A major, major mistake

People who say that we should be proud of Venus Raj’s accomplishments are either just being polite with a subtle hint of hypocrisy or just plain stupid.

I mean how can you be proud of her? Oh, maybe I am understating the fact that she was able to make it to the Top 5 and became 5^th runner up. Well, I guess at the least she deserves an applause for bagging the 5^th honors. Not too many can pull that off, The last time we made it to the Top 5 was when Miriam Quiambao finished second after that it has been one disappointment after another.

How hard was it to understand the question? Did Mr. Baldwin used metaphors and allegories which caused Magnificent Raj to channel to her inner chi, got lost in the moment while she needed some time to speak with her ancestors and consult them?

Or is it because she has never had a major, major mistake? (aside from joining the pageant).

Maybe this is a wake up call for us. Its time we admit that we need an interpreter just like Ms. Mexico (who probably speaks better English than Ms. Raj). We’re just too proud. We pride ourselves over the fact that we are known to be good English speakers but deny the fact that what stands true for many may not be true for all of us.

There are many Venus Rajs, Janina San Miguels, Melanie Marquezes out there who happened to have been born with pretty faces but did not got blessed with eloquence. I will not spare myself and admit that I am not the best speaker either. But that does not make me less of a person. 

Its not our first language and that's forgivable, so why can't just we effin' hire a darn interpreter?

Pathetic

Pathetic.

If there's a list of perfect words to describe how the police and the SWAT team handled the hostage taking yesterday, that would be on top of the list.

S.W.A.T. in our country means " Shit Wala Akong Training " [Shit I wasn't trained for this] (my friend Rod, posted this in Facebook).

Everyone who saw the coverage will agree that it wasn't handled well. Im no expert in crisis management but I don't have to be one to make a precise point that they had absolutely no clue on how to handle the hostage taker.

First they made the grave error of frustrating an already desperate man, (apparently one of his requests got declined) and aggravated the situation by agitating the dismissed policeman.We all saw how he reacted after the police arrested his brother.

Where was the negotiator? What did he do? How did the negotiation collapse and why did it have to turn out so violently?

If there is one thing that the police force was extremely good at, it was acting. They all performed like they were in an action film, the stance, the poise of an action star when he holds a rifle. Those were all present. They also showed that they have the talent for comedy, there was a footage of them throwing the tear gas at the back of the bus and it bounced back at them. A little slapstick though but it works all the time, my father and I couldn't stop laughing.

Which brings me to my central point and points back to my first premise. How can we laugh at this situation? How can the police handling a crisis situation become laughable when they were supposed to be our shining knight in the direst of times? It was obvious how unprepared they were, but how can I not laugh at their stupidity after seeing them try to enter the bus only to go back a few seconds after with a face so messed up a painter would have a hard time drawing it on canvass because they could not stand the fumes from the tear gas? Somebody please kill me now.

They did not have any plan, mishandled the situation, and they showed the world how ill-equipped our police force is. Supposedly the most elite team among the entire police squad, our SWAT team appeared like ROTC cadets on their first day.

And again we humiliated ourselves while the whole world was watching.

Pathetic.

The curious case of the missing DVD

For the first time in my life, I allowed someone to verbally abuse me. And she wasn’t even my mom.

All for a missing DVD that was found in the room where we’ve been staying for the last 2 months at my in-laws' place in Tagaytay.

All those who knew me as Mr “ Will fight when I know Im right” will be very disappointed. At that instant, I was reduced to a main character in a soap opera who just takes it in, gets framed, accused of a wrongdoing without a slight nudge. I became Mara and let Clara assault me with hurtful words that even the devil himself might get offended.

Her mouth was home the most fetid of all words, it houses the biggest vocabulary of insults known to man.

The only words that I managed to say was “ Wala akong kasalanan sa’yo” (I did you no wrong).  All the while, I was careful of causing more raucous, out of respect to her parents and my wife’s youngest sister who has been nothing but an angel to me and my family. And I know I love my wife and disrespecting could mean (to them) disrespecting her entire family.

My wife’s big sister was relentless, she came home the night before and woke everyone up with her screaming, she cursed at me and let the whole neighborhood knew that I was a thief, how she hates my guts, that while we’re living with her parents, I had no respect for her and her family, She said that I don’t make the effort to get along with them and even stole a Beatles DVD.

I knew I was an easy target, being the obvious Beatles fan that I am but how it got to my son’s hands I don’t know. Maybe some Divine Intervention led his hand to play with that DVD, and the stupid me who thought that since I had asked for his brother’s permission to watch that DVD a few weeks back decided to keep it in our room and view it when I had the time. The night she started looking for it, I wanted to say, I last saw it in our room but I couldn’t look for it. I should’ve said a word, I guess, that’s my biggest fault.

The part that I hate most, was when she was cursing at me, while I was carrying my 2 year old son. I pleaded for her not to curse but she replied with “Wala akong pakialam, wala ka namang modo e, P*tang ina mo!” (I don’t care, You have no respect anyway, Son of a bitch!).

This isn’t the first time though, that she blamed me for something I didn’t do. Roughly a year ago, her niece was playing in our room when I accidentally hit her eyes while she was climbing the bed. She then went up to her Kuya (who was my bestfriend back in college) and magnified the situation by saying I intentionally hit the kid and blew it out of proportions.

Its textbook stuff, why would I hit my bestfriend's daughter shortly after mending a broken friendship?

As evil as she thinks I am, I will never intend for another person to hate someone just because he’s not my favorite person, I would never will to destroy an already shaky friendship and add more tension to it to finally push it to crumble down which is exactly what happened when she told her brother that I intentionally hit his daughter. Hit after hit, now her brother will have another reason to hate me.

She hated me from Day 1, from the day she first saw me I guess (back in college), up to the day she learned I was going to marry her sister. She hates me and I knew that, which is why I never crossed her path. I tried a few times to talk to her, but that didn’t last long.

Lessons learned from this experience:

1. You have to learn to use mental telepathy and communicate with people who aren’t talking to you.
2. People who are trying to start a life and live it peacefully, should be given a hard time. ( This is a test bound by fate. )
3. Silence is not the best way to deal with an angry person, you should answer back even if you know they will not bother understanding you anyway, so they can have the opportunity to curse at you.
4. People can read minds and they know exactly what you’re thinking of, this is supposed to be true all the time.

I wonder what drives another human being to hate another person in a very destructive way. I don’t recall ever offending her, nor do I recall any interaction with her.

Perpekto

Sa mundo at mata ng mga bata, ang lahat ng bagay ay perpekto. Makulay at maganda ang kapaligiran. Mapagmahal; at makatuwiran ang bawat magulang. May tugon sa lahat ng suliranin. Ang sakit at luha ay napapawi sa simpleng yakap at halik ng ina.

Sa mundo ng mga bata, ang salitang hindi ay lubos, ang ayoko ay batas. Ang anumang kanilang ayawan o di sang ayunan ay hindi maaaring ipilit.

Sa mundo ng mga bata, makukuha nila ang anumang kanilang naisin. Hindi man nila sinasadya ang pag-iyak ay daan upang makuha nila ang kanilang gusto. At madalas sa hindi, ibinibigay natin ito sa kanila.

Sa mata ng mga bata, ang kanilang ina ay diyos. Larawan siya ng walang hanggang pagmamahal at pagkalinga. Hindi siya nauubusan ng pasensya. Si Itay naman ang kanyang tanggulan, ang haliging laging masasandigan, maasahan sa bawat panahon.

Sa mundo ng mga bata, ang lungkot ay isa lamang pahinga sa mahabang panahon o oras ng pagsasaya.

Nababago lamang ang lahat ng ito at nagsisimulang pumangit ang kanilang perpektong mundo sa oras na sila ay mamulat sa walang katuwirang pananakit, sa bawat hampas ng sinturon, sa bawat hataw ng tsinelas sa kanilang murang katawan. Ang paraiso ng kanyang musmos na pag-iisip ay unti-unting nasisira sa bawat sigaw at masasakit na salita.

Ang dating masayang mundo ay napapalitan ng gulo at ingay. Ang dating simpleng pag-iyak na naghahatid ng ginhawa sa kanyang nagugutom na sikmura ay hindi pala sapat, lalo na kung si Tatay ay nagumon sa alak at si Nanay ay naging abala sa tsismis. Hindi pala sa lahat ng oras ay nadadaan ang lahat sa "hindi" at "ayoko". Ang utos ni Tiyong ay hindi puwedeng sawayin dahil mahahataw ka ng tambo sa ulo.

Sa pagmulat ng kanilang kamalayan, makikita nilang unti-unti na hindi pala puro ganda at liwanag ang mundo, hindi puro tawanan at ngiti ang dulot ng bawat araw, at ang lungkot ay isa palang emosyon na maaaring madalas mong makasama.

Inaasahang tayo, bilang nakatatanda ang magtuturo sa kanila kung paano harapin ang buhay, na hindi lang isa ang mukha ng mundo. Na sa bawat landas na kanilang tatahakin ay may dapat nakahanda silang madapa at masaktan dahil hindi sa lahat ng panahon ay may magbabangon at kakarga sa kanila.

Ang perpektong mundong kanilang kinagisnan ay maaari pa ring manatiling maganda sa kanilang pananaw kung kanilang maiintindihan na hindi lahat ng maibigan ay maaaring ipilit, hindi lahat ng bagay ay maaari mong makuha. Kung ang pagbabawal ay may kalakip na mahinahong paliwanag, titimo sa isip ng bata kung ano ang tama at nararapat.

Ang pundasyon ng lahat ng mahahalagang bagay na matutunan ng bata at maghuhubog sa kung magiging sino sya sa kanyang pagtanda ay nakasalalay sa kanyang kinagisnang pagkabata. Sa isang banda, kung hahayaan mo ang perpektong mundo ang syang manaig, lalaki syang walang kinikilalang batas kundi ang sarili. Kung ang kamumulatan naman nyang mundo ay puno ng pananakit at pagmumura, wag nating asahang magiging mahinahon at magiging santo sya balang araw.

Hindi kailangang masaktan ang bata para maintindihan niyang mali ang kanyang ginagawa, hindi kailangan ng sinturon para lumatay ang isang magandang aral.

Sa mundo at mata ng mga bata, hindi pala lahat ng bagay ay perpekto, ngunit maaaring maging makulay at maganda ang kapaligiran. Mapagmahal at makatuwiran ang bawat magulang. Ipinadarama nila ito, hindi lamang sa pagbibigay ng layaw sa bawat bagay na kanilang naisin, kundi pati sa pagbibigay liwanag na nakasasama din ang labis, na ang hindi o hindi puwede ay hindi lamang basta pagtutol o pagbabawal kundi paghahatid ng paalalang tama na muna, sa susunod na lang, o mali ang iyong ginagawa.



Children Learn What They Live (1959)
Dorothy Law


If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn . . .

If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight . . .

If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive . . .

If a child lives with pity, he learns to feel sorry for himself . . .

If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy . . .

If a child lives with jealousy, he learns to feel guilt . . .



BUT


If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient . . .

If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident . . .

If a child lives with , he learns to be appreciative . . .

If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love . . .

If a child lives with honesty, he learns what truth is . . .

If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice . . .

If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself and those about him . . .

If a child lives with friendliness, he learns the world is a nice place in which to live . . .