The Return of the Prodigal Son in Our Troubled World

The Return of the Prodigal Son

in Our Troubled World 

"When the world is being ripped by conflicts or pampered with material progress, when mankind shudders at the splitting of the atom,  the breaking of the code of life, when the future is viewed with high rise edifices, clouded by greenhouse gases... "

I am a postmodern day Prodigal Son. I spent sixty long years searching for a place I may call my own in the whole wide world ... until I found my way barred by the deadliest pandemic in modern times ... and there's no way out but to turn back and go home." - avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

I am a postmodern day Prodigal Son. I spent sixty long years searching and searching for a place I may call my own in the whole wide world. Yes, sixty long years of my youth and in old age – thrice longer the fiction character Rip van Winkle did sleep – and now I am back to the portals of my hometown, to the waiting arms of my father.

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt van Rijk.  Are you the repentant prodigal son, or his proud brother?

The proverbial Lamp I still hold flickers, but it is but a beacon in embers now, for it had spent its luminance in the darkness of human weakness and failures, it beamed across the ocean of ignorance and lost hope, it trailed the path of many adventures and discoveries, and it kept vigil in the night while I slept.

And what would my father say? He meets me, embraces me, and calls everyone. “Kill the fattest calf! Let us rejoice.”

San Vicente is my home. It is the bastion of my hopes and ideals. At the far end on entering the old church is written on the altar, faded by the elements of time and pleading hands of devotees, Ur-urayenka Anakko – I am waiting for you my child.

When the world is being ripped by conflicts or pampered with material progress, when mankind shudders at the splitting of the atom or the breaking of the code of life, when the future is viewed with high rise edifices or clouded by greenhouse gases – my town becomes more than ever relevant to the cause for which it has stood through the centuries - the sanctuary of idealism in a troubled world, home of hundreds of professionals in many fields of human endeavor.

“Kill the fattest calf,” I hear my father shout with joy. It is celebration. It is a symbol of achievement more than I deserve. But my feelings is that I am standing on behalf of my colleagues for I am but an emissary. Out there in peace and trials, in villages and metropolises, in all endeavors and walks of life, many “Vincentians” made their marks, either recognized on the stage or remembered on stone on which their names are carved. I must say, it is an honor and privilege that I am here in humility to represent them that I may convey their unending faith and trust to our beloved hometown.

The world has changed tremendously, vastly, since I passed under the town arch to meet the world some fifty years ago. I have met wise men who asked the famous question “Quo vadis?” - where are you going? I can only give a glimpse from the eye of a teacher, far for the probing mind of Alvin Toffler in Future Shock, or those of Naisbitt and Aburdane, renowned modern prophets. Teachers as I know, and having been trained as one, see the world as it is lived; they make careful inferences, and take a bird’s eye view cautiously. They are conveyors of knowledge, and even with modern teaching tools and communication technology, cannot even qualify as chroniclers, nay less of forecasters. I have always strived to master the art of foretelling the future, but frankly I can only see it from atop a misty mountain. How I wish too, that I can fully witness the fruits of the seed of knowledge a teacher has sown in the mind of the young.

Limited my experience may be, allow me to speak my mind about progress and developments in the sixty years I was away from home, but on the other side of midnight, so to speak.

1. We face an invisible enemy, mean and deadly - the Coronavirus Pandemic disease or COVID-19 - respecting no nation, race, belief, ideology, economic status, etc., reminiscent of the Black Plague that plunged the world into the Dark Ages for almost ten decades.

2. The monster that Frankenstein made, lurks in nuclear stockpiles today loosely in the hands of  superpowers following the end of the Cold War.  Lately, newly industrialized nations are building their own nuclear bombs, like Iran and North Korea.

3. Like the breaking of the atom that led to the discovery of nuclear power, and the building of the atomic bomb, biologists have succeeded in breaking the Code of Heredity, and through genetic engineering succeeded in creating new life forms - the GMOs.  There are dozens of Genetically Modified Organisms - plants, animals, drugs - in the market today, and more in the laboratory phase.   It is believed that the corona virus to be a product of genetic engineering, so with its variants.   

4. Our blue planet has an ugly shade of murk and crimson – fire consuming the forests, erosion eating out the land, polar ice shrinking, rising sea flooding the shorelines, and gas emission boring a hole in its jacket.

Dead planet, wooden chandelier by AVR 2019

5. One race one nation equals globalization. How we have taken over evolution in our hands. We are playing God, is Paradise Lost Part 2 in the offing?

6. The world is wired, it travels fast on two feet – communication and transportation. The world has shrunk into a village. Homogenization is the death sentence amid a bed of roses for mankind.

7. Man-induced phenomena are too difficult to separate from those of nature. We take the latter as an excuse of our follies, a rationalization that runs counter to be rational. Only the human species has both the capability to build or destroy – and yet we love to destroy what we build.

Our living world gone wild. 

Painting by AV Rotor 2020  

8. The dangerous game of numbers is a favorite game, and our spaceship is getting overloaded. Man’s needs, more so man’s want, become burgeoning load of Mother Earth, now sick and aging. Will Pied Piper ever come back and take our beloved young ones away from us, as it did in Hamlyn many years ago?

9. Conscience, conscience, where is spirituality that nourishes it. Where have all the religious teachings gone? Governance – where is the family, the home? Peace and order – Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan – another Korea, another Vietnam, only in another place, in another time. And now social unrest is sweeping over North Africa and the Middle East.

10. Janus is progress, and progress is Janus. It is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It is The Prince and the Pauper. Capitalism has happy and sad faces – the latter painted in pain and sadness on millions all over the world. It is inequity that makes the world poor; we have more than enough food, clothing, shelter, and energy for everybody. What ideology can save the world other than capitalism?

As I grew older I did not only learn to adjust with the realities of life as I encountered it but to grasp its meaning from the points of view of famous philosophers and writers. I studied it with the famous lines from William Blake’s famous poem, Auguries of Innocence.

  

To wit.
        “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

If ever I have ventured into becoming a redeemer of sort, armed with a pen in hand, I too, have learned from Blake’s verse of the way man should view the world in all its magnanimity yet in simplicity. If ever I have set foot to reach the corners of the Earth, and failed, I am consoled by the humble representation of “a grain of sand” that speaks of universal truth and values.

And beauty? If I have not found it in a garden of roses, I dare not step on a flowering weed. And posterity and eternity? They are all ensconced in periodicity, a divine accident of existence – to say that each and every one of us is here in this world by chance – an unimaginable chance – at “a certain time and place” which - and I believe - has a purpose in whatever and however one lives his life. But I would say that a lifetime is all it takes “to see the world” and be part of it. It is a lifetime that we realize the true meaning of beauty, experience “infinity and eternity”. Lifetime is a daily calendar of victories and defeats.

While the world goes around and around . . .

The world like in Aristotle’s time continues to struggle with the preservation of values; the species will continue to evolve as postulated by Darwin; culture will express itself more fully since the first painting of early man dwelling in the caves of Lascaux in France.

Trade and commerce will continue to progress, reaches a plateau and declines - a normal curve that goes with the rise and fall of civilizations. Yet leaders do not see it that way. Not even the Utopia of conquerors like Alexander the Great whose global economic vision two thousand five hundred years ago is basically the same in concept as that of the great powers of today - United States, European Union, ASEAN.

The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse. The Book of Revelations in the New Testament lists the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as conquest, war, famine and death, while in the Old Testament's Book of Ezekiel they are sword, famine, wild beasts and pestilence or plague.

The great religions will continue to bring man to his knees and look into heavens amidst knowledge revolution and growing complexity of living, Man’s infinitesimal mind continues to probe the universe. Never has man been so busy, so bothered, so confused, yet so determined than ever before, trying to fill up God’s Seventh Day.

As I go on reflecting I came across the book of Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, 1994. He warns us succinctly.

“This world, which appears to be a great workshop in which knowledge is developed by man – which appears as progress and civilization, as a modern system of communication, as a structure of democratic freedom without any limitations – this world is not capable of making man happy."

- Pope John Paul II, On the Threshold of Hope

Now I am home, my father, in my hometown. I do only wish for comfort. I just want to thank you for you have taught me and instilled in me the spirit of virtue and fortitude. Thank you for making me a Vincentian.

Let me rest now in your arms. ~

Read BANNAWAG (Light of Dawn) the Flagship of Ilocano Language and Culture

Read BANNAWAG (Light of Dawn) 

the Flagship of Ilocano Language and Culture 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Columnist (Okeyka Apong)

Bannawag Magazine

Author (right) with Managing Editor Cles B Rambaud

Read Bannawag, it is the Ilocano magazine with the largest circulation, in the Philippines and in Ilocano communities abroad - from Hawaii, Middle East on to Europe.

Read Bannawag, and learn a language learned at birth, by affinity and association, a beautiful language - both exotic and ethnic, rich, musical, expressive, a language Ilocanos carry with pride to the corners of the earth.

Read Bannawag, it is the flagship and conservator of Ilocano culture, the GI (Genuine Ilocano) imprimatur, trademark of beautiful traits and values - the Ilocano tool of survival and dominance, at home and away from home.

Read Bannawag, it is a trail blazer of the migratory and transient characteristic of the Ilocano, of his homely nature, and his homing instinct, returning to his native region in the true sense of a balikbayan.

Read Bannawag, it has the uniqueness of the super-superlative, like beauty begetting beauty ad infinitum, so to speak. (napintas, napinpintas, kapintasan - and kapipintasan) - the last word means "most, most beautiful", a rare language phenomenon.

Read Bannawag, its tonality is akin to the natural environment - tone of tenderness or firmness, tone that pierces distance or keeps closeness sacred, echoing tone over fields and rolling hills, prayerful, romantic, dirgefull.

Read Bannawag, and learn by intonation the speaker's origin, the naturalness of his accent, clear syllabication, distinct "R" and nasal contraption (likened to German) - variations indigenous to a place or extent of influence by other languages.

Read Bannawag and enjoy the myths and legends from Lam-ang the epic hero, to Angalo the legendary giant, the biblical Lakay-lakay whirlpool, and many folk tales Ilocano counterpart of the Arabian Nights and the Grimm brothers stories.

Read Bannawag, and live in the era of the Zarzuela (homegrown drama) and Moro-moro (stage play, musical comedy of Christians fighting the Moors in medieval times) , enjoy the unique musical qualities of Bannatiran (kingfisher), O, Naranniag a Bulan (Moonlight serenade), Pamulinawen (a love song) and Ayat ti Maysa nga Ubbing (Love of a Lass and an Old Man), among many compositions, original and adapted.

Read Bannawag, in an armchair travelogue of history and arts, of scenic beauty, rich biodiversity, home of living tradition, a piece of Eden created by the edges of the Cordillera range and the South China Sea meeting on a narrow strip of land like a hollow - kuloong, from which the word Iloco is derived .

Read Bannawag, and meet the great Ilocanos who led the country to greatness from Ramon Magsaysay to Ferdinand Marcos; poetess Leona Florentino, heroes Antonio and Juan Luna, and Fr Jose Burgos whose ancestral home in Vigan is now a museum; met many other great Ilocanos, old and contemporary.

Read Bannawag, and it will take you back to the homeland of the simple sturdy and frugal, industrious and persistent, where brain and brawn are welded in a sturdy body, determined mind, and throbbing heart of joy and fulfillment. ~

The Making of "Textbooks" Today

The Making of Textbooks Today

Dr Abe V Rotor

There are 83 articles in this compilation of articles from the professor's lectures, students' researches and home assignments, all made possible with the computer through on-line and modular system, including Blog, Facebook and the like that constitute today's teaching tools and aids. This Pocket Guide is a compilation made by Miss Elizabeth Hashim-Arenas, a faculty member of UST who was then pursuing a doctoral degree in biology.  Entomology is the science about insects.

Environmental Science - An Experiential and Integrated Approach, was compiled by Ms Maria Manuela P. Ordoñez a college professor at San Sebastian College Recoletos de Cavite, who was then pursuing MS Chemistry Education. The "textbook" comprises seven (7) chapters with a total number of 100 articles, downloaded and printed mainly from the author's blog avrotor.blogspot.com, which to the present continually expands with more articles from theses and dissertations, scientific and technical papers, and media broadcasts (e.g. Paaralang Bayan sa Himppapawid, and TATAKalikasan AdMU-Radyo Katipunan),

Graduate students in Environmental Science pose with the author, 

their professor (second from right) on a field lecture at the UST 

Botanical Garden, oldest plant sanctuary in Manila. 

Light moments, Amadeo, Cavite, author with his students

 at the UST  graduate school. Education today is giving 

more and more importance to on-site and hands-on learning, 

in line with on-line and practicum  learning programs. ~

Tranquility

Tranquility

"Tranquility merges peace and quiet, unity and harmony." - avr

 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Tranquility in acrylic (30"x48") AV Rotor 2024

 

Details: Migratory birds follow the morning sun, 

while two young fishermen pull their catch.

Tranquility is a sense of peace and quiet, 

     sitting by a waterfall gently hissing,

all around a wholesome and lovely sight, 

     following the morning sun rising. 

Listen to the crickets and passing breeze, 

     in a calm world sans haste and strife,

commotion and tumult, cares and worries;

     serene, placid - truly a tranquil life.

Tranquility merges unity and harmony, 

     more than a person's inner calmness,

Peace resolves conflicts as tranquility  

     brings in true joy and gladness.

*The word tranquility dates to the 12th century in the Old French word tranquilite, meaning "peace" or "happiness". ~

Evolving Art: Animation and Transition

Evolving Art: 

Animation and Transition

Drawings by Mackie, 12*

 Transforms a lady at twelve,

goodbye to fantasy;

 toys away, dolls in shelve,

 things in virtual reality.  

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

You're in company, 

cool, refreshing, 

 down your tummy.

Sandwich from toast,

self service, no host  

Animation art, 

with cake decor, 

familiar figure

soon to bark.

 

Pet and master

in comfort and adventure.

Superwoman to the rescue,

cyberspace view. 

Dude - 

teeners' lingo,

like sis, bro.

 

 

Teenage blues,

transition hues.

* Mackie Rotor Sta. Maria is author's granddaughter, lives in Brisbane, Australia.

** Animation is the art of making inanimate objects appear to have life and move.  It is a form of art, education, and entertainment. In Greek and Roman mythology Pygmalion fell in love with a statue he had carved which transformed into a woman who became his wife.  Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation)  was the dominant form of animation prior to computer animation.

Triumph Over the Ebb of Life in 5 Parts

Triumph Over the Ebb of Life

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” - Victor E Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning                                                      

                                          

                                                      Dr Abe V Rotor

1.Triumph Over the Ebb of Life
2. Good wine grows mellow with age. Good man grows into a sage
3. Develop the Art of Story Telling. Start writing your own anecdotes.
4. "World's still on your lap."
5. A Little Corner of Eden

6. "I cannot feel." - Computer

                              

                          1.Triumph Over the Ebb of Life

Ebb of Life wall mural in acrylic by the author at his residence, 

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur. 

Feature a person you personally know who triumphed in the midst of crisis. Cite his achievement and the lesson which we derive from him and his experience.

When suddenly we see a shooting star we grasp something to wish for. But before our thoughts are organized our lucky charm is gone.

 

There are times we search the sky for a speck of moving light, a wish ready at hand.  But the stars, thousands of them simply hang on flickering, and none of them falling out. When we are in this situation we must be in the Ebb of Life.  What is this strange land?

Soon enough we realize we are orphans of the universe.  An orphan often talks to himself, for there is no one else around.  He thinks and feels that the world has shrunk.  It is indeed a lonely place.

But this is the place where Michelangelo single handedly made his masterpiece, the huge paintings of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  In solitude and meditation he saw God, His angels and saints, and he made them models of his art.

It is here where Dr Jose P Rizal PHOTO wrote the famous Noli Me Tangere which ignited the Philippine Revolution.  He saw meaning in the death of a moth that singed into his lamp -  to become the symbol of martyrdom.     

Helen Keller, in her solace of total blindness wrote, If I were given three days to see, a moving essay which made people see the world better.  Frederick Handel composed The Messiah, the greatest religious composition ever made, without food and sleep for days.

Robert the Bruce, the great Scottish hero hid in a cave and learned his lessons on persistence and strategy from a spider while waiting for a chance to escape his pursuers.  Later he formed a huge army which defeated the English army, the latter to grant Scotland full independence.

What could have happened to Dantes, the count of Monte Cristo, in the novel of the same title by Alexander Dumas if he simply gave in to despair in the dungeon? From an old fellow prisoner he found wisdom in facing the harsh realities of life – and a secret of a hidden treasure. He escaped from prison, and with tremendous wealth, succeeded in avenging his plotters.  At the end of the story, he realized that revenge does not bring true peace.

Helen Keller

Here are other men and women who capitalized on the ebb of their lives to emerge with great achievements:

·         Victor E Frankl – Europe’s leading psychiatrist, founded a new theory, logotherapy, while detained in a Nazi concentration camp during WW II. He became the most significant modern thinker in the field of psychotherapy. His book Man’s Search for Meaning sold more than two millions copies.

Victor E Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
                                                                     

·        John Milton wrote Paradise Lost when he had normal eyesight and Paradise Regained after losing it.  His works comprise the greatest epic poem in English literature, a profound exploration of the moral problems of God’s justice, through the poet’s genius in fusing classicism and innovation, narrative and drama. 

·         

Captain Scott, the great English explorer, had already reached the South Pole, and was on the way back to camp when he and his team were caught in a blizzard. In freezing cold, He managed to write, “Had we lived, I would have had a tale of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman.  These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.”

·         Albert Schweitzer – philosopher, medical doctor, writer, teacher, philanthropist, musician, rolled into one, stands tall among the world’s greatest humanitarians. Instead of enjoying fame and the comfort of high society, he chose to spend most of his life in a remote village in the Dark Continent – Africa - healing the sick, spreading the gospel, fighting ignorance through education, and bridging the civilized and primitive world.

·      Florence Nightingale renounced “good life” in her native country, England, to join volunteers to serve in an army hospital during the Crimean War. It was extremely dangerous for women to be at the battlefront, but she persisted and brought to the eyes of the world the importance and dignity of the nursing profession. The Lady with a Lamp making her rounds among the wounded and sick to the wee hours became the symbol of nursing. 

                                                                                   Florence Nightingale

          Mahatma Gandhi, one-man against the British empire, underwent extreme personal sacrifice - from humiliation to self-impose fasting – until India was granted independence.    

There are many men and women who labored under great pains and odds, who rose to significance and fame.  And there are even more who lived and died like the Unknown Soldier.

Mahatma Gandhi, Man of the last Millenium

Young Darwin was a disgrace to his prominent family. He chose to be a naturalist defying his father wish to become a doctor. He suffered much at sea for nearly five years as a naturalist, lived in complete isolation because of his radical view of evolution which is contrary to the Doctrine of Creation. He was ridiculed as a monkey for this Ascent of Man, other publications of the same concept of evolution, notwithstanding.

Great works, great deeds, are distilled from hardship and misfortune.  They bring out the best in a person.  Often the battle is but our own, and the enemy is us, yet the victor is us, too.

It is no wonder that if we look up long enough, and think of the enormous reserve in us waiting to be tapped, while keeping faith in the Almighty to whom we owe it, all the stars will hang on shining and twinkling as if to tell us we are not orphans of the universe. ~

“Life is a dance between heaven and earth, the ebb and flow of life.” - Maurice Spees

Acknowledgement: Photos from Internet., Wikipedia, Google

2. Good wine grows mellow with age

Good man grows into a sage

Dr Abe V Rotor

Table wine from local fruits developed by the author from fermentation 

to aging.  San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

1. Good wine grows mellow with age;

Good man grows into a sage.

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

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

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

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

6. That others may learn and soon trust you,
show them you're trustworthy, kind and true.

7. Kindness and gladness, these however small
are never, never put to waste at all.

8. Beauty seen once breaks a heart,
Wait for the image to depart.

9. Being right and reasonable;
Black or white, and measurable.

10. She's coy who speaks soft and light;
Smoke first before fire ignites.

11. Every promise you can't keep
Drags you into a deeper pit.

12. To endure pain of hatred,
A leader’s wisdom is dared.

13. Make believe prosperity;
Sound of vessel when empty.

14. Take from the ant or stork,
Patience is silence at work.

15. He finds reason for living
Who sees a new beginning.

Beauty builds upon beauty,
Ad infinitum to eternity. ~

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

3. Develop the Art of Story Telling  

Start writing your own anecdotes.

Abraham Lincoln is regarded as the father of the Anecdote. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

The word anecdote means unpublished. True to its nature an anecdote is typically oral and ephemeral.

It is a short tale narrating an interesting or amusing biographical incident. It is always based on real life, an incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, in real places. It sets a stage of provocation, more than mere entertainment or narration.

Abraham Lincoln is regarded as the father of the Anecdote. He used it effectively in his administration as president of the United States. And people today use the same technique on many occasions.

What make a good anecdote?

A. It is characterized by
• Witticism
• Humor
• Positivism and inspirational
• Informative and educational

B. It is a combination of these elements that make a good story, depending on the topics and  application.
• As a speaker/ resource person
• Presiding in meetings and conferences
• Informal gatherings /parties
• Writing, news, features
• Broadcasting – radio and TV

C. Stories are used as tool in
• Driving a point indirectly and diplomatically
• Hitting the nail on the head, so to speak
• Friendly advice and reminder
• Admiring a person, institution or place
• Tapping a shoulder in words, kudos, congratulations

D. An anecdote is never
• Moralism (Even a homily should strive not to proselytize.)
• Criticism, especially on persons
• Bulgarism – discreet, dignified, unkind words are avoided.
• Familiarism – not all too familiar topics
• Fatalism – bato bato sa langit syndrome
• Propagandism – and not politicizing 

Story telling is an art. Strive for the state-of-the-art of story telling. ~

Selected Anecdotes of the Great

Napoleon Bonaparte took the crown from the hands of the Pope and he crowned himself as Emperor of France Dec 2, 1804 church of Notre Dame. He owed the crown to no one except himself. His mother shook her head and murmured, “If only it lasts.”

After a series of victories, even after the battle of Trafalgar (combined Spanish and French fleet defeated by Nelson), he tried to govern all of Europe.

He met his defeat at Waterloo in the hands of the Duke of Wellington. Today, Waterloo is the inevitable downfall of a person. ~

Christopher Columbus waited for seven long years for the King of Spain to decide on his plan to search a new land West. King of Portugal refused to help him. Henry the VII refused. Charles VIII of France also refused. All hopes gone … then the queen of Spain through Juan Perez her chaplain, sent money to buy clothes and horse, to see the Queen. Queen Isabella received Columbus. Condition to be promoted to Admiral and entitled one-tenth of all the wealth, He was refused. A messenger overtook him. And Columbus once more went to the Court . Got the nod of the King and Queen but actually cost them nothing. Port of Palos under displeasure for unpaid taxes and liable of heavy fines. Palos was ordered to provide Columbus his needs. Three ships and men from the town. Came the Pinzon brothers provided Pinta, Niña and Santa Maria.

Magnetic North – is not the true north, and its direction varies from different places on the earth’s surface. But Columbus told the worried crew that it’s not the compass that is wrong but the north star which moved from time to time. And the sailors were satisfied – and they headed into the unknown. It took five long weeks to see land. West Indies (Columbus believed it was part of India) part of Cuba. ~

David Livingstone – After 4 and 1/2 years no news about him, thought to have been dead, a young man by the name of Stanley was sent by an American newspaper. There at Ujiji, he found Livingstone. Stanley took off his hat.

“Dr, Livingstone, I suppose?”

“Yes,” he said with a kind smile, lifting his cap slightly and shook hands. It was one of the most famous meetings in history. ~

David the boy. Everyday for 6 weeks Goliath was challenging the Israelites to a duel. David arrived carrying food for the soldiers. David was not afraid and said, “Who does this great boaster think he is?” His brothers scolded him. But Saul the king heard him. David offered to fight Goliath.

"But you are not even a soldier."

"Back home I took care of my father’s sheep... fought lions, bears. I chased and killed them."

"But put your armor first." It was too big and heavy. David took his staff and sling, picked five smooth stones from a stream, and walked confidently to meet Goliath.

It was Goliath's last laugh of his life.
 ~
Florence Nightingale – In the night hours, sometimes long after midnight, Florence used to walk through the quiet wards to see that all was well, carrying a little lamp to light her way.

Such was her love for her patients. And soldiers loved, even the rough soldiers, used to kiss her shadow as she passed. Thus she was called The Lady with the Lamp.

She received the highest award from Queen Victoria – a diamond brooch with “Crimea, Blessed are the merciful” engraved on it. ~

Joan of Arc did not use her sword. She led the attack on New Orleans with shining armor and banner, and rallied the French forces. On seeing her army, the English soldiers were terrified - The Maid, The Maid! Believing in witchcraft, they fled headlong.

Wounded by an arrow in the shoulder at Tourelles after New Orleans, the French soldiers retreated, until she reappeared. And the French won.~

NOTE: These anecdotes were purposely contracted as outline for speech or similar presentation. The reason is to discourage reading before the audience, and allows spontaneity and flexibility in telling the story.

---------------------------------------------------------------

And here is my own, a childhood anecdote that remains as fresh as it happened seventy years ago.

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 ane egg and sucked the content dry. It tasted good and I made some to substitute the natural eggs for decoy.

One evening my father (a balikbayan who, after finishing BS in Commercial Science at De Paul University in Chicago, settled down in our hometown) gathered us, his three children, and announced,  "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 green 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. "World's still on your lap."

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

  

A sunbathing black cat against a wall mural at the Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, 2022.  Photographed by the author with a palm-size camera, (Sony 20.1 with Zeiss lens).    

Guard outside, indoor the cat,

     Pet no home is without;

True or myth, bad or good luck, 

     World's still on your lap.  

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*Historically, black cats were connected to the divine or supernatural. Black cats are associated with important goddesses in Egyptian, Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology. These cultures viewed black cats as powerful and protective. Celtic myths associated black cats with fairies, supernatural powers, and wishes. British and Irish superstitions associate black cats with witches and spells. 

Folklore often depicts black cats as symbols of luck and fortune. In Chinese folklore, black cats are good omens. In Japan, black cats promise new journeys or luck with money. In many African and Native American stories, black cats guard and provide for the home. 

Black cats are still seen as bad luck in some Western cultures. This superstition started in the 1700s, when panic over witchcraft grew in Europe and the modern-day United States. Many people believed that witches could transform into black cats. This belief has been passed down to modern Western cultures, where it is seen films, books, and Halloween traditions. (Internet)

5. A Little Corner of Eden

 "Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained – is undoubtedly 

one that resembles a tropical rainforest." - avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

A Little Corner of Eden in acrylic, painted by Dr Abe V. Rotor (30" x 40") for the (Philippine College of Physicians) PCP Foundation Inc, founder and guardian of Dr Arturo B. Rotor Memorial Awards for Literature.

"Nature represents the idea of the entire universe in a state of perfection. Nature is one; it unites heaven and earth, connecting human beings with the stars and bringing them all together into a single family. Nature is beautiful; it is ordered. A divine law determines its arrangement - the subordination of the means to the end, and the parts to the whole. 

"I chose the tropical rainforest scenery since it is the richest of all ecosystems in the world. The Philippines, being one of the countries endowed with the natural wealth is a treasure, indeed. For this reason, I believe that, the tropical rainforest closely resembles the description of the biblical paradise. It is not only a living bank of diversity; it is the most important sanctuary of living matters on earth." - AV Rotor, The Living with Nature Handbook

 

"Birds sing not only for their own kind,

     but to the world that shares their joy,

in melodies notes may not capture,

     but the heart and spirit they buoy." -avr

"No one tires with the rhythm of nature – the tides, waves, flowing rivulets, gusts of wind, bird songs, the fiddling of crickets, and the shrill of cicada. In the recesses of a happy mind, one could hear the earth waking up in spring, laughing in summer, yawning in autumn and snoring in winter – and waking up again the next year, and so on, ad infinitum." - AV Rotor, Listen to the Music of Nature!

                              The Forest - Living World in Microcosm

“To see a world in a grain of sand,

     And heaven in a wild flower;

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

     And Eternity in an hour.”

                        - William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

"This verse captures the essence of the title, The Forest - Living World in Microcosm. It condenses the universe into its elemental symbols from which we take a full view of the world we live in. It reduces the complexities and vastness of both non- living and the living world into a microcosm that is complete in itself- a plantilla of creation all contained in the hand and experienced within a lifetime." - AV Rotor, Living World in Microcosm

 

Cryptobiology and Augury

"Call it pseudoscience, but it is gaining acceptance and support from scholars and people in general, with the discovery of strange creatures like the Coelacanth. The ancient Roman religion interpreted omens from the observed behavior of birds. A white dove means “peace”. A black dove means “war”. It could also pertain to matters of the heart, relationships, luck, misfortune, death, Remember the emissary bird in the biblical Noah's Ark?  With the breakthrough in cybercommunication, it is evident that soon we will be communicating with Nature more directly, over and above fantasy and imagination. Which leads to conscientization, in the pursuit of values, truth and the ideal in protecting Nature." - AV Rotor, Cryptobiology and Conscientization

 

 

A pair of lovely parrots perched up high,

higher than the flight of butterfly;

aimlessly below many a passerby

just let the world go with a sigh.

 

It is estimated that more than half the species of plants, animals and protists live in the tropical rainforests. Imagine a single tree as natural abode of ferns, orchids, insects, fungi, lichens, transient organisms - birds, monkeys, frogs, reptiles, insects and a multitude more that escape detection by our senses. 

  

Orchids, Family Orchidaceae, is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with about 28,000 species, and with more constantly discovered. Orchids make up 6 to 11 percent of all species of seed plants, and are the most advanced in the Plant Kingdom, occupying the top position in the phylogeny and evolution of plants. 

Orchids:

white, delicate, immaculate, pure;

red, flaming, romantic, demure;

Orchids:

flowing, silky, translucent, queenly;

fiery, ascendant, stout, kingly.

Orchids:

endearing, fancy, coy, culpable;

ephemeral, magical, lovable.

* Verse and drawing in pastel by Anna Christina, author's daughter, an enthusiast in the arts, assisted in conducting summer art workshops for children during her student days. Cattleya, Dendrobium and Vanda are native orchids in the Philippines. These are representative images of Vanda and its variants, including Vanda merrillii var. rotorii,  named after Dr Arturo B Rotor in his honor as an orchid hobbyist. 

 

"Today, rather than defending himself against nature, 

man realized, he needed to defend nature against himself."

 - AV Rotor, Light from the Old Arch

Forest: Man's First home, Genesis' Final View

Richest in flora and fauna of all biomes,

     Big and small, in a common union,

Arranged in niches, divided by storeys,

     In competition and cooperation.

Heritage trees rise through the canopy,

     Living towers of the forest;

Divine columns of Nature's Parthenon,

     Cradle of harmony and rest.

Stories about the forest, queer but true,

     Seat of evolution, of biodiversity,

Ultimate of adventure, science laboratory,

     Man's first home, Genesis' final view.

Message of the Painting, A Little Corner of Eden 

"Quite often, images of nature enrapture us. These are reminiscences of childhood, a re-creation of a favorite spot we may have visited or seen, or products of the imagination greatly influenced by society we live in.

But the painting reflects a deep-seated biological longing to be part of nature. Putting it in the biblical sense, it is a natural searching for the lost paradise. The scenery represents a refuge from city living, a respite, and an escape from the daily grind.

But the scenery does not only tell us of what we are missing.  Rather, it reminds us of  what we are going to miss, perhaps forever, if we do not heed nature's signal towards a fast declining ecosystem.  If we do not change our way of life from too much dependence on consumerism, to one more closely linked to conservation of nature, we may end up building memories and future archives of a lost world. " - AV Rotor

          A Little Corner of Eden

If I were to return after the Fall

To where my forebears once lived;

If I were to trace back their footsteps

To their world of make believe.

What would I tell to my dear Creator

Whose open arms have waited so long

For man to return, to repent for his Sin -

And I, having also failed all along?

I would tell Him there is also a place,

A little green corner of grass and trees,

Of bees and flowers, rainbow and butterflies,

Where birds come and sing with the breeze.

An emerald river gently flowing,

Meandering between hills and on the plain,

Palms and trees bowing at its levees,

Its waters soothing the day's pain.

I would tell Him of this place also forgotten,

Abandoned by a bandwagon,

By those who nurture the Utopian dream,

Now orphaned and virtually alone.

Is forgetfulness also Your tool of creation

Where man shall be gone from here on?

Paradise is redeemed and once more born?

No wonder Nature triumphs when left alone.~

 6. "I cannot feel." - Computer

Teaching is an art. It is an art of the masters - Aristotle, Plato, Christ, and many great teachers of the Renaissance that brought the world out of the Dark Ages. While we have developed modern techniques in teaching, it is important to look back into the past.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Socrates, father of Philosophy, on his deathbed. He was condemned to die by drinking hemlock, a  poison, for corrupting the minds of the youth. The Lamp of Knowledge


It is looking back at the lamp that enabled our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, to write his last masterpiece, the lamp Florence Nightingale held over her patients at the warfront, the lamp that made Scheherazade’s “one thousand and one nights” stories, the lamp a Greek philosopher held high at daylight “searching for an honest man.” Or the lamp fireflies make and glow with the spirit of joy and adventure to a child. 

But why do we look back and ponder on a tiny light when the world basks in the sunshine of progress and development, of huge networks of learning, of high technologies in practically all fields of endeavor? I’ll tell you why – and why we teachers must.

But first let me tell a story of a computer enthusiast, who like the modern student today relies greatly on this electronic gadget, doing his school work so conveniently like downloading data for his assignment. So one day he worked on his assigned topic – love. 

He printed the word and set the computer to define for him L-O-V-E. Pronto the computer came up with a hundred definitions and in different languages. Remembering his teacher’s instruction to ask, “How does it feel to be in love?” again he set the computer to respond. And you know what?

After several attempts, the computer printed on its screen in big letters, “I can not feel.”

Where is that main ingredient of human relations – feeling – today?

• Where is the true feeling between teacher and student?
• Where is the feeling of joy at the end of a teaching day, in spite of how hard the day had been?
• Where is that tingling feeling of the student for having recited well in class? 
• Where is that feeling in singing the National Anthem, the school hymn?
• Where is that feeling Rizal felt when a moth circled the lamp in his prison cell while he wrote, Mi Ultimo Adios? 
• Where is that burning desire that drove Michaelangelo to finish single-handedly the huge murals of the Sistine Chapel?
• That drove Vincent Van Gogh to madness – madness the world learned a new movement in the art – expressionism - years after?
• That kept Florence Nightingale, the founder of the nursing profession, make her rounds in the hospital in the wee hours of the morning?
• The lamp that strengthened Plato’s resolve to change the way people should think in the light of truth and justice.

Feeling. There is a song Feelin, and the lyrics ask a lot of questions about human nature changing with the times. I do not think human nature has changed. It is as stable as Nature herself and the natural laws that govern the universe. 

What we are saying is that our ways are changing. The conformity of our actions is more with the rules we set rather than the philosophies on which they are founded. It is our quest for want above our needs that has blinded us and benumbed our feelings, that has taken us to the so-called fast lane so that we no longer see objects as they are, but abstracts, that has made us half-humans in the sense that we spend half of our lives dealing with machines – who have no feelings. 

What then is modern man? I am afraid we have to review some of our references on the Janus-like character of man, like - 

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• The Prince and the Pauper
• The Princess and the Frog
• The movies - Mask, Superman, Batman, Spiderman 
• Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter
• Cartoons and animated movies 

The doubling of characters in man has led him away from permanence. Today, the biggest crisis in man is his impermanence. Impermanence in his domicile, nay, his nationality, political party. Affiliation in business and social organizations, and most disturbingly, with his marriage and family.
When was the last time we said to ourselves – or experienced - the following. 

• It’s a weekday for my family and nothing else.
• How I wish I can help my child of his math assignment.
• I’ll teach only this year and will find a more rewarding job after.
• I think it’s time to settle down.
• I want to go to a concert and enjoy the fine art of music.
• Can’t I put all my ideas in a book?
• It’s always meeting – can’t we just talk?
• This dizziness, it must be the pressure of my work.
• Maybe I can concentrate on my thesis this time.
• I have not finished reading “Da Vinci Code”. 
• This summer I’ll be with my parents.

Here are ways by which we can brighten up our lamp amidst the factors that test our dedication of our profession as teachers. 

1. Be yourself. Be natural. 
2. Keep on learning 
3. Be a model of your family and community
4. Relax
5. Use you faculties fully and wisely 

Be Natural

Naturalness is a key to teaching. I saw a film, Natural with then young award-winning Robert Redford as the principal actor. It is a story of a baseball player who became famous. The central theme of his success is his naturalness. Naturalness in pitching, batting - in the sport itself, above all, in his relationship with his team and fans. 

Our students can easily sense our sincerity. They shun from us if we are not. They cannot fully express themselves, unless we show our genuine love and care for them. Develop that aura that attracts them, that keeps relationship easy to adapt or adjust.
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“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”
- John Cotton Dana 
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Be a Model

Florence Nightingale  Lady with the Lamp - founder of the nursing profession 

A teacher must have more time for himself and for his family. Teaching is an extension of family life. And this is the primordial stimulus that makes your family a model family and you as a model teacher – because you cause the light of the lamp to radiate to others. And it is not only the school that you bring in the light. It is the community because you are also lighting the lamp of others, including the tiny glow in your young students. When they get home, when they interact with their community in whatever capacity they can, even only among their playmates, relatives and neighbors, they are in effect sharing that light which is also the light of understanding and unity. 

Relax

Great achievements are usually products of relaxed minds. Relaxation allows the incubation of thoughts and ideas. Churchill found time to paint during the Second World War. In his relaxed mind he made great decisions that saved Great Britain and countless lives. Or take Einstein for instance. His formula which explains the relationship of energy and matter in E=mc2 was drawn out from casually observing moving objects - train, heavenly bodies, marbles. Galileo watched a huge chandelier in a church sway with the breeze and later came up with the principles of pendulum movement. 

Darwin studied biology around the world as if he were on a leisure cruise, and summed up his findings that founded the most controversial Theory of Evolution by means of natural selection. An apple fell on Newton’s head when everything was still. Examine closely the parables of Christ. How relaxed the Great Teacher was in telling these stories to the faithful. The lamp shines the brightest when there is no wind. When held high with steady hands and given time to examine things around, views become clearer, and the more certain we are along our way. 

Use Your Faculties Fully and Wisely

Our brain is made up of the left hemisphere, the thinking and reasoning part, and the right hemisphere, the seat of creativity and imagination. Together they reveal an enormous capacity of intelligence, which are pictured in eight realms. These are 

1. Logic 
2. Languages
3. Music 
4. Spatial
5. Interpersonal
6. Intrapersonal 
7. Kinesthetics 
8. Naturalism 

From these realms the teacher draws out his best qualities. He explores, decides, adapts, entertains, leads, and stands courageously to lead the young. 

Here he sows the seed of knowledge. And in the young the seed grows, and grows, which the educator Henry Adams expresses in this line.

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

6.