A Mother’s Unconditional Love

…

“Two decades ago, a child was born, a child that truly enlightened a radiant flower. The flower was so beautiful that everyone loved. She was a smart woman, opinionated, idealistic, and proactive and most importantly, a fighter. She has always believed in giving more than what she can, and so the love that she have exerted to the child was truly immeasurable. Through the years, she has raised two smart children, with the help of her beloved husband. Together, they have surpassed so many challenges and fought every obstacle that came into their way. Yes, they were the perfect couple that everyone thought they were. Their love was ubiquitous that everyone in their lives felt it as well.

The children grew and lived their wonderful life, with the couple, enjoying life with love and lived peacefully. Through the years, the children have always believed how lucky they were to be loved unconditionally. They never experienced being left out and taken for granted. The couple gave everything to the children, from material things to good education and most importantly, love and support. Everything was doing great until the unexpected happened.

The flower weakened and got sick. And through her sickness, her ever-loving husband and children were always there, giving her all the support that she needed, to recover and pick herself up again. She fought for her sickness: she was truly a great fighter. Hours, days, weeks, months, and years passed as the love prevailed over the family, trying to be with each other through thick and thin, making most out of everything they have. The radiant flower fought well, but, it was her time to be with her Creator.”

It always breaks my heart when I remember everything. Seeing you suffer breaks my heart and hurt us big time. I hated how I can’t do anything to save the mother that I have always leaned on when I was a child. I have always remembered all the things you told me about living the life that you wanted for me. You have always been at our side when we needed you, and I know I have been with yours when you needed me most. Thank you for being the best mother to us. It’s almost eight months since you’ve been gone, but it seems like forever. We really miss you. I know that you are happy at peace now and I’m so happy because you’ve got everything that you have always wanted before leaving this world.

No words can actually express how we love you. You are the BEST. That is one thing that I can always say proudly to everyone. You’re the BEST because you are not just a MOTHER, but also our GRANDMOTHER. Thank you because never have we felt incomplete; because you were there to fill them up. Thank you for making us the person that we are today. Thank you for being proud of every milestone that we have achieved and I promise that I’ll never stop making you proud.

To the most wonderful woman in our life, a woman as beautiful as a flower and as radiant as ever, to the person who lived her whole life serving others and making them feel her unconditional love, we will forever love you.

From you most loving husband and children,

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

And to all the super moms out there, thank you for every little sacrifices that you make for your loved one, you are truly inspiring. Happy Mother’s Day!

To Vote or Not to Vote

Three days before the Elections in the Philippines and most Filipinos are still confused of who they think they should vote for. We all know what the country is currently experiencing. We all know what is the right thing to do, but many of us are still misled. The Philippines is a country that is coming into life again: “again” from previous downfalls and defeats. One way to make the country better is to choose the right leaders to vote for. The problem is, many Filipinos are confused with voting the right candidate with the ones that they want.

It is simple as differentiating “NEED” versus “WANT”. Filipinos vote more on the candidate that they want instead of voting for the candidate that they need: the candidate that the country needs right now. And why do the WANTS always prevail? Maybe because we are not informed enough. Instead of stupid political ads which roams around our television, all playing novelty songs or doing some “pakuno” stuffs, why not just inform the Filipino people? Instead of wasting millions on jingles and flyers, why not make an effort on making the people know you because of the good actions you do to for the betterment of the country?

I hate to say this, but Politics in the Philippines has been a popularity show these days, and the voting seems to me is like a “vote for the most popular candidate” system already. How many times did we hear the “It’s time for CHANGE”, the oh-so-not-dying word which has become futile already because it has been used over and over yet there are no changes at all.

Fellow Filipinos, please know the difference between who do you want to vote and who you should vote for. Don’t depend on fame, on the background, or the dynasty that the candidate belongs to. Because what is important is not the name but the good things that the candidate will put into action once he is declared winner.

This time, let there be no excuses for mediocrity and stupidity. Make your vote count and make the change possible.

Vote wisely everyone!

5.13.13

Life as How You Want it to Be | Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The importance of Trust…

The same thing happens when miseries exists and you don’t know what to do… At some point in our lives, we want to change ourselves, but a part of us tells us different. That part of us fears that if we change, we might not end up where we wanted to. Everything is the same: “A voice inside us that kept on saying ‘Don’t take chances’, or ‘You cannot do it’… And if that is the case, I can say that we really are the culprit of our own miseries.

Haven’t heard of Trust issues? Well, who doesn’t, right? At some point in our lives or maybe for some, we feared the word. Trust is a BIG word, and doing it is even BIGGER. I know for a fact that all of us experienced having a hard time opening up to a stranger or a colleague which has really nothing to do with your personal life. We all had trouble telling our friends and classmates that we hated one of them because of the fear that it might be misunderstood and worsen things.

Have you thought about trying to open up with someone? It might easy for some to talk, but, when you say trust, it is far way different. Well, talking is one thing, but trusting is another. But we have to learn that life is also about trusting. Trust comes in different ways and all are equally important. How can you be a team if you don’t trust your colleagues? How will you learn if you do not trust your teachers and mentors? How can you love if you don’t trust your friends, family, parents and partner? And most importantly, how can you be happy if you do not trust yourself?

Those questions define who we are and what we need to do. Always know that YOUR life is not all about YOU. Life was not created to be lived by one single person. It is definitely not a one-man show because life is how you make the most out of what you have through others. You learn with them, grow with them and love with them and vice-versa. That is how important trust is and the first step in having the courage to trust others is to trust yourself first that you can do it! Because you really CAN!

Trusting is not eating your pride or even telling others that you cannot do it alone. To trust is to tell others that you are brave enough to let these wonderful people walk into your life and help you make everything colorful and meaningful. It means that you are strong enough to make them touch your life and make you a part of theirs too. But always know that trusting is as important as keeping the trust. That is why show the people how you love them not just by being worthy of their trust but also being able to keep the trust. Building a trust may take a long time, but ruining it can take only seconds.

Whatever you do, always put your trust to God. Because He knows what He is doing and everything in life will always be brighter when you let go of the doubt.

Trust life as it has trusted you to be worthy of living a good one.

Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement. - Golda Meir 

Life as How You Want it to Be

Chapter 1: The Art of Making Mistakes…

We are all human beings. We are not perfect; we tend to make decisions that might have resulted to something we did not tend to happen. Each and every one of us has already experienced the same. Each one of us already know how hard it is to live a life with regrets and sorrow telling ourselves that we shouldn’t have done it.

Some were born great, some have greatness upon them already, but you know what all of them have in common? They don’t let their mistakes be the reason for their downfall. They see their mistake as an opportunity to change what they failed to change before, to see what they did not saw and to feel what they didn’t felt. Change is not really hard, that is what they have realized after every mistake that they encounter. Change is indeed something that everyone should develop within.

People might start asking: if some were born great, while some have already have that greatness within them, then how about the others? The normal people? You know what the answer is? NONE. Because those first two that I have mentioned are the only people living in this world. We are ALL great; we all have greatness within us. It is just a matter of time, and most importantly, a matter of hard work. It is the root of all the greatness ever made.

Mistakes are inevitable. You just cannot stop from making them because it is who we are. It is our imperfections that make us perfect. People who believe that they don’t make mistakes are the ones who are actually mistaken. You see, never be afraid to take the chances because as everyone says it, “You Only Live Once”.

Life has the three C’s. Chance, Choice and Change. You just have to take your chances, every opportunity that comes into your way, grab it and make the right choice. There are twists and turns and if you made a mistake, change it, change yourself for the better. What is important is that you learned life’s lesson.

It is just irony in reality where you’ll just have to experience things first, you have to fall over and over again before you learn life’s lessons: different from how we were educated in schools and universities but if there is one thing that I’ve realized on what life might bring…

“Life has only two outcomes, either you WIN or you LEARN.”

Never be afraid to learn and never stop learning. Because for as long as you learn, you are living your life right.

Fitting in the Missing Puzzle Piece

Strategy making always starts with a goal, but is not limited into it. You may have a goal, but without the proper strategy tools, you’ll go nowhere. Throughout the different strategy gurus that have truly contributed on how to make the proper strategy, not only a broader understanding of what strategy is developed, but also the underlying tools for its success. BCG Matrix, SWOT Analysis, PEST Analysis, McKinsey 7s, Porter’s 5 forces are just some of the tools that are needed not for strategy making but merely for strategy interpretation.

These strategic tools do not really make the strategy. They are just a helping ‘tool’ to make the strategy fit into the ‘missing puzzle piece’. Thanks to Porter, Drucker, Mintzberg, Prahlad and many more, the view of strategy and strategy making turned 360 degrees for us as they have widened our thoughts to it. Porter’s statement of operational effectiveness is not a strategy widened our eyes that not everything you do will always turn out to be the same.

Drucker’s theory of business told us what theory of business is and how it is relevant in making decisions trough setting yourself different from the rest. Indeed these gurus have made us believe how strategy works. But in reality, how does it really work? We often ask ourselves that “after knowing strategy, what comes next?” Well, the next step is to apply these strategies through the strategic tools. These tools are like the pathway for you to know if your strategy is viable.

One way to know if you are able to execute your strategy correctly is through the Balanced Scorecard. “It is like the dials in an airplane cockpit: it gives managers complex information at a glance.” The balance scorecard allows the managers to look at the business from our important perspectives as it answers the questions: How do the customers see us? What must we excel at? Can we continue to improve and create value? And how do we look to shareholders? These questions, if answered positively determine a good strategy move. The balance scorecard itself will tell you if the whole process is right.

The balance scorecard may not be a strategy, but a very powerful tool that sums up what your strategy might be. Similar to all the strategic tools, it helps you to straighten your pathway through success. Always remember that the missing puzzle piece in a puzzle set completes a portrait if and only if it has been placed correctly, and the balance scorecard tells you which fits which.

A Trip to Remember

One of my most memorable out of town get away was on December 14-18, 2012 as we went from Ilocos Norte to Ilocos Sur. I would be sharing some of the beautiful and captivating sceneries that truly made me fall in love with the place over and over again…

View of the Pangil Beach Resort

Pangil Beach Resort Bedroom

View of the famous Blue Lagoon

Java Hotel – Laoag City

Pottery Making in Ilocos

The famous Calle Crisologo at night time

The Panoramic View of the Bangui Windmills

Dragon Fruit Farm

Adventurous 4×4 ride at Sand Dunes

The Java Hotel Room

Calle Crisologo during Daytime

Closer View of the Bangui Windmills

The California Grill and Sports Bar

Back from the Past: The Contradictory View of Science & Religion

About the “Back from the Past” Articles…

Science vs. Religion…

Science is the study of life as what its definition states. It has many branches to which stems to different fields of study or specialization. Religion, on the other hand, is based on belief or culture of the people in Gods and the likes. It may be in the religion of Catholic, Christian, Muslim, Buddhism and etc. There are many religions in our world we live in but it is up to our own free will what religion we will choose to believe in.

When we talk about science, we often associate it with the so-called scientific method being taught from elementary level of schooling and expounded on the secondary level and so-on. It is through this method that we will be able to conduct experimentation  observe, formulate hypothesis, analyse and discuss and lastly to wrap up with conclusions and recommendations with significant basis. It is a tedious task but the answers are said to be accurate. This method as what we may say has a very rational way of thinking wherein objectivity is important and is well-considered.

On the other hand, religion is based primarily on the culture of the society as well as the environment people live in. Unlike science, belief on one’s religion is said to be based on the free will of man. Religion’s basis is on the so-called words of God and is moralize through sacred scriptures often so-called the Bible for Christians or Koran for Muslims as well as other scriptures being said to be words of wisdom and thought from the heavens. Religion can be said to be also rational in which it defends the good and promotes the righteousness for the people. While science deals with gathered data and information, religion deals with the humanism of the world, that is being in the nature of man and the world for it has been said in the Bible that man is created in the image of God. Religion has a humanistic approach to viewing situations or circumstances which promotes the use of common sense as well as upholding the values or principles of the people. Science has a more rational way of explaining situations. Religion can be said to be like that of heart, while science can be considered as the brain.

Through the years, there has always been a clash towards the difference of beliefs of Science and Religion, years ago, I watched a movie which tackled the core idea of Earth being or not the center of the universe. There were two sides to elaborate the issue;the first one side is based on science while the other side is based on religion. On the basis of Science, we found the famous scientist, Galileo, stating that the Earth is only a planet on the solar system and that the Sun is the center of the solar system to where the planets revolve around.

On the Religion’s side, it has been stated that the Earth is center of the universe and everything else revolves around it because Earth is where humans live to which they base their point of view that God created the world and man so everything revolves around them. This is an obvious debate between science and religion to which the first side presents data and proof evidence while the other side presents basis from beliefs.

This argument may seem to never end because different people have different perspective of viewing things and it is up to them what to believe in or where to take side. The argument between science and religion can be said to be applicable in the current era popular in the issue of birth control. Again, we see that there are rational views together with the humanistic claims; Science vs. Church. Although people cannot force other people to do what they don’t want to do, I believe that the arguments point to a certain objective or purpose that is considering the beneficial claims for the people.

If I am asked which side I will take, I would have to say that I will consider balance for the rational science and for the humanistic approach because I believe that there is no absolute idea that can be said that it is the only right thing to do. I mean, people are given free-will and mind of intellect, and it is up for everyone to think and consider what the right things to be done are and what will be beneficial to them as well as for everyone concerned. There is no need to force people to believe or take on the side if they don’t feel or if they don’t want to. I believe that people are given the freedom and mind to decide for what is good/ beneficial to them. 

Back from the Past: Poverty in the Phillipines

About the “Back from the Past” Articles…

Poverty…

Over the years, decades or so, people have always been saying that poverty is something that is common in third world countries. In can be measured based on some mathematical description or the so-called economy of the country. Through the calculated economic output of a country, the government can define and assess whether or not there is improvement in the lives of the people based on quantity or financial aspect.   Poverty can be defined nowadays as what you can see in the present situation in society. Unfortunately, the Philippines is experiencing poverty due to many factors that affect the budget of the common people in the country. These factors that affect not only the government in finding ways in order to solve it or perhaps decrease poverty but also the people, mostly the mass, who are the ones being severely affected by slight change in the prices of goods and commodities or the needs being catered in the market.

There are so many problems that our country is facing now. One of it is the continuous oil-price hike which affects most of the public transportation companies in budgeting for their daily earnings which results to a higher cost in public transportation vehicles such as taxis, jeepneys, tricycles as well as the railroad systems (LRT & MRT). Oil price from different oil importing companies have been rapidly increasing as days pass by. Oil companies always says that the increase in oil price is due to continuous increase in the oil price in the world market and also because of the high importation costs as well as other costs that they pay in order to make petroleum products readily available to public transportation as well as the car owners and etc.  On the other side, consumers complain as well as protesters object on the continuous oil price hike. They say that oil price hike has always been a burden for consumers and commuters because mainly of financial consideration wherein in the present, minimum wage is only imposed and they are struggling to fit their daily needs based on the wages they get from work. Yes, businesses and consumers alike are affected financially, though we can clearly see that the masses of the people belonging in the third class are the ones who are severely affected due to scarce resources that they have to which they must think of ways to fit their needs in to.

Another problem related to that is the high prices of food and commodities that are considered daily needs for a basic household unit which cause more families to experience difficulty or struggle for their daily survival. As oil price continues to increase, transportation also increase their fares and delivery costs. With this, a higher delivery cost means increase in the price of products available in the market. Of course, businesses would charge their costs on the price of products that they offer so that their business would survive, gain profit and lessen the chance of closing down their businesses so as to prevent even more unemployment in the country. With this circumstance, we again, are the ones who are severely affected and are struggling for daily living.

In relation to continuous increase in the price of oil and commodities in the market, some businesses also suffer as seen based on low sales which indicates that there are low patronize of their products. When businesses experience severe losses based on the financial aspect, corporations are forced to shut down their business which effects to the increase in the unemployment of their workers. With this, unemployment increases and most people would lose hope, others would find other jobs, and most would consider leaving their family and struggle abroad just to feed their families here in the Philippines. Due to poverty, education is also affected in a way that teachers moving out and find other high earning jobs abroad. Tuition fees increase that cause other people to stop pursue their studies and help out their families. All these scenarios are present in our society nowadays, everything and everyone seems to be affected in each and every way. Unfortunately, everyone is facing the so-called economic hardship in daily living.

Though poverty is spread all over our country, we must not lose our hope and just continue on and find a way on how to survive not only for ourselves but also for our families. So that when the right time comes, Philippines will no longer suffer from poverty but  instead, Philippines will be well-known throughout the world as one of the most successful country not only because we made it through many obstacles that occurred and challenged us,  but also, by the cooperation of everyone to build a better country.

Back from the Past

 

Ten years ago, I hoped to be the person that I am today. I wished to write things which captures my interest. I dreamed to be a writer. I want people to read the things that I have written and I have been trying my best to make these things possible. Today, in this blog, I have published over sixty articles but if there’s one thing that others don’t know, is that I’ve written so many things before. Yes, I have some unpublished articles that is from the past. Social problems and realities have been some of the things that I had my eye on before. I guess I have been very observant and curious that makes it easy for me to write things that really bothers me.

Let me share to you some of the past and unpublished articles that I have written through my new category: “Back from the Past”. These articles are more than five years already and I am proud to say that they are worthy of being published here. None the less, thank you for your continuous support on my blog, A Glimpse of Reality and may this blog inspired all of the other “writer-wannabes” to write as many things as they can and pursue on their talent.

“Writing begins with the will to be heard, curiosity to make a stand, and mind to start.”

-Harley Dave Chua

The NEXT TOP LEADERS!

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Requirements to be submitted:

1. Resume (with 2x2 picture)

• Must be updated
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• Must be photocopied 5 times

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• Must be hand-written
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Further Requirements:

3. Requirements for the top three (3) Positions: PRESIDENT, INTERNAL VP & EXTERNAL VP:

• Must be / have been a ManSoc Officer…

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