Day of Peace: Healing Our World's Wounded Peace

 Day of Peace is Every Day 

Healing Our World's Wounded Peace

 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Peace they bring these white doves in the sky;

passing over Flanders's Field of long ago,

when suddenly fired upon from down below;

it's history repeating the battle cry. - avr

Wounded Peace in acrylic by the author 2020

 The world has never been at peace.  Two world wars, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and many conflicts all over.  This painting is dedicated to peace in today's troubled Ukraine. 

World Peace Day, is a United Nations-sanctioned holiday observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone for humanitarian aid access. The day was first established in 1981 and first observed in September 1982 and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and people.

"Long live absolute world peace."

The International Day of Peace, is also officially known as Day of Peace, celebrated every  September 21 since 1982. To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell  PHOTO is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as "a reminder of the human cost of war"; the inscription on its side reads, "Long live absolute world peace". Internet

“Expand thy wings, celestial dove. Brood o’er our nature’s night, on our disordered spirits move, and let there now be light.” – Charles Wesley

“We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“And there my little doves did sit, with feathers softly brown and glittering eyes that showed their right to general nature’s deep delight.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“And the dove came to him in the evening; and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.” – Genesis 8:11

Acknowledgement and thanks: Quotations from the Internet

Let Us Encourage Our Children to Engage in Art

Let Us Encourage Our Children to Engage in Art

“I started painting as a hobby when I was little. I didn’t know I had any talent. I believe talent is just a pursued interest. Anybody can do what I do.” – Bob Ross

Dr Abe V Rotor

Engaging children in art fosters creativity, emotional expression, and cognitive development, allowing them to explore their inner world and connect with the world around them. Art provides a unique language for self-expression and can help children develop essential life skills. Internet

Author and tutor Dr Rotor poses with young artists V-jay Rigos, Francesca Ragasa, R-jay Tolentino, and Kimberly Santos, all students of San Vicente Integrated School. March 30, 2025 at Living with Nature Center 

One fine Sunday morning four kids from the neighborhood came

 to draw with pastel colors, cheerful and cellphone-free. 

And what do we know, we grownups, teachers, parents, guardians?

Look at their works of art - what a great discovery!  

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle

 

Take your choice -  color as you wish,

from the creative mind, joyful heart

parrot, jay, heron - just don't miss

the free expression and joy of art.

"A picture is a poem without words". -  Horace

 

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." - Pablo Picasso

Sailboats in the wind sans sailors;

a proud mother hen sans her brood;

sans man's presence, yet complete

to the young, not we who are old.  

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when he grows up." - Pablo Picasso

8 Important Benefits of Art for Children 

That Everyone Should Know*

Creating art isn’t just a fun, colorful pastime. It has a variety of unique, positive effects on preschoolers, young children, and teens that other activities don’t provide. Here are eight reasons why you should encourage kids to participate in art on a regular basis.

1. Stimulates Creativity and Problem-Solving Skills

2. Promotes Self-Esteem and Self-Expression

3. Contributes to Fine Motor Skill Development

4. Helps Develop Visual-Spatial Processing

5. Builds Memory and Self-Control

6. Provides Rest, Relaxation, and Reward

7. Increases Academic Performance

8. Connects Kids to People and the World

 

Dr Rotor's family and friends, grownups and children - all disciples and students of art.                   

“The urge to draw must be quite deep within us, because children love to do it” – David Hockney

Acknowledgement with Gratitude to *Painting to Gogh (Painting to Gogh Offers Fun, Engaging Painting Tutorials for Kids), Internet

Lives of 15 Great Men and Women in History. More Books at the Living with Nature Center.

Lives of 15 Great Men and Women in History 

More Books at the Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another." - Charles Dickens 

 "You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to  lose sight of the shore". - Christopher Columbus

 

"There is nothing impossible to him who will try." - Alexander the Great

"There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory.". - Sir Francis Drake

 

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work." - Florence Nightingale

"To conquer the world, one must first conquer oneself,"- Cleopatra

 

“We study the glory of God, and the honor and liberty of Parliament, for which we unanimously fight, without seeking our own interests.” - Oliver Cromwell

"Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go," - Captain Cook

 

"I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes... I really do not see the signal!" - Horatio Nelson

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can". - John Wesley

 

"Give me liberty, or give me death!"- Henry VIII

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again". Robert Bruce

"In politics stupidity is not a handicap." - Napoleon Bonaparte

"It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience." - Julius Caesar

"I have not told half of what I saw". Marco Polo

Acknowledgement with Gratitude: Google, Intenet

A Green World of Nature in Pastel

                          A Green World of Nature in Pastel  

Pastel Drawings of Sor Veny V Rotor, ofs

“Away, away, from men and towns,

To the wild wood and the downs, —

To the silent wilderness,

Where the soul need not repress its music.”

—Percy Bysshe Shelley

A basketful of oranges

"Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand."

 - Saint Mother Teresa

Flow gently under the bridge

“Love is the bridge that joins all the worlds together.” – Frederick Lenz

Green turtles 

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time." - John Lubbock ~

"Carpe diem" (Seize the Day) in paintings

Carpe diem (Seize the Day)

 in paintings* 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Ghostly Forest* by AV Rotor 2025

Capture dreams on waking up from sleep,

else they fade and depart,

however weird, strange and even creep,

make them a work of art. 

    

*He who loves nature finds the forest a friendly place; he who doesn't, 

finds it haunted." - avr  

 

End of Summer* (12.5" x 33.5") by AV Rotor 2025

Late morning at autumn's start,

with the sun peeping shy;

southward the birds soon depart,

as we bid summer goodbye.

*“The morning had dawned clear and cold, with a crispness 

that hinted at the end of summer.” - George R.R. Martin

Legendary Cave by AV Rotor 2025

It reminds us of the Minotaur*

slayed by a young hero; 

 wonder if there's a Theseus today,

to make the story true.

*Minotaur - a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity 

with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man

 Forest Primeval* (34" x 24") AV Rotor 2025

Seres - succession in ecology, 

forests evolve in diversity

and sustained stability - 

but where are the forests today?

* A "forest primeval" refers to an old-growth forest, untouched by human activity, characterized by large, mature trees, and diverse ecological features. AI Overview

 

Waterfall (34" x 24") by AV Rotor 2025

Cloud to rain to waterfall,

down the river to sea, 

again and again,

ad infinitum.  

The water cycle or hydrologic cycle, is the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the Earth's surface, driven by the sun's energy, involving processes like evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff. AI Overview

Blue Fish AV Rotor 2025

Blue* in the deep sea 

makes the fish free,

invisible to their enemy

and to their prey.

* Blue light is known as high-energy visible (HEV) light because it has the shortest wavelengths - and therefore the highest energy - of all visible light. Thus making the ocean and the sky appear blue.

Nature's Lament Enshrined, AV Rotor 2025

Remnants of an old, old Bitaog* tree

rise against a sky on fire;

in whose hands entrusted by Thee 

failed to love and care. 

* Bitaog or Palo Maria tree (Calophyllum inophyllum), family Calophyllaceae, is a native species that plays a crucial role in the local ecosystem.  Bitaog trees were once abundant in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.

 

Death of a Pine Tree (35" x 16.5") AV Rotor 2025

A living fossil of the once mighty pine* 

rises like the Cross, reverence and peace, 

it begs for man to take care of Nature

  from indifference, folly and remiss.

* The Pine tree belongs to Gymnospermae or cone bearing plants, that include conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, gnetophytes, and others, now listed among the threatened species. ~

"Carpe diem," meaning "seize the day," is a Latin phrase popularized by the Roman poet Horace, encouraging people to live in the present and make the most of each day, rather than worrying about the future ~.

Evolving Art:  Souvenirs from the Holy Land 

(Article in Progress)

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

 

Dusk or Dawn?

  Dusk or Dawn?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Dusk or Dawn? in acrylic on wood (8.5"x 14") AVR 2019

Darkness conquers light,

or the other way around;

dusk or dawn delight

    makes the world go round
in colors dull and bright
sans bound and sound. ~ 

But there's no neighbor!

But there's no neighbor!

Dr Abe V Rotor

What is missing in this painting?

"Let's draw a house. Each his own."

The children drew and drew: 

posts, walls, stair window, door;

cheek on palm, eyelids moving; 

garden, swimming pool, patio;

twirling a pencil, added: 

trees, mountain, cloud, sun. 

"Here!" They showed their own houses.

"There's something missing."

Back to the drawing board, pondered:

birds in the sky and in trees singing.

"Here," they showed again their houses.

"There's still something missing.

Would you like to live in your houses?"

Silence. 

Fingers moved, lips tightened:

more lines, shades, colors, now with flowers.

"Here," they showed once more their houses.

"But there's still one thing missing."

Silence.

A little girl in a corner drew and drew:

a house nearby, people around.

She showed her house.

The children chorused: Neighbor! ~

*LESSON on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Sail Boats Forever

                                                   Sail Boats Forever 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Sailboats in acrylic, AVR c. 2004

What a crude game, you may say, 

Of my ancestors’ sailboats catching 

The breeze, docking the gusts, 

Edging the rocks, sans compass 

Or sextant, map and telescope.

What prize is at stake? Not a trophy. 

Yet the instinct craves for a prize 

Like in The Old Man and the Sea; 

A prize he found, mindless of people. 

Who saw nothing of his adventure.

Let the sailboats play in the wind

And water, let alone an old boat 

At rest, sitting on rock like an old man,

Standing guard over the young, who too, 

Shall someday play the same old game. ~

Hide-and-seek game

 Hide-and-seek game

                         Dr Abe V Rotor 

                                  

Oscar, a four-year old aquarium pet at home. QC 

Everyday it is our casual game, 

with Oscar, my pet and friend;

until one day I saw the reeds

cold as iron bars, and I, a fiend.~

We Live in a Time of Hope and Change - A Response

We Live in a Time of Hope and Change
- A Response*

Dr Abercio V Rotor

We realize and accept the big challenge that these awards expect us to carry on as we prepare to face the closing of this century, which marks the grandest milestone of our history, and, on the other hand, anticipates the promise of the next millennium. 

Conversion of St Paul on Damascus Road, painting by the author at the former SPUQC Museum (8ft x 8ft)

 Experience tells us of the dichotomy of the future as we walk the road the road of change characterized by danger and opportunity, uncertainty and optimism.  However, we tend to believe that the future is bright, and often the prophet in us sees it as a superhighway, sans the predicaments of Nostradamus, the man who saw tomorrow.

 At our feet lies a shrunken planet which we exaggeratedly call a Global Village.  Definitely our sense of dimension and time is wrong.  It is as if we are interpreting literally William Blake’s philosophical masterpiece, Auguries of Innocence, to wit:

        “To see a 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.”

Breakthroughs in technology, pyramidal corporate structures, make a genie of a capitalistic society to which the world lies subservient. Paradoxically, through the present Information Revolution, the tentacles of such order have unwittingly clamped down reason in the Homo sapiens now being shaped into a singular mass where richness in diversity begins to dissolve and become polarized in the belief that modernization will lead us to the Good Life.

Is this the reason why The Hunchback of Notre Dame lost its socio-political theme in a recent Disney comedy musicale?  Was it because of money, because the New Order lacks conscience, because tradition is passé?  Whatever happened to Markham’s philosophy on Millet’s struggle, in Juan Luna’s Spolarium?

My fellow awardee and I believe that the Good Life that our fast changing world promises us is more than power.  Still, we must rely on man’s most powerful tool that is well tested in the long process of evolution and in the quest for advancement, and that is the power of the human mind, its imagination and its reason. 

While there is need to explore the world around us , there is equally a need to reflect into ourselves and onto God.

If truth is to be found in inventions and formulas, we must not forget that the foundation of truth is in the Great Book.

A clear mind about the issues of the world will merely lie obscure without a stout heart that accompanies it, and which is willing to deal with its imperfections.

Peace, that inner peace in every righteous person, in order to exist truly, must be an instrument of reconciliation to settle conflicts and erase tensions, and to teach us to live harmoniously with our fellowmen. Only then can true understanding beget justice, compassion.  This is a true gain of mankind, but like any other genuine gain, it cannot be attained without pain.  This is reality’s finest moment, a common dream come true.  That is why we are measured by our fidelity to our dream, however distant that dream is and impossible as it may seem.

Yes, periodicity – when we came and where we are, through an incidence of time and space – is not devoid of a purpose, a purpose that is part of a grand design of the great Creator, the purpose of life itself, the greatest gift of man from God.  And as a gift it must grow, grow into a mountain it must, before it is shared.

In sharing that dream, we indulge in vision, hope and prayer which bring us closer to God.  We are not only the dominant organism on earth, we are the likeness of our Creator.  If there is one that likeness must fit best, it is the Paulinian.  Our vision of her is “a perfect woman, nobly planned,” and bright with something of an angel light that shines, but she, too, takes pride in reaching out to the less fortunate.  She sits on a swivel chair, walks on the unbeaten path.  She shines in competition, to illuminate the vision that the youth is human life’s instrument of perfection.  

These awards are a perfect symbol of the immortal relationship between the old and the young.  They help bring generations together for common visions and

The old may have earned the natural right to preach to the young, but the young see more clearly the errors of the past and are more willing to rectify them. 

As we walk on the road of change to the year 2000 and beyond, and, perchance find ourselves at a crossroad where we hesitate to proceed, let us look back, and there we will find a lamp shining through the portals of our institution – a light that once upon a dark night on a lonely road to Damascus, a stranger found his way to the hearts of men and into the kingdom of Christ. ~

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

Response, Golden Jubilee Awardee 1999
St. Paul University QC

Where has the fisherboy gone?

                                  Where has the fisherboy gone? 

Dr Abe V Rotor

By the stream under a tree (wall mural detail) in acrylic by the author

By a stream on a rock ledge many a dream grew with the water flowing, the clouds rising, the breeze whispering in a nearby tree, its shade creating images of art and fantasy.

Hours lazily passed, but how short was a day fishing, from sunrise to noon and back again when the fish would return, the bamboo pole suddenly becoming heavy with a big catch.   

Other boys join the cheer, the louder the bigger the fish was, or fading with a whimper when it got away, and it was always "the big fish that got away," an adage of every fisher folk.

Away from town, away from school, away from home for a while - this freedom in innocence and adventure, the elders would call laziness, stubbornness and aimlessness in growing up.

Boys don't know the difference grownups want them to be, but wait for their own time, when childhood yields to the demands of the world, the world though big is "prison" to grownups. 

They too, were children before - the "man in the boy" comes later when there are no more big fish to catch, the tree has overgrown the rock ledge and other boys are longer around. 

Like birds migrating and returning, season after season in Vivaldi's refrain, and Mozart's lament, life goes on in rhythm, but time couldn't wait, while dreams sought for reality. 

There are many fish in the world, the biggest to catch always a dream - fame, ideas, wealth, sacrifice, honor, popularity - aiming at these to the end, in triumph, surrender or defeat. 

Years later a man in gray hair appeared, he saw a familiar boy fishing, his thoughts seemed far away, his fishing pole bending to his excitement, then snapped - it was the big fish that got away. ~