Unspoiled environment is key to happy life to those with Infirmities

Unspoiled environment is key to happy life 

to those with Infirmities

Dr Abe V Rotor

“Good bye,” said the fox to the Little Prince, “And here is my secret.”
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” (The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

It’s rightly so. Take it from Water Lily or Nymphaea (photo), which is among the last paintings of French impressionist, Claude Monet (1840-1926) before he became totally blind. The scenery draws deeper meaning from the accompanying verse from Auguries of Innocence, William Blake’s late prophetic poem – fearless and free.

How perfect is the combination of these two masterpieces - made by artists who “saw” the world differently from that of ours – we who are unaffected of sight or any sense, we who are not infirmed in life. Nymphaea represents our natural world, undisturbed and unspoiled by human hands, while Auguries of Innocence speaks of the purity of mankind, reverent and subservient to a Higher Principle, and sensitive to the world.

To see the World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven a Wild Flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
            - William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Edgar Degas also suffered from very poor eyesight towards the end of his life. Surprising it is in this twilight zone that artists made their masterpieces.

Here are other famous people with sight problems

• Andrea Bocelli - opera singer
• Loiuse Braille - inventor of braille
• Ray Charles - American singer and composer
• Helen Keller - American author, philanthropist
• John Milton - English poet
• Horatio Nelson - British admiral
• Rembrandt – Dutch painter
• Stevie Wonder – American singer
• St. Paul - Apostle
• Homer - Greek poet
• Samson - Biblical hero

Here are biblical, religious and fiction characters, too, that are popular to many of us.

• Tiresias - mythological, Greek seer
• Odin - Norse god
• Horus - Egyptian god
• Oedipus - mythological Greek King
• Cupid/Eros - Greek/Roman god of love

We have local Blind Musicians in our midst performing in malls, fiestas, and in various occasion. A live band of five to as many as twenty plays instruments and sings as other famous bands do. In spite of being blind these musicians find joy in entertaining people. They pursue a happy life and live normal like other people do.

Quite often we hear people invariably asking this question on who is fit to live? Who of us best deserve life? How do we earn our worthiness to live? It’s a casual question, yet it is perhaps the most difficult to answer, because the art of living is the most difficult of all the arts. Perhaps we can draw some thoughts from John Milton’s works, the most famous is Paradise Lost.

“God doth not need

Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best.

His state is kingly.

Thousands at his bidding speed

And post o’er land and ocean without rest;

They also serve who only stand and wait.”

     - John Milton, When I Consider How My Light Is Spent, 1652

Many people have various versions of how live is well lived with nature. In Living with Nature in Our Times, a book I wrote in 2006, I tried to make a capsule that tries to capture my own definition, greatly influenced by my associates in the field and academe. To wit:

“Nature shares her bounty in many ways:

He who works or he who prays,

Who patiently waits or gleefully plays;

He is worthy of the same grace."

       - A V Rotor, Living with Nature in Our Times ~

We are destroying the Earth - our only ship in space.

 We are destroying the Earth - our only ship in space.

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Changing Environment, influenced by man, breeds a variety of ailments and diseases. Nature-Man Balance, the key to good health is being threatened.

2. What and Where is the so-called Good Life? The Good Life is shifting with the transformation of agricultural to industrial economy.

"The earth is in man's hand."

3. The Good Life is synonymous to Affluence. People want goods and services beyond what they actually need. Want leads to luxury - to waste.

4. The world’s population is 7 billion. Another billion will be added in less than 10 years. Runaway population is the mother of human miseries

5. The proliferation of cities, growth of cities to metropolises and megapolises, each with 10 to 20 million people ensconced in cramped condition. Cities breed Marginal communities

“People, people everywhere, but not a kindred to keep," in condominiums, malls, schools, churches, parks, sharing common lifestyles and socio-economic conditions. They are predisposed to common health problems and vulnerabilities from brownouts to food and fuel shortage, force majeure notwithstanding.

6. Loss of Natural Environment – loss of productivity, loss of farmlands, and wildlife. Destruction of ecosystems - lakes, rivers, forests, coral reefs, grasslands, etc. Destruction of ecosystems is irreversible.

7. Species are threatened, many are now extinct, narrowing down the range of biodiversity. Human health depends largely on a complex interrelationship of the living world. No place on earth is safe from human abuse. Coral Reef – bastion of terrestrial and marine life, is now in distress.

8. Wildlife shares with our homes, backyards and farms, transmitting deadly diseases like SARS, HIV-AIDS, Mad-Cow, FMD, Ebola, and Bird Flu which can now infect humans, allergies notwithstanding.

9. “Good Life” cradles and nurses obesity and other overweight conditions. Millions of people around the world are obese, wih 34% of Americans in the US obese.

10. Global warming stirs climatic disturbance, changes the face of the earth.

11. Globalization packages the major aspects of human activity – trade, commerce, industry, agriculture, the arts, education, science and technology, politics, religion and the like.

12. . Mélange of races - pooling of genes through inter-racial and inter-cultural marriages produces various mixed lines or “mestizos” - Eurasian, Afro-Asian, Afro-American, Amerasian, and the like. Native genes provide resistance to diseases, adverse conditions of the environment. But will this advantage hold on even as the native gene pools are thinned out?

13. Modern medicine is responsible in reducing mortality and increasing longevity. It has also preserved genetically linked abnormalities; it cradles senility related ailments. It made possible the exchange of organs and tissues through transplantation, and soon tissue cloning. It has changed Evolution that is supposed to cull out the unfit and misfits. Man has Darwinism in his hands.

14. The first scientific breakthrough is the splitting of the atom that led to the development of the atomic bomb as the most potent tool of war as evidenced by its destruction at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the nuclear reactor which still holds the promise of providing incessant energy to mankind. The second scientific breakthrough – Microchip led to the development of the Internet which “shrunk the world into a village.”

16. The third breakthrough in science, Genetic Engineering, changed our concept of life - and life forms. It has enabled man to tinker with life itself. Revolutionary industries Examples: In vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, Human Genome Project (HGP or gene mapping), multiple childbirth, post-menopausal childbirth, DNA mapping, etc. Birth of the prototype human robot – pampered, he lives a very dependent life.

17. Genetic Engineering gave rise to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and Gene Therapy. It has also primed Biological Warfare into a more terrifying threat to mankind and the environment. On the other hand Gene Therapy aims at preventing gene-link diseases even before they are expressed; it has actuallty revolutionized medicine. More and more countries are banning GMO crops and animals through legislative measures and conservation programs, including protection against “biopiracy”

18. Today’s Green Revolution opened up non-conventional frontiers of production – mariculture, desalination, desert farming, swamp reclamation, aerophonics (rooftop farming), hydroponics, urban farming, organic farming, Green Revolution adapts genetic engineering to produce GMOs and Frankenfoods. We may not be aware, but many of us are eating
genetically modified food (GMF or Frankenfood) everyday – meat, milk, chicken, corn, potato and soya products, and the like mainly from the US. Many food additives and adjuncts are harmful, from salitre in longganiza to pesticide residue in fruits and vegetables, aspartame in fruit juice to MSG in noodles, formalin in fish to dioxin in plastics, bromate in bread to sulfite in sugar, antibiotic residue in meat to radiation in milk.

• Hydroponics or soiless culture makes farming feasible in cramped quarters, and it increases effective area of farming.
. Aeroponics or Multi-storey farming Vertical Farming Farming in the city on high rise buildings 
• Post Harvest Technology. is critical to Food Production. PHT bridges production and consumption, farm and market, thus the proliferation of processed goods, supermarket, fast food chains, food irradiation, ready-to-eat packs, etc.


19. Exploration into the depth of the sea and expanse of the Solar System - and beyond. We probe the hadal depth of the ocean. We build cities in space - the Skylab. Soon we will live outside of the confines of our planet earth. Now we aim at conquering another planet, another Solar System to assure continuity of mankind after the demise of the earth.

View of Earth from the moon, Apollo 8, NASA

20. Regional and International Cooperation is key to global cooperation: EU, ASEAN, APEC, CGIAR, ICRISAT, WTO, WHO, UNEP, WFO, FAO, like fighting pandemic diseases – HIV-AIDS, SARS, Dengue, Hepatitis, Bird Flu, etc.
Acknowledgement: Wikipedia, Time

A Visit to a Nature Art Gallery

A Visit to a Nature Art Gallery 

How do artists re-create a scene?

it's all in the mind, talent and will,

and an unseen hand moving,

'til the wind and sea become still.

Paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

A young artist, simple in taste and beauty,

came to .visit our home gallery;

She's also a teacher and sports enthusiast.

a standout among the millennials.

Wonder not what the world would be with us

 grownups and the generations past.  

Make-believe scenes of nature on the wall,

faithful to those before the biblical Fall;

artists challenge viewers into action 

and warn them of the Armageddon.

How do artists re-create a scene?

it's all in the mind, talent and will,

and an unseen hand moving,

'til the wind and sea become still. ~

In Search of Happiness. Have you heard of Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index?

 In Search of Happiness.  Have you heard of Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index?

Laugh, and the world laughs with you,

      Weep, and you weep alone;

For the brave old earth must borrow its mirth,

      But has trouble enough of its own.

Ella Wilcox, The Way of the World

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index has recently gained a place in measuring the level of development of a country by inputing an elusive parameter which is happiness.  GNH Index can be downsized for local application, individually or by group or community that is closely knit.

  Relationship is the Number One source of happiness

However, the standard development index remains: Gross National Product (GNP) Index, the annual total value of goods and services generated by a country within and outside its shores, as differentiated from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total value generated within the country only.

This was modified to include Human Development (HD) Index, in order to determine how a country's wealth and earnings are used for the  welfare of its citizens in terms of health, education, housing, and the like.

Parameters of Happiness of GNH Index:

1. Psychological Well-Being

2. Health

3. Time Use

4. Education

5. Cultural Diversity

6. Good Governance

7. Community Vitality

8. Ecological Diversity and Resilience

9. Living Standards

10. Family

11. Spirituality

12. Sense of Achievement

 Preserving native language and culture

Upon reading Time's feature story on The Pursuit of Happiness (October 22, 2012 issue), what came to my mind was to rank the nine parameters, and add three to the list, namely, Family, Spirituality and Sense of Accomplishment or Achievement.  

Individual perception of course, varies, so that it is suggested that a kind of self-evaluation be conducted using the Likert Scale: 1 Very Poor, 2 Poor, 3 Fair, 4 Good, and 5 Very Good. 

Compute the average by adding the values of all the parameter, and divide it sum with 12.  This is the general perception of happiness of the person concerned. What is equally - if not more important - is in being able to find out the main source of happiness, at the same time, the least. This exercise therefore, is aimed at re-affirming our sense of values in the pursuit of happiness. So does a community or country.

Family outing to Patapat, I Norte  

We say we are happy, or a little happy. Or unhappy. Or sad. But how can we quantify happiness like in a grading system?

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) found a good reference. It came from the works of the founding father of happiness research, Dr Happiness himself - Dr Edward Diener of the University of Illinois.* He calls this technique The Satisfaction with Life Scale.

In the radio program Ka Melly and I used this technique to impart a lesson about Happiness. We find that Dr Diener's test can be used in the classroom, in meetings and conferences, or just for the sake of bonding with friends and associates.  Reference: The New Science of Happiness, Claudia Wallis, Time February 28, 2005

Get a piece of paper and rate yourself in each of the following items. Use a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is not true at all, 4 is moderately true and 7 absolutely true. The scale allows you to approximate closer to your self-judgment.

Here are the criteria:

1. In most ways my life is close to my ideal.

2. The conditions of my life are excellent.

3. I am satisfied with my life.

4. So far I have gotten the important things I want in life.

5. If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.

Compute for the total score by adding all values from the five questions.     

Here is the interpretation of your score.
· If you got 31 to 35, you are extremely satisfied with your life. Kudos!
If you got 26 to 30, you are very satisfied with your life. I got 27.
· If you scored 21 to 25, you are slightly satisfied. Two participants got scores on this level.
Those who scored 15 to 19 (slightly dissatisfied) will have to perk up and unload some reasons. Get to the neutral point which is 20, and thence move up the happiness ladder.

It's not hopeless if you got low. The idea of this exercise is to create awareness that there are avenues of happiness, and that there are basic levels of happiness that one can cling to, and say, "Oh well, that's life." And still manage to laugh. And the world laughs with you.

Here is Wilcox's masterpiece which projected her to world fame as author and poetess.     

The Way of the World
Laugh, and the world laughs with you,
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.

Sing and the hills will answer,
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes rebound to a joyful sound
And shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you,
Grieve, and they turn to go;
They want full measure of your pleasure,
But they do not want your woe.

Be glad, and your friends are many,
Be sad, and you lose them all;
There is none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded,
Fast, and the world goes by.
Forget and forgive – it helps you to live,
But no man can help you to die;

There’s room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one, we must all march on
Through the narrow isle of pain.

Psalm of Life is the perhaps the most important poem written by America's darling poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The poem is among the world's most quoted and recited pieces of literature; in fact, it is a prayer by and in itself. It speaks of universal values, feelings and compassion, of valor and sacrifice, and of victory over ones own battle.

Longfellow himself, a victim of a family tragedy, rose to further fame and dignity. After the death of his wife in an accidental fire he went on raising his young children, and teaching in the university, experimenting with new forms and styles of poetry, producing Hiawatha and Evangeline that revolutionized poetry.

I found a very old publication, Longfellow's Evangeline (copyright 1883)with the author's biographical sketch. In describing Longfellow's trial in life, allow me to quote, "More than a score of years remained with the poet, and he had the love of his children and the comfort of his work, but the grief was so deep and lasting that he could not trust himself to speak the beloved name of his wife."

From sorrow rises a great triumph, and this is the testimony to greatness - to share not how the world should end, but how it must begin again. Not how one closes himself in, but opens himself to others. Not to "Go Gentle into the Night", but stand sentry to the "Light of Dawn".

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Psalm of Life is dedicated to victims of calamities - force majeure and man-induced, circumstances beyond control, and all those who find life difficult to bear. May they find comfort, hope, and new meaning of life in Psalm of Life. ~

Psalm of Life

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each tomorrow

Find us further than today.

Art is long, and time is fleeting,

And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle,

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no future, how'ver pleasant!

Let the dead past bury its dead!

Act - act in the living present!

Heart within, and Good o'erhead.

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time.

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o'er life solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait. ~

                             “Yes, I have a successful married life.”

 - On getting married and your friends are around, and you tell to the whole world, “Here is the person I will always love.”

- On having your first child and see the image of both of you and your spouse? (“Look he got my eyes, and chin of his dad.”)

- On having a third child and the economy has not recovered? (“I haven’t any increase in pay since last year.”)

Author and wife visit a museum

- On driving the kids to school, then attend to chores you say, “It’s like a storm had left all the things out of their places.”

- On having your in-laws around and other relatives coming for weekends, then you realize you have an extended family.

- On having a home of your own, and say, “What I paid for rent, I now pay for amortization.” And it is investment.

- On having family disagreements now and then and you say, “Well, if everything is yes, you are sure only one is thinking.”

- On leaving your present job (or his) and start anew, even when you start again at square one, and say, “Tighten your belts.” Even so, you think you are happier now, so with my family.

- On winning an award, and say, “I owe this thing to all of you, especially to my family.”

- On going to other places and call up, “I’ll be home on Christmas.” It is only spring though.

- On experiencing a tragedy in the family, and find a strong shoulder to cry on, “He was meant to be with us only for sometime. He is our angel now.”

- On discovering a life threatening illness and you realize how each day passes with greater meaning and resolve. (“Each day is a bonus - my life is not mine anymore.”)

- On surviving and your hair is now gray, and the children have learned to adapt to life, the way you wish them to be.

- On receiving an award your children earned, and this time a sweet voice says, “This is you.” A drop of tear rolls on your wrinkled face. Words are not enough.

- On being alone; the children had left home and your spouse (bless his soul) had left something for you to live the rest of your life.

- On having grandchildren. “You naughty one you got my nose, and your chin is your grandfather’s.”

Success in married life - yes, it is the greatest success a man or woman can achieve. It is success that makes the world go round. It is the very foundation of a family and therefore of human society.

- It is a kind of success no one is denied to aspire for, irrespective of race, creed, education, or culture. Yet it is one many people failed to achieve in spite of their wealth and power.

- Success in family life is primordial. Between career and family, many people have chosen the latter, and say with a sigh, “Well, you cannot have the best of two worlds.” And they chose family.

- Success is not always equated with money or power. But it is always associated with happiness. A philosopher once said, “Happiness is the only commodity, which if you divide it, will multiply.” Try this formula, and it will tell us, “A happy family is successful.”

- Family life to be successful does not depend on one formula though. It thrives on new frontiers. There are always new things to discover. It is the discovery itself that is important, that makes it original and unique. And it must be always mutual. Joy to one is joy to the other.

- Success cannot be kept in a treasure box and locked. They say, “You cannot rest on your laurels.” Trophies are symbols; they are not an end. In Greek mythology Jason, after his adventure with Hercules in search of the Golden Fleece, spent the rest of his life beside his ship, the Argon, which fell into pieces with age killing the great warrior.

- Success in married life is neither abstract, nor merely spiritual. It is real. It is to be shared. It must be contagious. Let it be expressed with the children. It must be felt and celebrated in one way or the other minus the pomposity of the Romans. It must be exemplified. It must strive to be a model.  It should be able to pass as a paradigm of not only what life really is – but what it should be. “Life,” according to Reader’s Digest, “is the most difficult art, yet it is the finest.”

- Asked what the great British Prime Minister and hero, Winston Churchill wanted if he were born again. He said with twinkle in his eyes looking at Mrs. Churchill. “I’d like to be Mrs. Churchill’s next husband.” Success in married life has an imprimatur. It leaves a mark. That mark even glows on the dead man’s face, and on the shine of his epitaph, and flowers that grace it.

- Trials are not enough to weather success. Yes, to a courageous person, who when asked, “Were you not afraid?” He simply said, “I was afraid, but I did the brave thing.” He picked up the pieces together and his family is once more solid and whole.

When I was invited to talk on this topic before faculty members and students, I said to myself. “Gush, I should know I am successful in my married life.” For whatever I have done so far – through thick and thin - I know my family has always been with me – on the stage, on camping trips, painting exhibits, on visitation of the tombs of our departed, in the church, on my sickbed, lectures, at the mall, workshop, at the farm, on rosary hour. Seldom do I encounter the four “Ws” and one “H” – the very things that make our life complex and uncertain – without my family helping me answer these questions. Life is truly worth living for.

As we switch on the vigil light and retire in the night, we are one happy family looking forward for the next day. For indeed, success must be lived with day after day, season after season, year after year.

At the end, we come to submit our credentials to the One who made us all, who gave us that star that guides our life, who welcomes us at His throne when we shall then have reached it. ~

Children's Art Workshop at author's residence in San Vicente Ilocos Sur 2017

“The greatest gift that we can give to our children and children’s children is Happiness. Happiness is one commodity, which when you divide it, will multiply."

10 Verses to Live By Every Day

 10 Verses to Live By Every Day

Dr Abe V Rotor

          

Banaoang Pass, Santa, Ilocos Sur, wall mural by the author 

1. Walk, don't run, to see better and to know
the countryside, Mother Nature and Thou.~

2. We do not have the time, indeed an alibi
to indolence and loafing, letting time pass by.

Sun on a hazy day

3. As we undervalue ourselves, so do others
undervalue us. Lo, to us all little brothers.

4. Self-doubt at the start is often necessary
to seek perfection of the trade we carry.

5. What is more mean than envy or indolence
but the two themselves riding on insolence.

6. The worst kind of persecution occurs in the mind,
that of the body we can often undermine.

7. How seldom, if at all, do we weigh our neighbors
the way we weigh ourselves with the same favors?

8. Friendship that we share to others multiplies
our compassion and love where happiness lies.

    Morning rainbow, Bamban, Tarlac 

9. Evil is evil indeed - so with its mirror,
while goodness builds on goodness in store.

10. That others may learn and soon trust you,

show them you're trustworthy, kind and true. ~

10 NATURE Paintings with Verses

  10 NATURE Paintings with Verses

              Ode to the Grass:

 "In summer you turn golden, and bow,
   and die sweetly to feed the world." - avr

Paintings and Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor

GRASS
Painting in acrylic (18" x 21")

Sway with the breeze, dance with the wind;
Greet the sun with dewdrops clinging;
In summer turn golden, and bow,
And die sweetly to feed the world.

A LOVELY PAIR IN A BOWER
Painting in acrylic (11.5" X 16")

Let the world go by in their bower,
lovers blind to the busy world,
away from the maddening crowd;
fleeting moment is forever,
to this pair in their lair.

Wonder in our midst who we are,
blind to each other, but the world,
strange this crowd we are in;
where's this lovely pair,
where's their bower?


SYMBIOSIS
Pisces and Echinoderms
Painting in acrylic (8" X 10")

Distant in phylogeny, yet live they together
in one community we call ecology,
ever since the beginning of our living world,
millions of years ago before man was born
to rule, to reign supreme over all creation;
wonder what Homo sapiens means
to true peace and harmony
beyond his rationality.

TOO SOON THE BUD OPENS
Painting in acrylic (12" x 17")

You come in springtime and autumn,
too eager a bud ahead of your time;
what promise of life awaits tomorrow
from where you've broken through?

Whichever path you take from now,
you'll miss the adventure of youth
in summer, and stillness of winter,
Oh, how could you live to the full?

"For having lost but once your prime,
you'll always tarry," so says a poet;
"It's now or never," so sings a bard,
and I, I've neither a poem nor a song.

SEA URCHIN

Painting in acrylic ( 11" x 13.5")

You're all made of spikes,
I can't see the real you;
in your invincible armor
in any view.

Wonder how many of us
live like the urchin
in silent, unknown ways
and never seen.

SECRET OF THE HEART
Painting in Acrylic (13.5" x 13.5")


Hidden, the heart throbs
in deep silence;
two nails embedded,
unseen in pretense
of living, loving, caring,
the highest art,
filling the five chambers
of the heart.


INNOCENCE IN NATURE
Painting in acrylic (17.5" x 21.75")

Abstract over realism can you paint innocence,
move over classics, you are too pure
to be true, and impressionism too assuming,
with apologies to Monet's azure sky.

Oh! abstract indeed is a child's innocence,
buds in early spring, grains ripening;
heart of a true friend, pledge of real love,
growing in the passing of time.

Colors are mere symbols, wanting to behold,
the magnificence of mind and heart,
triumph of the human spirit over our frailty,
the most challenging of all art.~

ART OF THE CATERPILLAR
Painting in acrylic (11” x 14”)

Caterpillar, when you are gone
two things come to mind:
the butterfly you have become,
and the damage you have done
and left behind.

Art, art, whatever way defined,
the subject on the wall,
or dripping on the floor,
art, art you aren't hard to find
after all. ~

WEANING
Painting in acrylic (8” x 10”)

A trio in adventure weaned out
of their nest too soon;
to explore the world beyond,
like the Prodigal Son.

What lies in the deep and dark
cavern with many eyes,
but monsters real or imagined
lurking for a prize.

It’s inevitable stage of life,
all creatures undergo;
weaning - crossing the bridge
and cutting it, too.


FISH SWARMING
Painting in acrylic (9” x 17”)

I’ve seen jellyfish swarming,

plankton in coral reefs glowing;

a myriad fireflies mingling
with the stars, linking us all
to a Supreme Being. ~

6 Stories of Childhood, a Personal Experience

 6 Stories of Childhood, a Personal Experience

1. Paper wasps on the run! Or was it the other way around?

2. Watching war planes in dogfight.
3. The Case of the Empty Chicken Eggs
4. The caleza I was riding ran over a boy.
5. Eugene and I nearly drowned in a river.
6. Trapping edible frogs

                     Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Paper wasps on the run! Or was it the other way around?

This happened to me, rather what I did, when I was five or six - perhaps younger, because I don’t know why I attack a colony of putakti or alimpipinig (Ilk). It was raw courage called bravado when you put on courage on something without weighing the consequences. It was hatred dominating reason, motivated by revenge.

I was sweeping the yard near a chico tree when I suddenly felt pain above my eye. No one had ever warned me of paper wasps, and I hadn’t been stung before. I retreated, instinctively got a bikal bamboo and attacked their papery nest, but every time I got close to it I got stung. I don’t know how many times I attacked the enemy, each time with more fury, and more stings, until dad saw me. I struggled under his strong arms sobbing. I was lucky, kids my size can’t take many stings. There are cases bee poison can cause the heart to stop.

2. Watching war planes in dogfight.

It was the last year of WWII, 1945. I was going four at that time and the images of planes fighting are still vivid today. Toward the east is the Cordillera range that looked blue in the distance. The view was clear from our house, and hideout. Even if the old San Vicente church partly got across our view, we saw now and then warplanes passing above. It was also the first and only time I saw a double body aircraft flying. There was at least one occasion warplanes fought somewhere above Vigan, and a plane simply bursts in flame and dark smoke. My dad prodded us to go back to our underground hideout.

When I was in high school I had a teacher in literature, Mrs. Socorro Villamor. She was the widow of war hero, Col. Jesus Villamor, one of the greatest Filipino pilots in WWII. After downing several Japanese planes, his own plane was hit and he died in the crash. Camp Villamor was named in his honor. My classmate and I wondered why Mrs. Villamor was often wearing black. At one time she recited for us Flow Gently Sweet Afton. She even sang it, and then came to a halt sobbing. We were all very quiet and let her recover. I could only imagine that up there fighting the Japanese is the great Colonel Villamor, whom my teacher was still mourning ten years after.

I believe that the pain she was then carrying made her the best literature teacher I have ever met. Today I still can recite a dozen selected passages from great American and English poets, and my favorite comes from Flow Gently Sweet Afton. Now and then in my lonely moments I hum its plaintive melody.

3. The Case of the Empty Chicken Eggs

Soon as I was big enough to climb the baqui (brooding nest) hanging under the house and trees. I found out that if I leave as decoy one or two eggs in the basket, the more eggs you gather in the afternoon. Then a new idea came. With a needle, I punctured the egg and sucked the content dry. It tasted good and I made some to substitute the natural eggs for decoy.

Dad, a balikbayan after finishing BS in Commercial Science at De Paul University in Chicago, called us on the table one evening. "First thing tomorrow morning we will find that hen that lays empty eggs.”

It was a family tradition that every Sunday we had tinola - chicken cooked with papaya and pepper (sili) leaves. Dad would point at a cull (the unproductive and least promising member of the flock) and I would set the trap, a baqui with a trap door and some corn for bait. My brother Eugene would slash the neck of the helpless fowl while my sister Veny and I would be holding it. The blood is mixed with glutinous rice (diket), which is cooked ahead of the vegetables.

That evening I could not sleep. What if dad’s choice is one of our pet chicken? We even call our chickens by name. The empty eggs were the cause of it all, so I thought.

In the morning after the mass I told dad my secret. He laughed and laughed. I didn't know why. I laughed, too. I was relieved with a tinge of victorious feeling. Thus the case of the empty eggs was laid to rest. It was my first “successful” experiment.

In the years to come I realized you just can’t fool anybody. And by the way, there are times we ask ourselves, “Who is fooling who?”

4. The caleza I was riding ran over a boy.
Basang, my auntie yaya and I were going home from Vigan on a caleza, a horse carriage. I was around five or six years old, the age children love to tag along wherever there is to go. It was midday and the cochero chose to take the shorter gravelly road to San Vicente by way of the second dike road that passes Bantay town. Since there was no traffic our cochero nonchalantly took the smoother left lane fronting a cluster of houses near Bantay. Suddenly our caleza tilted on one side as if it had gone over a boulder. To my astonishment I saw a boy around my age curled up under the wheel. The caleza came to a stop and the boy just remained still and quiet, dust covered his body. I thought he was dead. Residents started coming out. I heard shouts, some men angrily confronting the cochero. Bantay is noted for notoriety of certain residents. Instinct must have prodded Basang to take me in her arms and quickly walked away from the maddening crowd. No one ever noticed us I supposed.

5. Eugene and I nearly drowned in a river.

There was a friendly man who would come around and dad allowed him to play with us. People were talking he was a strange fellow. We simply did not mind. He was a young man perhaps in his twenties when Eugene and I were kids in the early grades in San Vicente. One day this guy (I forgot his name) took us to Busiing river, a kilometer walk or so from the poblacion. The water was inviting, what would kids like best to do? We swam and frolicked and fished, but then the water was steadily rising so we had to hold on the bamboo poles staked in the water to avoid being swept down by the current. I held on tightly, and I saw Eugene doing the same on a nearby bamboo pole. The guy just continued fishing with his bare hands, and apparently had forgotten us. Just then dad came running and saved us. We heard him castigate the fellow who, we found out that he mentally retarded that he didn’t even realized the extreme danger he put us in.

6. Trapping edible frogs

It was fun to trap frogs when I was a kid. I would dig holes in the field, around one and one-half feet deep, at harvest time. Here the frogs seek shelter in these holes because frogs need water and a cool place. Insects that fall in to the hole also attract them. Early in the morning I would do my rounds, harvesting the trapped frogs. Frogs are a favorite dish among Ilocanos especially before the age of pesticides. The frog is skinned, its entrails removed, and cooked with tomato, onion and achuete (Bixa orellana) to make the menu deliciously bright yellow orange.

Acknowledgement: Internet photos