Code of Honor: Dogs and Underdogs

In dogfights an underdog is the dog that lies on its back after a fierce combat waiting for the final kill or mercy from its enemy. It has no chance of reversing the situation for reason of enemy’s size and strength or its brutal company. It remains on his back waiting for the inevitable. An underdog is a loser.

I don’t know if this is true throughout the dog kingdom but among native dogs or askal once the enemy is on its back and has stopped growling, the triumphant fighter or fighters (as dogs also have this instinct to crowd against an apparent loser) would start to withdraw and allow the defeated to lick its wound and limp home.

Indeed, dogs appear to have a code of honor that governs their behavior which they keenly observe at all times. I have watched several times male dogs rumbled over a hot bitch. The bloody fury is incomparable in ferocity. But almost always while the rest are fighting – mauling, maiming, and humiliating each other for the right to mount the bitch, one wily dog would successfully escape the fray and insert its maddening desire unto the burning aperture of the coyly bitch. When the brawling dogs notice this cunning success they would stop fighting and begin to disperse leaving the couple peacefully to consummate and savor canine ecstasy.

Conversation with a Taxi Driver

When ferried by a taxi to my destination I usually engage the driver in little talks to enhance my appreciation of the issues of the day. Taxi drivers have their ears
on the radio throughout the day and are fed with news and opinions that
make them encyclopedic on the affairs of the state. Many are aggressive
conversationalists with solid reflections on local and national issues.
Consider this exchange yesterday in my taxi ride from Bulua Bus
Terminal to the DSWD Reg. Office near Xavier Estate:

-Sir, who are you going to recommend for president in the coming elections?

-I don’t know I am confused. Do you have anyone to recommend?

-I think Gibo would make a good president. There is no doubt about his intelligence, his experience and preparations, and his sincerity of
intention. But Gibo has no chance to win. He is on the wrong side of
the fence and has the Gloria monkey on his back.

-So?

-The choice is actually reduced to Villar and Noynoy, between a self-made man and a man who is still making himself. I am scared of Villar making
it to the presidency: I don’t know how he would recover his billions of
pesos invested on his election. He may yet impoverish further our poor
and miserable country. But Noynoy scares me, too. He is not actually
prepared for the responsibility. He does not have the talents and
charisma of his father, not even that of his mother. He was simply
pushed by events to the challenge on account of the death of his
mother. From the start he has been a reluctant candidate just like his
mother before. At least Cory showed native intelligence; it is
difficult to read that from Noynoy. What would happen to this country
if we will have a president who until now could not even decide to
marry or not his girlfriend?

-So?

-I will vote for Noynoy.

-To a reluctant candidate, to a man who, as you said, is still making himself?

-Yes. He is honest and incorruptible. And the presidency may yet finally make him. There is no way it could unmake him (He was laughing after saying
the last sentence).

-That is banking so much on hope.

-You know, of course, the story of Moses. He was also a reluctant leader of the Israelites. He lacked self-confidence, was never sure of himself,
and he even stammered when he talked to the authorities. And yet look
what he did and what happened to the Israelites.

-They wandered in the desert for 40 years because of his poor leadership. They rebelled against him because he could not show them the right
direction to the promised land.

-But they did reach the promised land.

-When he was already dead and was no longer their leader.

Our conversation was cut short because we were already at the gate of DSWD. But he had a parting question:

-Sir, who shall we vote?

-Follow your own conscience.

Love or Quit Your Job

To the MSU System 2010 Graduates
Mindanao, TawiTawi, Sulu, Philippines

Congratulations for making it to the finish line! There would still be other races to run soon, but this last one is amply important because it outlines your basic preparations.Cheers!

I welcome you to the MSU Alumni Association in behalf of its officers. And I am taking this opportunity to say some few words hopefully to guide you in the next runs of your life.

Very soon you will be joining the rank of job seekers along with some other 600,000 college graduates of 2010 throughout the country. The competition is stiff and the opportunities are very scarce, so it may take sometime before you will find a job. It is most likely that the job you will get into may not be appropriate to your training and preparation. Don’t despair. I have a lot of friends in similar situation who made it to the top despite such predicament. I know of a marine biology graduate who is now happily managing the sales of health and beauty products. And a fishery graduate who is now earning much as estate broker. Appropriate or not the job may be to your training and qualifications my advice is for you to love it. Your first job is the most precious gift of God in this difficult and uncertain time. You have to give your best to it by learning more about it and by delivering your best performance possible.

However, if you realize that this job does not give you joy and satisfaction, by all means quit. Stop working and start looking for another one. What makes some people very miserable is holding to a job that they do not enjoy doing and does not give them any sense of fulfillment. They simply stick to it because it provides them security of income even if it scours and hurts inside. As the marines say “no guts no glory.” Be real. Magpakatotoo ka. Leave that false comfort zone, take the risk and venture out there if you wish to find new meaning to your existence.

A meaningful life follows from a life-defining and occupying activity, such as your work, that gives you joy and satisfaction in an environment that is enriching and fulfilling. In an oppressive, unjust and iniquitous environment your job, no matter how you value and cherish it, will eventually lose meaning and significance. You have a responsibility to anyone and anything you love dearly in life. You are expected to do something to improve their circumstances. In workplaces where dishonesty, deception, and falsehood dominate, it is your obligation to speak and expose the truth. In situations where inequity and injustice prevail, it is your duty to act and contribute to the effort of correcting them. Do not secure the comfort of fence-sitters to enhance your own survival. Avoid retreating to a neutral corner to save your own skin. Take side with the oppressed, the victims of lies, deception, and injustice and be counted in the struggle of the great Teacher if you wish to secure your destiny. You see, if evil men now appear to triumph around us it is because good men are afraid and are not doing anything to stop them.

Finally, always remember your Alma Mater, the university where you came from and made you what you are now. Honor her with praiseworthy and excellent behavior in whatever you attempt to pursue in life. When the right moment arrives, come home and offer to her your talents and your blessings so her torch will continue to burn and give light to those in darkness.

Eating, Living, Dying

We start living and dying at the same time.

We start feeding upon birth. The food that we eat nourishes and energizes the cells of the body, multiplies them, and spurs growth. The nutrients that enter the body determine our health and wellbeing. Unfortunately, the same nutrients, particularly protein and carbohydrate, that are supposed to strengthen and protect the body from illness and disease, bring poisons and toxins into the body triggering dysfunction, deterioration and decay of the body cells and their eventual death. The accumulation of sugar, fat, salt and the uric acid waste that goes with the nutrients that the body receives, is the major cause of weight problem, cardiac diseases, cancer, stroke, hypertension, sclerosis, arthritis, vertigo, premature ageing and many other debilitating maladies. It requires external intervention to prevent the dysfunction and decelerate the deterioration of the cells before their time.

Indeed, we are what we eat. The doctors advise us to reduce, if not to stop, eating this and that when we complain about pain here and there in the body. But many disobey any prescription that curtails the pleasure of eating. The doctors also advise us to detoxify our body by doing some regular exercises. Many simply shrug this off too. What most want are a prescription and regimen that result to immediate and miraculous cure without sacrificing bodily pleasure and comfort. But this is ambivalent and is asking for the impossible in the protracted fight against the diseases of abundance.

To reduce or to stop eating something for sometime and to meditate and do regular physical exercises reduce stress, detoxify the body and may lengthen our days on earth. I lose weight from 3 – 5 kg during the Holy Week when I eat nothing but fruits. After two days of fruit diet the waste that comes out from the body losses its foul smell. IF I want to I need not change a shirt for two days because it still smells fresh despite the Lenten and summer heat. I really feel clean, body and soul, after one week of meditation and fruit diet.

I also feel clean, refreshed and recharged every time I play rounds of lawn tennis, when I go swimming, and after two or three hours of mountain biking. The feeling of wellness is just great.

Try it. It is never late.