Oh, time! You are a friend.

                                Oh, time! You are a friend.

                                                         Dr Abe V Rotor

                      

           Brief rest before taking a test.

Dream, yesterday was a dream!

A unicorn I rode to rainbow's end

to where a pot of gold might lie.

Oh, time! I thought you're a friend.

And to the other end I walked the trail,

To find my rainbow gone at the bend;

And I, on a crossroad I stood alone.

Oh, time, I thought you are a friend.

What road shall I take - the less trodden?

I gazed at the horizon to its end,

Rough was the way and never ending.

Oh, time! I thought you are a friend.

And here I am, half gone, long is the way;

Lo! I see again my rainbow at the end;

Tread on I must, there's no unicorn now;

Oh, time! you are indeed a friend. ~

Vortex - Eye of a Storm

Vortex - Eye of a Storm

Dr Abe V Rotor

                                    Vortex - Eye of a Storm in acrylic, AV Rotor

Beware of the beautiful with fangs of fire;

like the eye of a storm and a woman's ire ~

Elegant Damsel Fly

Elegant Damsel Fly

Dr Abe V Rotor

Acknowledgement: Internet photo

Damsel Fly

What makes you noble, I see,

is your frame, not scepter,

light, strong and free,

replica of the helicopter. ~

Fight for a Cause, a peerless chance.

 Fight for a Cause, a peerless chance. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

                                            No, not a mob adrift with the current;

fight for a Cause, a peerless chance;

 death the cost, but the meaning of your life,

while you walk here on earth but once. 

   Acknowledgement: Internet photos

Sargassum: Giant Seaweed

 Sargassum: Giant Seaweed

Dr Abe V Rotor

Sargassum*

You make a forest on the sea floor

Where the fishes hide from the storm,

What puzzles those who explore

Is your massive yet simple form. ~

Sargassum is a genus of brown macroalgae in the order Fucales. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral reefs, and the genus is widely known for its planktonic species. Wikipedia

Jackfruit - Outburst of a Lifetime

 Jackfruit - Outburst of a Lifetime 

A phenomenon beyond our understanding,

yet in our very eyes does happen,

from algal and fungal bloom, to locust swarming,

 at the threshold of life before its end.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Author's wife Cecille counts the fruits of a single nangka tree,

including those arising from underground,  Agoo, La Union

Over laden with all these fruits,

a burst of a lifetime -

young to die, like a mother

cut in her prime. ~

Sail on, Sail On!

                                                         Sail on, Sail On!

Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor

Roll on, roll on, oh sea, but lead us through, 

Ride on the surf and the wind - they do no wrong.

We hear the bells and the restless throng,

Roll on, roll on, oh sea, and lead us through.

Acknowledgement with thanks: Photo from Internet

Flowers Anonymous

                                               Flowers Anonymous 

Painting and Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor

                          

Flowers Anonymous in acrylic by AVR 2015.  

Lady Gertrude Stein was correct after all;

You can't define a flower but by itself.

Move over Linnaeus, Darwin, Mendel;

Science is gathering dust in the shelf.  

Wonder the DNA, the code of heredity;

Prosaic, assuming, devoid of caress.

Neither seen nor measured nor certain

To judge the beauty of a patch of roses.

Why, a flowering weed by the roadside,

Or some lowly vine clinging in the open –

For they mask the unseen to be seen

As a whole new world of a Lost Garden. ~ 

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves

Dr Abe V Rotor

Autumn Leaves, acrylic AVR 2005

It's a song, each note a leaf falling from a tree,

each pause, silence as it hangs on some levee;

it's imagery whispering in soliloquy

with a hammock below in cantabile.

Softly the breeze comes blowing, cool and free,

picking leaf after leaf from the sturdy tree;

each an event of the tree's long history,

and the youth in me, in sweet memory. ~

TOO SOON THE BUD OPENS

                                       TOO SOON THE BUD OPENS

Dr Abe V Rotor

                       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. ~

Life is Synergy

                            Life is Synergy

Dr Abe V Rotor

                             Jungle painting in acrylic by the author

Life ‘s more than the sum of its parts,
as each creature comes and departs;
synergy the key to unity,
diversity and harmony
and seat of a great mystery.~

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival in China

 Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival in China

"2025 The Year of the Snake is all about shedding 

that bad energy." NBC News (See Annex below)

Researched and Compiled by Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog 

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) 

with Ms Melly C Tenorio, 738 DZRB AM, evening class 8 to 9, Monday to Friday 

It is China’s most important traditional festival. It is also the most important celebration for families, and a week of official public holiday.

Chinese New Year 2025 is on Wednesday 29 of January. 

The date of Chinese New Year is based on the Chinese lunar calendar not the Gregorian calendar, but is always somewhere in the period from January 21 to February 20. Chinese New Year — Joint Longest Public Holiday in China

Lion Dance

What are the Chinese new year animals? The Chinese lunar calendar is associated with the Chinese zodiac, which has 12 animal signs: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, Rooster, dog, and pig. Each animal represents a year in a 12-year cycle, beginning on Chinese New Year's Day. Year 2025 is year of the wood snake. 2015 is a year of the goat.  2016 is a year of the Monkey according to the Chinese 12-year animal zodiac cycle. Other Monkey years include: …1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004… If you were born then you’re a Monkey. Each Chinese zodiac year begins on Chinese New Year's Day. Monkey years are believed to be the most unlucky for people born in a year of the Monkey.In 2016, most Chinese will be off work 7 days from Sunday, February 7 (New Year's Eve) to Saturday, February 13 (Chinese New Year day 6). China Highlights’ office will be closed during this period, and we will be back at work on Sunday, February 14, (The other 7-day public holiday is National Day holiday.)

Why Do People Celebrate Chinese New Year? Although there are many interesting legends and stories explaining the start of the Chinese New Year festival, the main two reasons for the festival are: To celebrate a year of hard work, have a good rest, and relax with family and to wish for a lucky and prosperous coming year Chinese people believe that a good start to the year will lead to a lucky year. Chinese traditionally celebrated the start of a new year of farm work, and wished for a good harvest (when most were farmers). This has now evolved to celebrating the start of a new business year and wishing for profits and success in various vocations. 

How Do the Chinese Celebrate the Festival

The main traditional celebrations of the festival include eating reunion dinner with family, giving red envelopes, firecrackers, new clothes, and decorations. More modern celebrations include watching the CCTV Gala, instant message greetings, and cyber money gifts.

A Festival for Family – Chinese get together and enjoy family time. Chinese New Year's Reunion Dinner. Chinese New Year is a time for families to be together. Wherever they are, people come home to celebrate the festival with their families. The New Year's Eve dinner is called "reunion dinner", and is believed to be the most important meal of the year. Big families of several generations sit around round tables and enjoy the food and time together.

Decorating Buildings, Houses, and Streets with Lucky Red Items

Every street, building, and house where CNY is celebrated is decorated with red. Red is the main color for the festival, as it is believed to be an auspicious color. Red lanterns hang in streets; red couplets are pasted on doors; banks and official buildings are decorated with red New Year pictures depicting images of prosperity. Most of the decoration is traditionally done on Chinese New Year’s Eve. As 2016 is the year of monkey, decorations related to monkeys will be commonly seen. There are red monkey dolls for children and New Year paintings with monkeys on.

Many cultural activities are arranged during the festival. Rural areas and small towns retain more traditional celebrations than the cities, such as setting off firecrackers, ancestor worship, and dragon dances. Setting off fireworks is common during the Spring Festival season all over China.

At temple fairs in many Chinese cities traditional performances can be seen: dragon dances, lion dances, and imperial performances like an emperor's wedding. A great variety of traditional Chinese products are on offer there, and strange Chinese snacks, rarely seen the rest of the year. Beijing's temple fairs are held in parks from the first day of the lunar year to the Lantern Festival. In North China people perform various versions of the Rice Sprout Song, a traditional Chinese dance performed by a group of colorfully-dressed women and men.

Giving Red Envelopes to Pass On Best Wishes Giving red envelops or Hongbao is a custom at Chinese New Year  Like Christmas in the West, people exchange gifts during the Spring Festival. The most common gifts are red envelopes. Red envelopes have money in, and are given to children and (retired) seniors. It is not a customs to give red envelopes to (working) adults, except by employers. Red envelopes are used in the hope of giving good luck (as well as money) to the receivers.

Eating Lucky Foods for Increased Luck in the Year Ahead Certain foods are eaten during the festival (especially at the New Year’s Eve dinner) because of their symbolic meanings, based on their names or appearances. Fish is a must for Chinese New Year as the Chinese word for fish sounds like the word for surplus. Eating fish is believed to bring a surplus of money and good luck in the coming year. Other Chinese New Year foods include dumplings, spring rolls, glutinous rice cakes, and sweet rice balls.

Setting off Firecrackers — "Goodbye Old Year; Welcome New Year!" It has long been a Chinese tradition to set off firecrackers when the New Year clock strikes. The tradition is to set off one string of small firecrackers first, followed by three big firecrackers, which symbolize "sounding out" the old year and "sounding in" the new year. The louder the three firecrackers, the better and luckier it’s believed it will be for business and farming in the coming year.

Praying in a Temple to Receive a Year-Long Blessing Praying in a temple during Chinese New Year is said to be a particularly blessed activity, and will lead to a smooth coming year. In Shanghai, China's biggest city, thousands flock to Longhua Temple, the city's biggest temple, to pray for good fortune.

Things You Must/Mustn’t Do to Avoid a Year of Bad Luck As Chinese people believe that the year’s start affects the whole year, are many superstitions and taboos for the Spring Festival season. These taboos usually apply up to a month before the festival and continue to the end of the festival (day 15, the Lantern Festival).

• Some Chinese people believe that they mustn't do cleaning or wash their hair in the first three days as that will sweep/wash away good luck.
• A cry of a child is believed to bring bad luck to the family, so the young are placated fastidiously.
• No begging: To ask for a loan is a big "no-no".
• Another interesting thing is the red underwear…

You will see red underwear sold at supermarkets and street markets. Red is believed to ward off bad luck and misfortune. For people born in a year of the Monkey, red underwear is a must for 2016!

Chinese New Year Now — Modern CNY Activities  Chinese New Year celebrations and activities are changing. A change in attitude to the festival has occurred especially among China’s younger generation. Most young people prefer surfing the Internet, playing with smart phones, and sleepovers or spending time with friends to celebrating with their extended families.  Greeting Each Other on Devices  Sending cell phone messages had become the main way to greet people on Chinese New Year's Eve this decade. In the past people sent New Year cards or called each other to express their good wishes during the Spring Festival.

Now more people use instant messages on WeChat (the most popular social media app in China, like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger in the West) to greet their friends. App-sent/received "red envelopes" appeared in 2015, and they soon become the most popular New Year activity among the young. Many young people spend most of their 2015 New Year holiday time exchanging cyber money via red envelope apps for fun.

Tough Time for "Old" Singles — Solution: Fake Boy/Girlfriend Rental! Chinese new year is a tough time for "old" singles Chinese New Year is a joyful time for most, but for singles above the normal matrimonial age it is not so. Parents and relatives think they should be settled down. In China, females are said to be marriageable up to 30, and males before 32. Those who don't get married before these ages are thought to be the dregs of society!

For these singles, parents are extremely anxious. So New Year's Eve stress is heighted by embarrassing interrogations of the singles. Desperate parents even arrange dating (prospective marriages) for their single children.

To solve this problem an interesting, and often ridiculous, solution has appeared — renting a boyfriend or girlfriend for the New Year. There are websites and agents specialized in this business. Taobao, China's largest online retailer, has a section for fake boyfriend and girlfriend rentals. The price is about 100 yuan (16 USD) a day.

100s of Millions on the Move — CNY Traffic Chaos The Chinese New Year period is a good time to visit China if you are interested in traditional Chinese culture. But you should be prepared for travel chaos and transport stress around China.

It seems the whole nation is on the move during the festival. The festival is the busiest travel season in the world, when trains and buses are fully packed. Even flight tickets can be hard to get. Chinese people do whatever they can to go home to see their families: from buying a ticket from scalpers at several times the price, to queuing for three days, to fighting for a ticket, to standing for more than 20 hours in an over-packed train, or riding a bus with 20 extra passengers on stools down the aisle for 12 hours or more. China's migrant workers are the main force during this migration. They carry large and heavy bags full of their worldly possessions and gifts, traveling generally from China's richer east coast back to their hometowns. ~

----

ANNEX - School Reference

The Year of the Snake is all about shedding that bad energy

This Lunar New Year, the snake is expected to bring about transformation and new beginnings.

Justine Goode / NBC News; Getty Images

Jan. 29, 2025, 6:31 AM GMT+8 / Updated Jan. 29, 2025, 11:54 PM GMT+8
By Kimmy Yam

The Year of the Snake has started, and the vibes are all about renewal and regeneration.

Lunar New Year — which includes Chinese New Year, Seollal in Korea, Tet in Vietnam and more — begins on Jan. 29, kicking off more than two weeks of parties, customs and copious feasts.

The holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, celebrates the arrival of spring and the start of a fresh year based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar.

Though the snake may get a bad rap across many Western cultures, the animal is actually a celebrated and revered sign across the Eastern hemisphere. And its year is expected to be one of positive transformation as people slither into new beginnings — if they’re willing to move on.

It’s all about “shedding toxicity in personality, in character traits,” said Jonathan H. X. Lee, an Asian and Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University whose research focuses in part on Chinese folklore.

“It’s shedding the ego, letting go of the past, letting go of anger, letting go of love lost,” Lee said. “This is the year where that kind of growth — personal and macro, internal and external — is very much possible.”

Lee said that the snake is an auspicious sign for inner work, whether it’s releasing unrealistic expectations of loved ones or getting rid of bad habits.

The snake, which matches up with the years of people born in 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 and 2025, is most commonly associated with intelligence, resilience and love, Lee said. And people born in those years are thought to do “whatever it takes to accomplish a goal.”

“They are known to have this innate potential to be really successful, because they can think outside the box, and they will endure and they will persevere,” Lee said.

More specifically, this year is that of the wood snake, with the wood element holding profound meaning across the three major organized Chinese religions. In Daoism, the wood is a sign of returning to one’s natural state or true nature, while in Confucianism it symbolizes becoming a more polished person. In Buddhism, it’s associated with letting go for growth.

The positive qualities attached to the snake are anchored in two folklore tales, Lee explained. In the story of the creation of the Chinese zodiac, the snake was once a four-legged, happy creature who became angry after other animals isolated him because of his appearance. Blaming the Jade Emperor for creating him that way, the snake’s anger morphed into physiological changes, like growing fangs, and prompted him to snap at the other creatures.

Word reached the Jade Emperor, who punished him by taking away his legs. The heavenly ruler promised that if the snake won a race competition against the other animals, which would eventually dictate the order of the zodiac, the snake could win a prize and potentially get his legs back. 

Lion Dragons in the annual Lunar New Year parade in New York City's Chinatown on Feb. 25. Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images file

Though the snake didn’t win, he placed sixth, impressing the emperor with his perseverance and dedication. The ruler made him one of the 12 animals of the zodiac. The race changed the snake’s path in other ways, too.

“He learned how to control that anger. But because that anger was a part of him for so long, he had the yearning to go out and harm and bite,” Lee said. “When that happened, he would stay isolated and … he would grow out of his old skin in order to let go of that past.” ~  For study reference only, acknowledgement with gratitude - avr 

Your first work is a masterpiece

Your first work is a masterpiece

Dr Abe V Rotor


Old photograph of one of my earliest paintings. I never saw
this painting again. (oil on plywood, 10" x 12") circa 1965

Don't throw away your early work
if not in favor of your judgment
or of others; you are not the critic
nor they, but time and art,

for it could be your masterpiece,
the window of your soul,
its expression at the break of dawn,
when light is fresh and pure.

and through the years to old age,
your work unfolds to the world,
the stirrings of your youth
seeking perfection in dream.

And imperfection is all it shows,
a felled tree half buried lives on
on a hill of flowering weeds,

eternal and beautiful.~

Are you a victim of Monday morning blahs and blues?

Are you a victim of Monday morning

blahs and blues?

  The ideal way to avoid the Monday morning tiredness

is to stick to your regular sleep habits.

Dr Abe V Rotor

That feeling of tiredness you experience on Mondays after a particular active weekend is directly related to your sleep/wake cycle. It is because any disruption of your regular sleeping habit, which consists of the ideal number of hours of sleep, the ideal bedtime and wake-up time, disturbs your biological clock.

By staying up late or sleeping in, or snoozing on a Sunday afternoon in a hammock can turn the circadian (weekly) cycle inside out. Take the case of my good friend Dell who has the habit rushing up to finish his article for a weekly column deep into the night of Sunday.

By Monday morning he feels out of sync and short of sleep, resulting into the blahs and blues. Often this feeling continues into Tuesday and Wednesday, as the body tries to reset to the weekday schedule. Thus, the ideal way to avoid the Monday morning tiredness is to stick to your regular sleep habits. But many of us, like Dell et al can’t resist staying up on weekends, working or socializing, or going out to a concert.

We are all candidates to this syndrome, but I have noticed that old folks are less affected by it. At one time I wondered how a farmer I have known for many years, manages to wake up early and attend to his chores with little sleep the Sunday before. “Don’t you feel sleepy?” I asked.

“Babawi ako mamayang gabi. (I’ll make up for it tonight),” he replied.

Indeed there is a scientific basis this practice, practice as it may sound. Try this. To avoid the Monday morning tiredness, stay up as late as the need arises or as you wish, but make sure you get up at your regular wake-up time. Don’t sleep in, and don’t take naps during the day. When night comes you will not find it difficult to fall asleep at your regular bedtime. In this way you reset your body clock back to its regular time.

This formula applies as well on any day of week, so that if you want to stay late, say on Wednesday, be sure to wake up on your regular wake-up time on Thursday. Then just what Tinong said, make up for it come night time at your regular sleep-time. You will feel refreshed on Friday and in the days ahead, until your sleep pattern is again disrupted. This is one way to avoid or overcome insomnia. ~

Painting-Poem Analysis: Light in the Forest

Light in the Forest*

Federico Urmatam

A scene from Light in the Forest mural in acrylic by AV Rotor, 

Living with Nature Center, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

I'm lost, wandering in a forest ever since -

Could this be Paradise, the lost Paradise?

I never knew its edge, its height, its might,

I never knew myself, minuscule to its size. 

Amidst a sea of green and towering giants, 

Piercing the sky, shrouded by mist and rain;

I'm lost in their limbs veiled by moss and vine,

Cloaked by a mantle of unending green.

For how long I've slept, no one will ever know;

And it doesn't matter who my ancestor was,

Waking up into a Homo sapiens.  Lo!

By the Forbidden Tree and its fruit.  Alas!

And I, I have been a wanderer since then,

Driven away by guilt forever worn,

Away from prison, away from the Eye,

Waking up to the Light every morn. ~

Analysis Guide Questions:

1. Identify the rhyme scheme used in the poem.
2. What is the message of the poem?
3. Explain the notion that man is a wanderer in the context of the poem.

* Published in Philippine Literature Today by Abercio V Rotor and Kristine Molina-Doria C&E Publishing 1915.  Guest writer, the late Federico Urmatam, was a close friend and co-writer of Dr. Rotor in The Furrows campus magazine of then Araneta University in the 60s, now De La Salle Araneta University.  DLSAU is the seventh member of De La Salle System. It was established in 1946 as the Araneta Institute of Agriculture.

Education for a Progressive Tomorrow "Sabay-sabay na Hakbang Tungo sa Maunlad na Kinabukasan" (UNESCO International Education Day, January 24, 2025)

 Education for a Progressive Tomorrow*

"Sabay-sabay na Hakbang Tungo sa Maunlad na Kinabukasan"

By Dr. Abercio V. Rotor, Ph.D.
Guest of Honor and Speaker
Grade 6 Graduation Ceremonies, April 7, 2017
San Vicente Integrated School, San Vicente Ilocos Sur

Neither can we stop time by “holding the hands of the clock, nor conquer space by confining ourselves within walls.” Without exception we “pass this way but once.” - avr

San Vicente Integrated School today as it was during my time some sixty four years ago - same building, same playground. Where has education changed and gone? One can only surmise what lies ahead of these school children. It is the duty of us, we who have spent the formative years of our lives in this school, to guide our younger brothers and sisters, our children, and grand children.

Many years ago I was sitting where you are right now – proud, hopeful, and filled with joy and inspiration. In my time, it was also graduation in this school, then San Vicente Central Elementary School. That was in 1953. How many years would that be since then?

While you are counting the number of years, let me tell you a story. It’s about Juan Tamad in Philippine folklore when he was young - probably of your age. One day a kindly gentleman, a balikbayan, found Juan loafing under a mango tree. After a friendly introduction the gentleman gave Juan an unsolicited piece of advice.

“You see Johnny, when you go to school and finish your studies, you will meet people and visit places here and abroad. You will find a good job. And you will free yourself from the cares and worries of life.” The gentleman paused, waiting for a response. But there was none.

So he continued “You will simply enjoy the leisure of life.” The balikbayan flashed a friendly smile, thinking he had driven well his point.

The simpleton momentarily stopped scratching the ground, looked at this new mentor and casually spoke. “And what do you think I’m doing now, Sir?"
Whatever happened to Juan Tamad is well known to us Filipinos for we have accepted him as a comic character, but in real life Juan Tamad and his kind ended up a failure.

The story has similarities with a story, Rip van Winkle, written by Washington Irving in the late 17th century.

Rip van Winkle was a very lazy person, a henpeck husband who left home and went up the mountain alone on a leisurely hunting adventure. He did not return until twenty years later. He fell asleep for twenty long years.

When he found his way back to his village nobody recognized him. He was now very old and looked very strange with his old clothes and long beard. He mentioned names they could not recall. Finally he asked the villagers, “Who am I?” as if he was still dreaming.

Everything had changed, it was a new era. America was now an independent nation. Madam Winkle had long been gone. When he finally reached his old home that was virtually falling apart, he saw a young man idly scratching the ground with a stick.

“I am Rip Van Winkle!” The old man introduced himself. Exasperated he cried “Can’t anyone recognize me?” He paused and took a closer at the young man, examining him from head to foot. He looked familiar. "Who are you?" he asked.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, critic, and amateur artist.

“I am Rip van Winkle,” came a wry answer. He was Rip van Winkle Junior. Now let me continue my message to you.

Between 1953 and 2017 – that’s 64 long years - the world has vastly and irreversibly changed, and in fact, in this span of time which included the second part of the twentieth century considered as the industrial and modern age, and the beginning of this new millennium – our world has been moving on a course different and momentum faster than at any time in history. This is the kind of world you are going to set foot as you study further, and as you prepare for your career and future.

This is the challenge of the theme of your graduation: Sabay-sabay na Hakbang Tungo sa Maunlad na Kinabukasan. (Let’s move together towards a progressive tomorrow.)

But what is graduation really?

Graduation is springtime. It is metamorphosis. For you who are graduating today, it is the beginning of a voyage into a world that is uncertain and as rough as the sea itself.

For me on my part, it is coming home from that world that you are going to seek. In Pilipino, “Patungo pa lang kayo, ako’y nakabalik na.” Like the biblical Prodigal Son I am back home to the arms of my father, our venerable patron saint, San Vicente Ferrer. There at the altar of his church is written, Ur-urayenka Anakko. (I am waiting for you my child.) Yes, I have come back to his longing and loving embrace.

What have I to tell you about that world believed to be full of promises of fame, riches and pleasure? What’s really in store in that world I saw, and a part of it, for sixty-four long years?

Ur-urayenka Anakko. 

(I am waiting for you, my child.) 

Let me tell you, it is not a comfortable one. In fact it is a very serious world; it is on the other side of fantasyland in comics and movies. It is the real life and there is no other choice. It is not the kind of world associated with the folkloric character, Juan Tamad, or the world of Rip van Winkle who woke up after twenty long years, a stranger to his home, neighbors, and even his own son.

It is a postmodern world – a world of the future we seem to be living today. Everything is changing very fast, and we are adrift without defined direction and goal. We seem to be living in extremes. In our search for true happiness we experience deep sorrow. Glorious victory and devastating defeat. You will realize the value of time to move forward, and a time to retreat. A time to be with others and a time to be alone – to meditate and reflect before moving ahead again. Uncertainties lie at every crossroad, and you cannot simply stop at the middle. You must decide and move on.

Neither can we stop time by “holding the hands of the clock, nor conquer space by confining ourselves within walls.” Without exception we “pass this way but once.”

In life, we pass this way in a hurry; we live on fast food, crave for instant products, instant relationships, and ride on fast transport moving from one place to another, yet always looking for freedom and a destiny. There is always that sense of urgency as if we are in a race, a race without a name.

Which leads me to tell another story.

A young man was driving a caleza loaded with coconut (buko). “I’ll be late and I won’t be able to sell my coconuts,” he said to himself. Whereupon he saw an old man on the roadside. He stopped and asked. “How can I reach the marketplace the soonest, Apo Lakay (old man)?”

The old man glanced at the fully loaded caleza, smiled and said, “Just go slow, Anak.”

“Crazy,” the young man muttered and cracked the whip sending his horse to gallop not minding the rough and rutted road The nuts kept falling along the way so that he had to stop now and then to pick them up.

The old man was right after all.

Graduation just doesn’t send you off, much less if you think you are unprepared. You have yet another phase of study ahead. Just don’t indulge in wistful thinking and careless haste. Stop worrying, look ahead and listen to your calling. Examine yourself not what people think of you, but what you can see in you - your potentials. And remember there is always something you can be at your best, something over and above that of others. You have your forte. It is a gift the benevolent Creator has given you – even if you did not ask for it.

I refer you to the nine realms of Multiple Intelligence. It means the intelligence of a person is spread out in eight areas (plus 1). 

The ninth realm of intelligence, Existential, emphasizes the importance of free choice and personal responsibility in the face of an uncertain universe. 

No one is grossly judged or denied when it comes to mental faculty. As you grow up you will realize how gifted you are in certain realms that compensate for other realms you may not be as gifted. You will realize the interconnections of realms that compose your talents. In other words, talents are a combination of related realms. And what is most surprising is that talent is not the sum or total contribution of such realms, but of their synergistic effect. Synergy is a mystery. To illustrate, if your right hand can carry fifty kilos and your left can carry another fifty kilos, you think your maximum carrying capacity is one hundred kilos?

Wrong. You can carry much more – with will and determination. That is synergy which emanates from the human spirit.

Now what are these realms of intelligence? As I enumerate them, rate yourselves - each one of you – accordingly to assess your own potentials. Graduation is a time to assess your capabilities and know yourself before you pass through the gate of your school and face the realities of life.

Not in this order or sequence, the realms are: interpersonal (intelligence of human relationship), intrapersonal (intelligence of spirituality), kinesthetics (athletic intelligence), linguistics (intelligence of languages), dialectics or logic (intelligence of philosophy and mathematics), music (intelligence in auditory art), spatial (intelligence in visual arts), naturalism (intelligence of good relationship with the natural world), and existentialism. Existentialists believe that personal experience is the most important way to understand human life.

Please always bear this in mind, there’s no normal person who is flatly denied of intelligence. “Walang tao na bobo,” pardon the word. “Meron lang mga bagay na mahina siya. “ On the other hand, there are areas he can excel. This is the law of compensation. Build of this strength and strengthen those you are weak. And remember there are early bloomers and late bloomers. You may be closer on either side or in between these extremes. And remember, there is nothing late as long as you live, as long as the sun rises and sets.

Dr Jose Rizal, our national hero, is the epitome of multiple intelligence. He was prodigiously gifted. But the ultimate expression of such gifts was his deep commitment to a cause – a noble cause - for the good of his country and his people. Greatness is in dedicating our gift of intelligence to such purpose, not only for our own good, but more for the betterment of others. They call this virtue selflessness. It is selflessness that we can best offer our prayer of thanksgiving to our benevolent Creator.

Allow me to tell a final story. It’s about three workers.

Three workers were engrossed doing their assigned tasks when Rajah Soliman*, then the king of Manila during the pre-Hispanic era, arrived at the construction site. He was so casual in attire that no one recognized him as the king. While inspecting the progress of his project he came upon three workers. After observing them for some time, he asked each one of them what he was doing.

The first worker said, “I am making a perfect block of stone to make a solid and strong wall.” The king nodded with a smile and commended the worker.

Then it was the turn of the second worker. “This is my source of living to support my family so we can live decently.” The king nodded and commended the worker.

Finally, it was the turn of the third worker. The king asked him the same question.

“I am building a fort.” he said with a sense of pride. The king nodded and smiled.

At the end of the day the king called for the third worker who answered, “I’m building a fort.” The king made him overseer of the whole project.

Guess what happened to the first and second worker?

The king called for them, too. He made the first worker architect of the project, and the second, head of the king’s household.

And they all live happily ever after. ~

* Rajah Soliman (also Sulaiman) III was the last native Muslim king of Maynila, a Kapampangan and Tagalog kingdom on the southern delta of the Pasig River which would later be the site of the capital of the Philippines, Manila.