CHILDLESS MOTHER

Amalia Fuentes (Muhlach) recently lost her daughter, Lizelle, to cancer. Unfortunately, the relatives of Lizelle's husband refused her visit to her funeral, and even caused her to miss seeing her daughter's body before cremation.

My sympathies go to Amalia, one of the famous actresses in the 50's ad 60's whose strong personality on screen somehow shaped the idea that women can stand up to men.

I think that mothers should be allowed to be with their children, regardless of the emotional entanglements they have had with the in-laws. It is downright cruel and inhuman -- as it feels like robbing Amalia of her womb where she had carried Lizelle.

Maybe we should have a law against that, or we should search for current legislations that will allow her to assuage her grief and dismissal of her right to see her daughter when she was still ill, her body, after dying, and during burial. Some lawyers should help Amalia restore her injured maternal feelings, especially as we are supposed to be observing International Women's Month in the country. .

.

A PASSION FOR LIFE

    

What is passion for life? Why and how do we cultivate a passion for life? Some people I think have lost that passion for life. 

They are so immersed in technologies, in earning money, in doing the day-to-day grind that they forget to enjoy the simple things in life like a flower, the trees that line the streets, or  the children playing on the sidewalks. Perhaps they would notice the children and to assuage their guilt would drop a coin or two on their palms. Then after that, off they go to the next meeting. 

Whenever I walk around, I try to see if there are flowers or plants that I can pick and bring to plant in our little space at home. Or when I get bored with the long travels say from UP or Cubao to Quiapo, I gaze at the trees that dot the streets. I compare their leaves -- one would have spread out leaves; another would look very stately simply because it is only a few feet away from the next tree. A botanist told me that trees that are spread apart say by 3 meters tend to spread their branches, while those that are close to each other, grow very tall. I notice such trees at UP. 

Suddenly, now I am thinking like an environmentalist. Why so? Because the issues besetting us are moving, in small steps but still moving. The Board of Inquiry Report on the Mamasapano is out and some people could be charged for their mistakes in handling the situation. 

Do you see Folks the necessity for us to have a peaceful political life? We can then concentrate on the finer things in life -- say watch a movie or a theatrical play; listen to music, watch paintings and enjoy their colors, etcetera.

So as my ride passes through EDSA, I rue the time when I wrote for the installation of the MRT in it. EDSA is no longer the wide avenue where when we look up we could see the skies. Instead we see the overpasses, and my goodness the high rise buildings built so close to the street. 

I wonder why they have to be crowding our street that way. Those high-rise buildings could pose a big danger should an earthquake happen. They could cause lost lives to the people walking in and riding vehicles plying the streets. Do not tell me that the building owners do not have foresight when they had those buildings erected. It is a very simple feeling that anyone could have, once they see a huge 23 or even 35-feet tall building. 

But what really irks me is when I see vendors being allowed to sell their wares along sidewalks and we can no longer pass through without sashaying through. At Carriedo, Quiapo, I notice though that space has been allotted for pedestrians, and the vendors are more wary about occupying that than before whence they used to occupy every inch of the street. 

But to my mind, the control of the crowds that line up to attend the Quiapo Church mass should be implemented. On Fridays, traffic is terrible fronting the side of the Church facing Quiapo Boulevard because the mass-goers spill to the sidewalks. I think that the Quiapo Church should be made to close the doors there in order to allow other MetroManilans to travel more safely, peacefully and conveniently. 

I believe collective worship is good, that is going inside the Church to hear mass with other people; however, when the activity inconveniences a lot of people, then some civil acts have to be done. It does not seem right for anyone to impose their style of worshipping on other people. Everyone is free to worship; we practice religious tolerance; however, we also need to respect other people's need to make a living without having to go through horrendous traffic all the time. In fact, many times I have quit travelling to Manila in the middle of the route simply because the jeep was not moving at all. 

Of course, corollary to that, someone should study the effects  of traffic on public and private drivers. Road rage is very rampant. Public vehicle drivers also lose their discipline; some would even get back at passengers by not stopping right away when asked.

So could we still have that passion for life amid the chaotic situation in MetroManila?

What is passion, but feeling human, feeling sensitive to oneself and others. 

We could cultivate that through meditation -- aside from thinking of Biblical passages and the life of Christ as well the saints', we could focus on breathing in and out, feeling the air passing through our nose and out, and not thinking of the day-to-day struggles at all. 

I actually do that while being seated inside the trains, and it helps a lot in overcoming the eeky feelings of being sandwiched by the crowds as I get in and out. That reminds me of the art exhibit at Tin-Aw Gallery whereby an artist drew on the label of a sardines can. He titled the can -- MRT, and on it were silhouettes of people. It was a very subtle indictment of a city problem of train congestion which is very real today. 

Another way to recover that passion for life is to avoid toxic beings. Some people have that nasty habit of unearthing problems all the time; of going to the past errors; or putting down another and rubbing off their achievements on others. I try to avoid such people because it is difficult to discuss with them. Should I bump into them, I just pray over them mentally and hope that God would do something with them -- erase their negativities and hopefully permanently. 

Some other psychologists would recommend treating yourself with what you have been wanting to do or eat. For example, you want to go to Baguio or to Boracay. So you save up for that and eventually hie off once you have enough funds. Or you want to have a cup of coffee at a posh coffee shop. That is cheap and can be done easily. But this one thing is best -- get an all-over massage at a parlor, or a half-massage at the Quezon City Hall where the blind masseuse and masseurs are plying their business. 

By the way, our kababayan there have better working conditions now. One told me that before their "barker" the one who would call for the customers would cheat them -- simply because they could not see the money. This "barker" would also pocket the tips meant for them. Now the workers have asserted their right to receive the payment from the customers directly, and just give the barker commissions. 

So things are changing step by step, and that is because our kababayan despite their disability, have a strong passion for life, for what is right, in order to survive, to live, with dignity. 

Yes, that's the reason for having a passion for life -- to be able to live with dignity. 

And as we grant ourselves that sense of dignity, so should we accord others with such regard for their own.

Is that so hard to do? To some people who have grown accustomed to being bowed to, to being called "Yes, Sir" or "Yes, Ma'am" I guess it becomes very difficult to soften up easily. But I remember one person who remained very, very respectful, not only of the powers-that-be but also the people who would serve her. The National Artist for Music, Lucrecia R. Kasilag or Tita King,  as we fondly called her. Did you know that she used to call Imelda, "Ma'am?" I asked her, Tita King why do you call her so when you are older than she is? And she replied that her office is under Imelda's and so she must defer to her. I just sighed quietly when she had said that. Then, the girls who served her food, washed her clothes and kept her home clean, were all very nice. She was able to train them to lay down the placemats and the silverware on the table, as well as  serve the food quietly and on the right places every time. Best of all, I never heard her raise her voice on them -- as I lived in her place for about a month one time. She was a very good artist and teacher within the academe and at home. Her niece, Emma took care of her during her later years more closely, as she became less mobile. 

Tita King had a great passion for life till her last days. She wanted to compose music, and because she had lost her eyesight, if I remember right, Edgardo de Dios or Dong, guitar teacher at the Philippine Women's University notated her music for her as she would dictate to him the melody and the accompaniment. Eventually Dong organized a guitar group and called it Kasilag Guitar Quartet. 

And so what drove Tita King to have that passion? Not only music but a firm belief in God. Whenever I would ask her, Tita King what inspires you to create music? Then she would point her finger up there. No more words to say, just a quiet finger-pointing to the heavens. 

Now there are some groups that have a blurry view of life -- "Life is suffering." On and on, they teach the people that in life, we can have no happiness. One can only attain Nirvana once we meditate. And so they teach people to be ascetics. 

I tried practicing that for quite some time. Of course, I lost my appetite for beer. But I could not lose my penchant for wearing earrings and lipstick. My mind goes to the T'boli tribe of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato where the women are beautifully clothed with colorful self-woven tapis (wrap-around cloth); and horse's hair earrings as well as red, red, brilliant redpplipstick -- some of which could have been sourced from "achuete" or annatto seeds I think.
Now why should I turn my back on the ways of our tribal group?

Right now, I still meditate, alone, and while the train or bus that I am riding in cruises along EDSA. Funny but I have an inner clock that makes me wake up before the station I am supposed to get off. I have managed to program my mind to wake up before starting the exercise and so voila, I open my eyes and go back to reality.

Back to the present. That's it, Folks. To have passion for life is to live in the present; to make our mind concentrate on what is now. 

SR. EVA: SURGEON OF THE MASSES

Yesterday, we had a good conversation with Sr. Eva Maamo, the President of the Foundation of Our Lady of Peace Hospital located at San Dionisio, Paranaque City. Before the arrival of the other sisters, she narrated to us how today, she feeds 280 children everyday in order to give them nutritious foods. The clients come from very poor barangays and their mothers are given finance in order to prepare and cook the food.

Sr. Eva is so tireless. I met her in 1979 when I was doing the film on the T'boli woman brassmaker named Ye Binto at Lake Sebu Cotabato. She was then a young medicine graduate and the Mother Superior had asked her to serve there.

One of her memorable patients was the sick wife of the datu who had 28 wives. She said she could not operate on her because there were many mosquitoes. Ah sister, no problem, we have a mosquito net. But she said, I have no anaesthesia. Sister, all we have to do is pull her hair so she would feel the pain on her head and not on her stomach. But we need to give her dextrose. A sister, we just give her buko juice. Then Sr. Eva found out that she had brought with her simple tools for surgery and so the operation went on smoothly and successfully , under the mosquito net.

It is a great revelation when we meet women like Sr. Eva who is able to rise above the challenges of the situations that need utmost dedication and service to our needy countryfolks. Never mind the polygamous character of the husband. The point was save the wife, or one of the wives, shall we say.

One guy whom Sr. Eva taught to succeed her as a community volunteer turned up in Manila. "O, why are you here?" "Sister I will be given an award because of my three-term service as mayor at Lake Sebu."

So, Sr. Eva is not only a surgeon but also a good mentor who knows how to impart her skills in encouraging the people to stand up and become good leaders of the people.

I think that the nunnery really has a good space to encourage women to become leaders, to hone their skills in order to serve the masses, and also to nurture their belief in spirituality, When we believe, we are being attuned to the universe, attuned to the needs of the people.

Unfortunately, some people are just enamoured with rituals and when meeting edgy situations start blaming others, not themselves.

WHEN MUSIC BECOMES A GOOD OUTLET

Summer is here and yet there are talks of typhoons coming our way. Well we have also political typhoons coming in deluge -- unfinished typhoon, the DAP-NAPOLES, Mamasapano incident, rising tuition fees, high and low oil prices, transportation fares that never come down despite the low oil prices, continuing traffic everywhere. Yet some people have the gall to declare that they will run for office come 2016. 

Are some of our people really that insensitive to the people's pulse? Does politics really make people insensitive?

I think that being in a political position can really desensitize people no end because there are always temptations, right and left, front and back for them to feel grand, to feel in command, to feel authoritative despite the brickbats that are being thrown at them through social media, the radio and teleradyo media, and of course the print media. Never have we known the vibrancy of the media until now. We marvel at how open our people are at expressing their feelings, how the media practitioners are feeling so het up about the lack of obedience to ethical standards of living and exercising political functions. 

Maybe we should have tarpaulins announcing: 'NO TO DAP"   or "RETURN NINAKAW" and not only "HUWAG KANG MAGNAKAW."  "GIVE GLORY TO MAMASAPANO SOLDIERS AND FAMILIES" and "RESIGN TRAFFIC MANIPULATORS" and many more. 

I think really what is lacking is a constant reminder to these people that we are in need of GREAT CHANGES in our country -- not paper changes. We are tired of hearing blaming and throwing the blame. We need action to erase, to solve, and to bring to the end all our problems. 

Are we dreaming or having a nightmare. Try music, a very good outlet

FINDING PEACE

We live in very difficult times. Travelling does not even bode a peaceful sojourn in any country. The extremists have made it very difficult for us, even simple people to enjoy life. Everywhere, there is danger of meeting untoward incidents -- a bomb here, an explosion there, a killing up there. It seems everywhere there is no more peace available. 

Not even in the confines of our bedrooms where locks could be unlocked with skeleton keys and important documents pilfered, or things displaced to induce amnesia. All in the name of State protection. 

What happened in Russia to Boris Nemtsov, a critic of Putin has a chilling effect on dissent in society. It means that the powers-that-be are ready to hold on to power without question, disallowing all forms of criticisms of the regime. 

Maybe we should ask ourselves, what philosophies allowed such things to happen to our world? What did the thinkers on this planet plant on the minds of people so that ideas seem to converge on restrictions, controls, monopolies, killings in the name of ideologies, and so forth and so on?

Right now, I am reading the Bible and trying to understand the mind of Christ. How did he develop his teachings? Why are his thoughts so life-affirming? And service is so ingrained in all of his preachings?

Marx dissected society and introduced the divisions in society -- which have been adopted by Lenin, by Mao Ze Dong in China, applying his ideas to the Russians and the Chinese 
peoples. Here in the Philippines, Jose Maria Sison also took up the ideas Marx, and added Lenin and Mao in order to round up his idea of a communist society. 

Is Communism really an option on this planet? Can we not build a place where deaths will not follow? Can we not find an idea that will inspire everyone to help themselves but more importantly help others as well in order not to experience hunger, poverty, homelessness, and all other illnesses that make one weak and non-fully participative in society?

Our problem in our Philippine society is that because of the advent of new technologies, the people have speeded up their intellectual progress so much so that the people in the bureaucracies are having a hard time to catch up. Our people have surfed through all kinds of societies in the world and seen with their own eyes how other countries could be so developed that it is a great wonder that our professionals and workers  have to go abroad so that they can send back home large sums that lift the lifestyles of their families. Or, have our taste for a good life changed, from being a simple home with a garden and trees around and the family supportive of whatever we want to achieve for our lives?

We can go on and on trying to find out where we missed a step so that some groups are now able to control the situation negatively. However, I still believe like Rizal, that education is the final solution to any conflict in society. Not the barrel of the gun. 

Let us continue our search for that solution -- if you have any alternative that will insure lives to be lived up to a hundred and above -- with great happiness, Folks, not just simply lazing around. 

NON SEQUITUR

"If we allow ourselves to be defeated by those who oppose peace, it would be tantamount to allowing the chaos in Mindanao to worsen. If we were to surrender the pursuit of the Bangsamoro, it would be tantamount to allowing them to bequeath arms to the next generations of our fellow Filipinos."

-- excerpt from PNoy speech

Non sequitur.

When debating we always refer to those fallible arguments that render any speech illogical. The above lines presume that those who oppose peace are for chaos. As well, not supporting the Bangsamoro Law is equal to allowing them to arm again.

Again, we say, all these do not follow.

PNoy presumes that those who oppose the BML are opposing peace. That is a big assumption which is not true. We are for suspension of talks about Bangsamoro because we want to have a clear picture of who we will give autonomy to. If it is only the MILF that the Office of the President is talking to, then we ask, what about the other groups, the other sectors in Mindanao? Who told the OP to marginalize the other groups from the talks?

If we suspend talks and then the Bangsamoro arm themselves again, then, that means their view of democracy is half-baked. The more we have to suspend talks with them because using arms is blackmailing us into acquiescing to their demands, without any questions being raised.

Blackmail is a method of gangsters and to be in a democratic state, one has to cease being a blackmailer, a gangster.

Also, what happens to our claims to Sabah, which is very rich in oil and the exploration of which could solve all our problems of poverty?

I think PNoy has to measure his words; otherwise, the more he is alienating us -- who are for peace but not using the methods that they are using now.

He should change his advisers who are pulling him down the quagmire of confusing policies.

Acting as a Statesman (Stateswoman) is having a broad view of the Philippine landscape; not the immediate but rather long term gains for all, not a few.

How easy to read that.

Peace and happiness are only elusive to those who pursue domination of other people. But once we see life on this earth as a peaceful co-existence, then we become happy and at peace with ourselves, first, and with others, next.

MAMASAPANO LESSONS

Lessons from the Mamasapano hearings cannot but contain emotional underpinnings which are difficult to ignore. In the first place, those who retrieved the bodies of the 44 soldiers could have been their own buddies, their roommates at some seminars and workshops or co-guardians of peace in many battles. What came to my mind was it must have been very painful for them to feel the chopped up bodies of their comrades, still warm and soft, like the last time they were together. And, suddenly they were lifeless, no longer able to say hi or hello to them, or even glance at them and nod in acknowledgement of their presence. 

Secondly, it was heart-tugging to know that it had happened to 44 young men, some barely out of their teens and who must have felt that being a protector of the State was the highest achievement they could have, given the very little opportunities for advancement they could have from their original places. 

Thirdly, I am amazed why everyone are still agog about searching for the so-called truth. Who killed them, nobody else but those who pointed the guns at them and who refused to respect the uniforms they were wearing? It is as simple as that. It was not an encounter -- it was simply a revenge for the loss of their mentor, the man who had given them that knowledge to make other people fear them, fear their authority. And what better way to avenge his death but to follow the motto:  an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

But the hearings have been eye-openers as well. They showed the militaristic way of solving terrorism, how plans were developed, who implemented them, how they were botched by circumstances, and how women were sidelined in the whole operations, save as victims of the encounter. 

If there had been a woman who planned the operation from the very start, could the Oplan Exodus have turned out that way?  A woman's viewpoint, gutfeel, maternal feelings -- all these could work into how operations have to be planned and implemented. I am not saying that men have no intuition nor paternal feelings which are similar to maternal in the sense that the leaders would consider their men as their own sons whom they should protect and prevent from dying. But having a woman planner could bring in a different perspective which most of the time, men would neglect, I suppose. That is because, knowing how to give birth to a human being, ordinarily a woman would have that immediate protective feeling and possibly, intuition that not everything would be well that early morning, after the troops were delayed by two hours in reaching the target place. 

More than all the analyses attendant to the operations, the real score here is whether we should still applaud the approval of a Bangsa Moro Law or BML given the loose control that a leader would have over the community. 

I think that the BML has grand beginnings, but the nicks are showing now. The Mamasapano incident has shown us the rage of a people who have felt oppressed from many centuries. A piece of paper will not erase that overnight. Generation after generation has bred that mindset that those outside of their communities are not to be trusted totally and that they are the only true ones who can discern what is happening, what should happen to them. Against that regionalistic or racial feeling, it is triply important to think how best to integrate them into the Philippine fabric without loss of lives. 

Evidently, democracy can still be imparted to them. The hearings showed how democracy works -- everyone is given a chance to speak and ask questions within a time frame; questions are not edited nor stopped from being aired; man and woman senators were given equal time to speak out; and respect for the chair was evident all throughout, though she is a woman. In other words, the hearings showed to the people, especially the group that we are trying to reach out to, that this is the way we carry out democratic procedures specially ewhere a criminal problem is involved. 

However, we should not stop there. I do think and feel very strongly that Ms. Etta Rosales, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chair, the DSWD and the Department of Education, as well as the DILG have to work hand in hand now to develop a curriculum on human rights to be shared with the children, the youth, the adults, the senior citizens, the students, the market vendors, the businesspeople, and the barangay officials of Mamasapano and all other beleaguered communities by terroristic gangs. When people are aware, then gangsterism will have a difficult time to take root in those places where there is a high democratic sense. 

Actually, the academe has many methods of inculcating democratic ideas among various groups of people. It is only a matter of logistics and commitment on the part of our officials. We need to go institutional here because we cannot really rely on media, especially TV to inculcate among our people -- how to respect each other's ideas and much more so personhood. Just listen to opinion programs over the air for a few minutes and then suddenly, it would be interrupted by an advertisement about drinking liquor at 7 in the morning. Liquor drinking among the Muslims is controlled I gathered. Or again, a very important rendering of the news would be broken by another advert, emphasizing how important it is to have white underarms. So one has to use a certain type of deodorant. Or just look at internet shops that have violent games being allowed to the youth to play day in and night out. What is the point we ask, to have such games on screen for the youth to absorb, secretly even, after a school day? 

Do you see Folks how we sabotage the idea of a democratic state to people who have very conservative upbringing and yet some of their views could be very rational? Why drink liquot at 7 a.m. when one should be readying oneself to go to work?  Why use that deodorant when around us are natural stones like the tawas, very cheaply could suppress bad odor? 

We could say now that our type of a democratic state is too permissive to allow the people to do as they please, and for those who have the resources to control what people will see, what people will buy. 

The Mamasapano incident is a huge wake-up call for us to check where we are going democracy-wise. It should make us reflect on what we are doing to carve a society that should be humane, compassionate and nurturing before. Then we should also develop our strong defenses, intellectually, in order to reach out to the groups that are clamoring for their own freedom and control over their own lives. 

Allowing them freedom does not mean their holding their own weapons. Rather they should be given freedom to learn, to be educated on how it is to be a part of a humane society. 

Best of all, control over their own lives also means respecting the rights of women to exist side by side with the men, to fulfill their own dreams for a better life. 

UNDERSTANDING THE REAL MEANING OF PEOPLE POWER

                                                  

So many people think now it is good to have people power over PNoy's faux pas and is rousing everyone to mass up and demand that he step down.  

But that is shortcutting the real meaning of people power. No, the power of the people does not rest on marching up and down the streets always. It has many methods -- if only the leaders would think twice about rocking the boat at this time. 

Gradual development -- that is the key to everything, not potshots here and there. Look at what happened after the booting out of Marcos. Sure, democracy was restored, especially freedom of the press but that was all. Reconstructing our society, making the people aware and moving them to act were uphill battles. 

Then came Erap's abrupt descent. I think everyone thought that we had already restored the sanctity of the ballot when Erap was elected by a landslide vote. We expected everyone to respect it. But no, he was deposed after a Senate hearing that never ended properly. And so we had 9 years of fakeries. 

So what is the alternative to massing up? We should show what is NGO power -- that is truly people power. Non-government organizations who are watching government daily, by the hour, must have stronger positions vis-a-vis the government. 

Parallel to the coterie of yes-people around PNoy, we must have our own council that will advise him on what to do. We must make them strong enough to make PNoy sit up and listen to what they will say. 

That council need not arise after a people power. No. They are sitting up vis-a-vis PNoy because they have viable ideas on how to run a pro-people government.

to be continued. 

To Know is to be ...

To Know is to be Free; To be Free  is to see the Need to Share; To Share is to be Nearer to God.

\Why should we be nearer to God? Because God encompasses the full definition of Goodness. Some atheists would not like those sentences at all. 

But violence is rooted in evil. Evil is contrary to goodness. And so evil is contrary to God's ways. 

Some people say, don't think in black and white. Think in terms of cause and effect. What is the cause of evil? What is the effect of evil? Have they thought of that? If we are going to justify every act as having a cause and effect, then we shall not have anymore need for laws, for peace and order in society. Instead, every individual act, whether violent or not, will have cause and effect. 

So where is sin there? Nada. No sin at all. Karma is what you will get if you do evil, meaning it will get back to you. 

I wonder if the neck hackers in the Middle East think of karma at all. Do they ever think of living 5 or 10 years from now? Or do they just want to think of the present -- how many necks they can still hack each day?

How do they feel after hacking a neck? Glorious? Can they sleep after killing one, or a dozen, or hundreds of people? Where do they get their stamina in being able to look at blood and gory scenes without flinching and doing it again and again?

I think that EDUCATION has to be thought of -- all fields,  whether they include ethics, especially engineering. Do the curricula include ethics? Ethics deals with right and wrong, 

Ramzi Yousef -- studied electrical engineering in Swansea Institute. 

Zulkifli Abdul bin Hir, alias Marwan, trained overseas as an engineer in the USA

Bin Laden earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979 from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah

Those three people above all studied engineering and they were involved in bombings, in doing violence. Ramzi, together with others,  bombed the World Trade Center. So indeed their education must not have carried a humanistic view of ethics, meaning to say, one that has respect of life. 

Isn't it high time to check the engineering educational curricula? How many lives could we save if we do that?

In the feminist circles, we always mention the word "patriarchy" or the domination of men. At this time of Mamasapano, we would like to put it aside and say, we are all in this together and there is no need to say men belong there, and women here. 

No we are all citizens of this county and our aim is to unite to defeat terrorist acts in the country. Not only to defeat but also to make it obsolescent. We need to remove it so that the word would not exist anymore in our country and in the world. 

Actually, the battle lines are very stark now. Those who believe in patriarchy use arms, not just simple arms but violent ones, and using violent methods. They hack here and there, and I can only clutch my neck, hoping  that it would not happen to me at all -- that which is described in the international news. 

Now how do we defeat such kind of violent patriarchs? Of course Folks, there are so-called benevolent patriarchs, a few who delight in being generous but feeling on top of everyone. They like to think that because they are philanthropic, then everyone must defer to them. Now, some other magnanimous patriarchs, who probably have traveled much and have interacted with different cultures, do not have that sense of domination. Instead, they think that to develop, to improve one's life is a given when one is in this world. And so, having so much for their needs, they find nothing wrong with sharing their resources freely. 

So our real problem are those violent patriarchs. How do we deal with them? I think an idea can be killed by another idea. 

Even if a person dies, as Rizal died for love of our country. that love is not diminished by the absence of the person. In other words, when the ISIL hack and hack heads like sunflowers in the fields, they will not be able to finish off everyone and make themselves rulers of this planet. No, that is not the way of the Lord. That is not the way music runs on this earth. That is not what 80% or 90% of the people of the earth want. They are only a few percent and so their idea of running down a country, of conquering other peoples is not going to be forever and ever. Somehow, there is an end to everything. 

In Pilipino, we say, "kapag napuno na ang tapayan, kailangang kalusin na." 

Here are other quotes: 
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” ― Mahatma Gandhi 

The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.” 
― Albert Einstein

Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.” 
― Baltasar Gracián


Knowledge is power. Power to do evil...or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil. ― Veronica Roth

Jesus said... ‘all who live by the sword will die by the sword. Luke 22:5

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. Romans 12:21