A Tribute To A Dear Mother

'The future destiny of a child is always the work of the mother'
                                                                    ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

I love my nanay. She is one woman I adored a lot! She has all my respect and admiration. She is a no ordinary person. She is my mother!

I am so glad and privileged  having our great mother still with us in this mortal journey. Though kinda frail as the years keep taking some serious toll on her health, I could sense how proud she is watching  the family, she and my late father started, branching out. I am sure, with a sharp memory at her age, she could still keep track of her greatgrandchildren! She is a picture of a 'self-accomplished' woman, emulated by many as a 'mother like no other'. 

My nanay, though may be considered as 'uneducated' in today's standard,  is not an unintelligent person. She possesses a sharp vision (literally, after the removal her cataracts) which she shared with my father. That vision was for the future of her children, who were born into this earth with nothing but their parental love. To us her children, she was the beacon which carries the light as we  navigated through our waters in conquering ignorance and uncertainty. And today, she stands as our guiding post, a spring of inspiration as we  continue to walk though life with our respective families.

My nanay's bio may well be worth  making it through the story board of a tear-jerking movie. Born and raised by a single mother, she was orphaned at an early age. She was left under the care of an uncle until about her early teens and was later on moved to live with another uncle until she was 16. Her growing up years was characteristically arduous, and it did not get any better living during theWorld War II. These unwelcome predicaments though turned her into a strong woman as she developed tenacity and resilience - strengths which made her through life's difficulties and adversities.

She got married at age 16, after a whirlwind romance which ended up in an altar date in a war time. Just as she gained independence from her uncle's ward, her life transitioned into a more complicated one when they started a family. Babies came.. one, another one, then another one....after another one, ten total! In my present situation, I could not imagine raising ten kids, nurturing them to become responsible individuals, and  help securing for their future. They did. I came a little later in the family pipeline, six siblings before me. Life was not easy for me. Must be extremely difficult for my parents!

The abyssmal situation we're in could not bring down our family any further. When  one hits the rock bottom, there's no other way but up!   Nanay went through a kind of life she did not want us to experience. This was her vision,  one which she shared and worked out along with our father. Not an easy one! Hardships, sacrifices, sweat, tears and ,yes,  tons of persistence and resilience- these spiced up the road our family trekked. To many, it is a road less traveled. If anyone in our family lacked the strength and the tenacity to endure, one could've broken loose and be bound to continual poverty.  And we could have not done it all without the generosity of so many people who believed in my parents' vision and did see our strong determination to succeed.

Truth to reckon, our nanay's earthly journey is like a late afternoon sun. Sooner or later, sunset will come. I find it so rewarding having her with us until this time. I know she's rightfully seated on the pinnacle of her life. The bittersweet memories of the arduously tortuous good-old-days in her ascent to the summit are awe-inspiring. We draw so much inspiration from them, and we are always proud to share them with anybody.

To my dear nanay, this one is for you as you welcome and celebrate another year of your life! Yours is a life well-lived! Happy Birthday!!

Signs Of The Time

Just very lately, birds falling from the skies in Beebe, Arkansas just about after new year's day was first reported. Then similar cases of astonishing birds dying and falling were reported in Louisiana, spreading to Kentucy, Texas and even about halfway across the globe, in Sweden  and Italy, and reportedly  somewhere over in Australia. This mysterious incidence of birds kill, dubbed as 'aflockalypse', puzzled biologists and ornithologists. At about the same time, massive tilapia fish kill  (about 150 tons) was reported in Vietnam and about 40,000 crabs were washed up in the shorelines of England!

Incidents of massive death (i.e fish kills, bird falling) did occur in the past. Scientists thought that 'trauma caused by fireworks' during the new years eve revelry or damage due to 'high-altitude hail', among others, may be the culprit. The search for the explanation for these incidence, however, is far from over. However, some people out there, among them the 'self-proclaimed prophets' are quick to say that these mysterious events are few indicators of the second coming of the Lord. One 'prophet' boldly said that the death of the birds is caused by the current repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) policy in the military which displeased the Lord.

In Australia, a massive flooding in areas as big as the state of Texas, has caused deaths and extensive damage to the area. Power supplies were out and communication system knocked out in some areas. Strong water currents brought down bridges, washing away sidewalks and kept people isolated. Severe flooding was also reported in  Bangladesh. Here at home, monstrous snowstorms came one after the other, causing power outages in area where snow accumulated to massive amounts that knocked down power lines and caused loss of some lives.

It would be a small wonder that these events could be attributed as one of the signs of the time.

Several reasons could be cited to possibly cause deaths of birds - bad weather, high tension line collisions, electrocutions, diseases caused by parasite infestation or bacterial infection to name a few. Indeed, this could be a sign of the time. That natural selection is going on, as it has been since life begun.

Cataclysmic events are part of the daily affairs of the earth. Vocanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes and, yes, floodings. The increasing global climate is thought to be the major trigger of the flooding And scientists warn that this could just be a prelude to the future. Natural calamities are one  set of agents that can, likewise, lead to natural selection.

Viewed from either the mystical or the natural vantage points, these events can be considerably argued as signs of the times. To me, they represent part of the continuing process of natural selection, which is the major driving force of evolution!

As the Years Keep Coming

I came into this earth filled with nothing. Completely unclothed, unlearned, helpless! Also, completely dependent on other people.  All through the past 50 years of my life, I learned to live as the years kept coming. I learned that life is not fair. Life is, at times, a wonderful and beautiful bliss. Other times, it is filled with brazen and ruthless indignations. 'Life is what we make it', a friend told me when, at one time, I was wallowing in self pity. True, indeed! But not all the time. Historically, life endured catastrophes of seismic proportions before humans walked on the face of this planet. And the string of cataclysmic events will continue the daunting task of natural selection, either they are nature's unwelcome wrath or as consequence of human's rampant and selfish indiscretions.

So while there was no instruction manual that came with my birth, I learned to live my life, thanks to the evolution of parental instinct - the care of the young. I know my parents would hate me and label me  ingrate for equating the attention and the love they showered upon me to instinct. For it is all instinct, only an exaggerated type!

And then cultures and traditions evolved, becoming more complex with  human evolution. Their origins were quite ambiguous. Many of them based on early human imaginings and perceptions about what, later on, seemed to be ordinary events in nature. Some of them are evolutionary legacy bequeathed by those who came before us. Deities, superstitions, myths all popular in the not-so-distant past have continued to contaminate some of the cultures and traditions that were handed down to our present generation. There is an apparent admixture of  truths, half-truths and myths in the social environment I grew up. I must admit, with a brain like an empty memory computer, my brain took all of what'd been fed on me  as truths - sinker, hook and line. No questions asked. By then, my cerebral cortex was not completely ready to sort out those that make sense from those that don't! And these endlessly continued to inundate my innocent brain as the years kept coming.

Belief systems are part of the traditions humans continue to hold. There is a parade of gods listed in the Roman and Greek mythology books. Fancy celebrations were held and lavish offerings were offered to honor their sacredness. And there is the God of the bible, Allah of the Qu'ran, or some Higher Beings in other religions. Growing up, I started to grasp faith, to a point that I grappled to it so tightly,  and into believing that God is the great provider of everything! There was a time I was deeply indoctrinated that I felt the inner peace and harmony within myself. Ahh the god gene at work! Heaven on earth! But that was ephemeral. My brain, later, was engaged in some higher order functions and questions started queuing up. Time has come to pass the ' faith does not give answers but it just stops me from asking questions' mode.  And I can no longer take the 'God works in mysterious ways' end of it.

Logic and critical thinking, two attributes that positioned man on top of the animal kingdom. Two mental faculties that emancipated man from the empowering clout of ignorance. I hate to say this but I am inclined to believe that 'Ignorance of nature gave birth to gods. The knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them'. For a long time, the Catholic Church advocated the earth-centered universe, that the earth is only about 10,000 years old, that the species is immutable. Things have changed. Science has provided and will continue to provide logical expanations to events in nature,  events used  to be considered mysterious in the past. Mysterious events may continue to appear or be reported but that does not mean they really are mysterious. For nature is light years away ahead of the human intellect. And so, the explanations will come in due time. Long before scientists were able to combine genes from different species, nature was already engaged in genetic engineering! With the loads of new information endlessly surfacing, I thought I need to re-examine my faith and the belief system I am in. And this I will do as the years  keep coming.

Goodbye 2010 and Welcome 2011!

Two thousand ten (2010) has just faded to history. Here I am, trying to bring back to mind the highlights of the year gone by and how it influenced, in anyway, my life, socially, spiritually,  and professionally. It is kinda hard to remember the events as they unfolded, especially if each day just seemed to be not unlike any other passing day.

Thanks to social networking apps like facebook, I got the chance to reconnect with a lot of people- relatives, former students, former classmates and friends from the world over. It feels great to get some updates from them, after years of temporal separation. Nothing was even sweeter than the opportunity to visit my younger sister and her family in Toronto, Canada, after eleven long years. In Toronto, I met new relatives who were warm and gracious. I also got the chance to visit few old friends. I accompanied my wife to her faculty development meeting in San Diego, CA.  While in there, I got the chance to visit fellow Plaridelians around the area, met their extended families, and experienced their warm hospitality. More hometown (Plaridelian) friends we were connected to when my family spent the Christmas holidays in Houston. Our visit with them was very pleasant and memorable as we made more friends in the parties we went to. In addition, we got the chance to swing by a family in Houston we knew so well back to my post-doc days in Kansas State University. Of course, our facebook friends list gets longer. Late this year, when I was about to turn 50, I developed strong interest in blogging. Blogging has become an outlet for me to express opinions, all of my own. I looked forward to having a blog published every week.

My spiritual life took a topsy-turvy turn as the year was unfolding. As it seems now, my belief system is sitting on a shaky ground. Recently, I've been reading the atheist's views as I have been in continuous search of the rationality of faith and reason. I know this sounds eccentric and weird. My take is... as I get older, I become more inclined in the mechanistic rather than vitalistic point of view of things. All through the years, I've fed myself enough with information related to spirituality. Now is the time to explore the other side. Many things just don't make sense. And these are just  left to 'the god of the gap' to be a piece and at peace with sense and sensibility. Being informed requires a second look at things (practices, beliefs, etc) that have been held for a long time. The powerful human intellect has unearthed volumes of novel  information which never existed when traditional belief systems flourished back to the days. It gives new meaning to the saying 'examine your conscience'.

On the professional note, 2010 was a highly productive year for me as a teacher. Two semesters and two summer sessions of teaching gave me the opportunity to reach out and mentor to about 300 sudents. Teaching as a job is a lifetime vocation. It requires being abreast knowing the tricks of dealing effectively with the millennials. As such, I was privileged to attend a professional development on teaching excellence and leadership. I find it quite delightful and gratifying  as a teacher, to be able to inspire a few students among so many who just want to get  high grades without exerting some efforts on their part. And I get this clue when these few students wish to take more of my classes and from the rumors that spread around the  campus student world. Of course, I take so much pride hearing from my students from the not-so-distant past,  some now famed medical doctors, college professors, high school teachers, or somebody respected in their chosen professions - all telling me I was a bit part, no matter how small, of who they are now. From them I draw the inspiration which energizes my proclivity to continue to teach and inspire few students at a time.

Overall, 2010 was a wonderful year! 

I am person of the present. I take lessons from yesterday to make my today a little better. I could care less about the details for  tomorrow. For no one knows what the future holds. 

For 2011, I will just embrace what each day brings...

Happy New Year everyone!