one isn’t considering of marrying. Really, she’s as archaic as girls can get nowadays. However, since I haven’t heard of all stories of all girls in the world in the present context, then who knows, there could be lots and lots of girls like Firith out there, living against the mainstream tide that a girl MUST have a either a boyfriend or a husband.

If not for friends who think similar to Firith, and for the book Women Who Run With the Wolves by C. P. Estes, I, too, would have succumbed to this misguided collective conviction. I have nothing against having a mate but I do have something against senselessly hankering after about just any-one (eherm, but sometimes it has to be said like that…) !peace!

I asked Firith during one of the get-togethers that we would insert into our crazy schedules if the thing with Tim is now okay. She had to think for a while before responding, an indication that she was being cautious. We’ve been relating stuff to each other for ages but there are times when you have to let your friend, and even yourself, withhold some, and for legitimately trustworthy reasons but never out of mistrust. I could see then quite plainly that had there been a “man” in her life (aside from the “men” in her family — grandfather, father, brother, nephew) then it would have been Tim. I could see, too, that Firith wouldn’t allow him to be classified as that. She had refused Tim entry into her water table.

When Firith was finishing her grad degree she was already in a prolonged (though suppressed, and that’s how strong Firith is, really) quasi-depression. At that time Tim befriended her and it was as if for her a bud suddenly sprouted in the middle of winter. Though Firith had us around her she also kept within her self-imposed solitude. We never heard much about how it was with her and Tim. Both presented a normal-facade to us and there was no chance to look closer. Gak!! Did Firith fall in love with a winter bud of whom none of us her close buddies are privy to?

Thank goodness that episode of our lives are now over and we can now stop worrying about her heart, so to speak. At least I, for one, know about it and I can assure everyone that our dear girl is fine, heart and all, without getting into the details. There will be time for the telling of all that.

calm sea It’s because, so she told me, of Keith. She didn’t “fall in love with him”, fireworks and hoopla and all. A long time ago Keith came up to her team and greeted them all, it being an inter-organizational meeting and representatives from all over have come to participate. Keith wouldn’t be someone familiar to us, to our worldview. He inhabits what we’d call a screen-world and a jargon-savvy universe. Belatedly we analyzed him as even an unusual six-footer, someone who does not belong to a single box, limited and categorized. That is, he has two feet firmly planted in three different contexts. Of course we have no way of knowing for sure, and you know how girls can talk together using multi-layered paradigms, haha! 😀 But Keith was, even in that first meeting, friendly to Firith without being needy, helpful without being pushy, generous with his knowledge without being showy. He came across to her as uncomplicated and sincere. However, she never sent him an email like she told him to, for reasons that are non-grave but are of a matter of consequence.

After many more months Keith came to another organizational meeting again. Things were like as before but this time Keith bemoaned why ever did she not write to him. Firith decided right there and then that Keith was a trusted friend. There were other girl-things (it will have to take an entire novel to tell, haha!) she told me about and I became convinced that Firith had kept her head all the while, in this thing with Keith. I mean, this is not a matter of heart-vs-head, but a matter of both working together, as they always ought to.

Surprisingly Firith is happier now. She’s related with Keith for only a few days (inclusive of the first and second meetings, that are far apart) and her understanding of love has already deepened. Much more than what we have read in respectable books and seen from respectable movies Firith has now, to my envy, the capability of loving without needing. Keith had to go away and they will never see each other again but for Firith what Keith gave her, like God’s eternity, is always an abiding present.

Firith’s story made me see that love can be something that is not held on to for fear of losing it. Love is, to say it simply, something that is never lost. When God hides His face from us, like the way it happened between Him and Job, God continues to love. What the Bible says of love banishing fear has become a reality to Firith and I think she’s even more surprised than I am of having seen it first-hand, considering the times she went through with Tim and her other so-called close friends.

Joo Jin-Mo Firith had been praying for healing, I know of this, and now she’s proven to herself once again that God answers prayers, loves, supports, and takes care of His children.

I’ve wanted to fall in love, too (especially after reading about Joo Jin-Mo wishing to be infatuated, heheh) but reflecting now on Firith’s love story I therefore conclude that the best thing for me to be dreaming about nowadays is just to finish my school hoopla, and !ASAP 🙂

Hope you’ve been inspired by Firith’s story, too 🙂

Ciao for now!

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girl-and-dove art edited from the original by albumsource.com. Thanks loads!

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My Journey to Non-Nationality

Aug6

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When I first came to Fangorn I didn’t know what kind of folks Fangornians are. Though I could have consulted the web or the prints still there simply was no time to even think about doing so. At that time I had to function like a crazed morph, having to sprout extra limbs and cerebral lobes. I had to prepare for the take off yet my feet was at a work place that screamed for organization. I’ve been alone on the road plodding for decades already and I’ve built a facade so camouflaged that my family and so-called friends couldn’t see how my internal gauges have been showing erratic fluctuations.

I even told an elder that I just came from shingles and he thought I was telling him that I’m single. If it wasn’t for my semi-‘conservative’ friend Netz I could have gone vegetable over those viral remnants of childhood chicken pox. The presence of persons such as Netz in my life make me think twice about labelling either my own self or other people.

Whether a person is from my gene pool or not the laws of biology and psychology are the same.

When I first came to Fangorn I was not so wistful of my different gene pool nor was I apprehensive of faces that I used to see only on screen. I was actually busy trying to figure out how the heck could I stay standing on the pavement without my brains freezing out before the coziness of the bus comes. I was preoccupied trying to figure out if the room lighting’s luminousity is up to my system’s survival threshold. I was foraging for sources of nourishment, the ones that would make my stomach aware that I have already put some into it.

Later, after having seen for myself that I could survive here, my brain started to grow out calmer dendrites. I started reflecting outside the context of immediate survival. I explored new turf.

I looked at the Fangornians. I couldn’t see much. That was a culture shock that I had seen coming. Even until today I still couldn’t see of them as much as I wanted to although a few have already welcomed me into their homes. I looked at the Flip-Flops. I saw more than I expected. I looked at the Zirconians as well as my fellow Zaps. Then I looked at the entire pulsating planet.

I pensive contemplative reflective meditative thoughtful arrived at the conclusion that it is greed that has to do with all our woes. But when I talked about this to my classmate Moira he said that he thinks greed isn’t inherent in us humans, but that it’s a function of the environment. We’ve been brought up, he told me, to be greedy.

I still have to take the time to reflect on that. I have to look at original-sin side by side with tabula-rasa, too. I honestly don’t know from which angle to approach the topic with new eyes. I may have to go back to Moira, to pick up where we left it off because we had ran out of walking space.

In this picture are my new friends JDG, RK, and TCD.

Since two years ago when JDG heard me call a colleague “manong” (older brother) he told me that he, too, was my manong. So I started to call him that using the equivalent word in his mother speech, orabeoni. We started to relate to each other more freely than before but calling him manong didn’t take our friendship into a quantum leap, to that manong level. So I think next time I see him it would be more appopriate to substitute “sunbaenim” (respected senior) for orabeoni. I sense old and newly erected fences, all invisible to me, around which I should maneuver and in which in the end I’d possibly be left with a bye-bye to a friendship that could have been really great.

Shikataganai. East Zapians are of a machismo worldview and even fellow Zapians can’t do anything about that, lowering the gaze and clipping the arms by their sides upon meeting the so-called strong ones. But it is the East Zapians who taught me to reflect on loyalty and steadfastness, on endurance and single-mindedness. On appreciating the fullness of silence. Just as Treebeard said I shoudn’t be hasty at my conclusions.

Again, on the picture are RK and TCD, who are Zirconians. When I first came to Fangorn and was just learning to walk on snow, mustering the fear of my feet being singed through the soles of my shoes, I had thought of how to get out of the thinking that Zirconians, collectively, are responsible for the many woes of the Flip-Flops and of the pulsating planet. The peaceable consequence that I reached at was that whoever was responsible for the mess should be the one to clean it up. Whoever tipped the balance must do something to restore it.

thoughtful CN I needed to see at least one Zirconian who was exactly doing this, innocently and with integrity, without even being aware that there are Flips who think the way I do. Honestly I am vaguely aware that there are many Flips out there who echo my sentiments but that they are faceless to me. I do not personally know of one, and thought trains like these are, well, what can I say, camouflaged among thick forest undergrowths.

Not long after I met CN, a huge Zirconian with clear shining eyes. He and his friends have an ongoing program for ending world hunger. It’s a blatantly naive and gigantic ambition. It’s hopelessly lovable. He has tried to describe how the church could be functioning in our present context.

Like RK he has tried to talk in terms that would welcome anyone who’s eager to participate. Many would call it a post-modern paradigm, similar to several, both named and yet obscure, that are groping in the unchartered multiple-contexts we now find ourselves bewildered in.

Now I know that I shouldn’t take Zirconians as a “people”, a generalized collective, but as “persons”, one individual at a time. There are Zirconians who, like RK and CN, are neither threatened nor limited by labeling.

Back home there was a Fangornian with whom I’d started to befriend. Of the extremely short time I spent with her I was able to ask her of whom did she thought we women should be modelling ourselves after. Her answer was startling to me then: after no-one. It is only now that I’m starting to understand her. It is only now that I’m starting to she what she meant when she said that first and foremost it is my own individuality that I must be looking out for.

As per the conversation I had with Moira, about greed, I tried to put it into a logical diagram and see what I can come up with:

Venn 1 & 2_greedy, people

Without bothering with defining the Universal Set, these four Venn diagrams show the possible relationships between all people and all greedy entities. My musings led me nearer to the idea pictured by Figure 4. Moira’s counter-arguments tend towards Figure 1, although not as how things are but rather as a starting point, when conditioning is taken out of the picture. Moira seemed to be telling me that humans do not have greediness as a necessary attribute, although he did say that he’d be needing all the evidences that he can get his hands on before being sure of this.

Venn 3 & 4_greedy, people For me I just based my conclusion (Moira did tease me, that I have “concluded” already) on the historical events. Empires rising and falling. Countries getting richer and poorer. Parents in a frenzy about giving the A-class education to their children. Young professionals eager to show off the brands of their possessions. I have wanted to look into the machinery that fuels the global dynamics and if I start at the grass roots, at the level of an individual’s needs and wants, then I would pinpoint to the human’s propensity to get hold onto and retain something, incorporate it into the personal space. Of course some can readily recognize when the level of this “acquisition process” is becoming toxic and so it is readily called off. Bastante. This situation may be pictured by either Figure 2 or 3, above. Not everyone is helpless against greediness.

Still there’s something about my Venn diagrams that bother me. I’d like to replace “people”, a faceless mass, with “persons” — attributing now the sense of responsibility to individuals. Yet either way something still doesn’t quite fit. I feel like I’m figuring things out by ossifying phenomena with labels. It’s the same dynamics as when I talk of Fangonians, Zirconians, Zaps, and Flips as groups. Not all Zirconians are alike and I have yet to find a Flip who resonates in my frequency. Perhaps I never will. TCD TCD, a Zirconian whose personaliy I would zig-zag away from back home (chatty, readily friendly, flashy smile) surprisingly has become the first Zirconian I can relate to with ease, without being conscious of the cerebral gap. Because of him, CN, and RK, I now have little use of the label “Zircon”.

I had a Rilkan penfriend for eight years. I’m looking for her whereabouts now and I’m sure she does think of me sometimes. But, alas, we both cannot be found among the social media websites. I had a Shtoi dormmate. Her brother became my student and so we three have become friends. I will search for her home address among my files so that when I go to their country I will be able to visit them, as she invited me to. Now I have Moira a Milesian, and Benga a Huzz. We call ourselves “the three idiots” after that hilarious but enlightening Indian movie. There’s Peth the Fangornian lady back home, happily married to a fellow Flip of whom I am more at awe than friendly.

These non-Flips became friends because we related with expressions that connected persons, not peoples. We did not pre-define each other. We didn’t bring labels into our relationships. We simply faced each other, talked openly, and became one human being to another human being.

I had thought that it is only the word “race” that we should be doing away with. Now there’s national-classification as well. A wo/man’s context does not ‘define’ her/him. Honesty, trust, and thankfulness speak in a language that have nothing to do with culture, nationality, or genes.

Benga & Moira

Many Zirconians will continue to be jerks. Many Flips will continue to be clueless. Many Zaps will continue to be mesmerized by anything Zirconian or Deltan. Many Fangornians will remain cold and rude. This, however, is not the only lens with which to view humanity. Any human can equally be a jerk, clueless, impressionable, cold, or rude.

For purposes of conversations Moira and I could still use the Venn diagrams but now it has become clearer to me how all persons are configured by the tracks that they had to run on. Each landmark we pass by morphs us. Had I not found myself abruptly shoved into Fangorn I wouldn’t have started to trust a Zirconian for a long time yet. I relate to TCD as TCD, as himself, and not as someone with a Zircon-labeling.

Now I’m happier.

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among us

Jun8

come, get out from your enclosure and stand among us… [the trees say]

…

we are all creatures of metabolism, come out where your vibration is affirmed, supported, upheld, played out, and so glow strongly by your own light…

come, let us rejoice of life together, let us be thankful together,

stand among us under the sky …

“7.83 Hz alive” by sacadalang 2014

… winter may come anytime, we remain …

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7.83 Hz, the Schumann frequency, is the earth’s and the living organism’s frequency. It’s one of the explanations that science has come up with to the question as to why we feel very good whenever we are outdoors. All of us who are alive, and so the earth, vibrate to this frequency. Persistent disturbance to this vibration becomes physically manifested over time, as a health aberration and the like. So it’s not just actually the loads of oxygen and sunlight of the outdoors that affect us, but rather phenomena on the subatomic level, too.

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[ this was taken at the onset of winter, and so the other trees surrounding have already shed their leaves; likewise with the green-sky view at the post previous to this ]

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