A Semantic Malfunction

Image source: Google Images Planning gives structure to life. A planner is an aid to every individual so that every week, a person can maximize each time that he has and can even make time to those things that really matter in life. In this highly erratic world, planning gives us security that even when all things in the world fail; you are on the right path. However, when your very plan does not work, you begin to feel the tremendous bitter pangs of disappointments and frustrations. As much as possible, I try to avoid a work day which is unplanned. I think that it is a great waste of my mental and physical dexterity. I believe that a moment lost is gone forever. So I plan everything down to the last minute so that I can achieve my goals. Aside from that, I do not only plan my week, I plan my monthly activities, and I plan my yearly activities, and most of all I plan the long term. As I plan, I am already imagining the circumstances that can be and will be in the future. Howe...

Shakespeare once said that "parting is such sweet sorrow." I can very much relate to this since I am at a crossroad in my life again where I am to undertake a new path and leave behind great people, experiences, and fantastic adventures. To say goodbye is probably a sweet event worth remembering because you get to relish what a wonderful time you've had. You get to remember the people you were with, and you get to relive even if it is only inside your mind the wonderful experiences you've had. It is sweet because you begin to realize how God blessed you with bountiful graces, and you also get to realize that the many experiences you've had taught you greatly about yourself and others.  To say goodbye is also sorrowful because you begin to realize that you have to part ways from that perfect state that you found yourself already residing in. You begin to realize that this perfect state is not at all permanent. You also begin to realize that you have to lea...

It's so easy to pass on judgments to others, but it is so difficult to see the goodness that these people are truly capable of. I just had an epiphany a few days ago about passing judgments on people, and I have realized how they can be downright deadly. I see people every day, and I cannot help but be judgmental about them. If they wear this kind of clothes, talk a certain way, or even act in a curious manner, I easily judge them negatively. Moreover, if someone has committed a heinous error, the more I judge that person as an evil guy. However, after a series of mental and spiritual crunching and gymnastics, I soon realized that this is not the right path. The right path which I learned to take is to always look onto others with a look of love. If I look with the eyes of love, I know that I can be patient, kind, courageous, and sympathetic towards that person no matter how evil he/she is. A wise professor of mine once said that our errors are only but 1 percent of o...

I remember an Instagram post I made last June 2015. I posted a picture of the class list of gr. 7 Francis Kesy. As a caption for the post, I said there that “I am hoping for a blessed and productive year.” I never knew that that those simple words I stated on that ordinary Instagram post would actually come true. I never knew that the 36 names written on that class list would be the very ones to make significant changes in my life.                 When I started my journey of being the class adviser of the Kesy Gang (a name which I called the entire class), I never expected anything at all that grand and fabulous. I only had a vision for them and that is they become better people by the end of the school year.                 As we tried our best to achieve this vision, we’ve had so many ups and downs. It is in this very rocky ...

For the first time, I was given the chance to give a Good Morning Talk to Bosconians. Here is the complete text. When I was in High School, I attended a Franciscan school at Paranaque which is of course run by the Franciscan sisters. In my 10 years of stay in that school starting from grade 1 to fourth year high school, I have always thought of those nuns as a very serious lot. They seem to be very cloistered in their convents, so intent in their prayers, and very serious in their work for the school. Since it is a Franciscan school, they have taught us the life of St. Francis of Assisi. I have seen a lot of his pictures, mind you, they show his face in a very serious tone and mood. Because of these experiences, I have formed inside my mind a picture of holiness as something very serious, something that requires a very straight face, eyes tightly closed, and eyebrows on the brink of touching each other. Everything changed when I met Don Bosco. I live in Brgy. Don Bosco in Parana...

This was a piece that I have written last December... Knowing that it is December saddens me a bit. It is not because the Christmas season makes me sad, but rather it is the thought that in a few months, the school year is about to end. When I was given the task of being a class adviser of Gr. 7 Francis Kesy, I was filled with Euphoria because this is the very type of task that I have always been wanting for quite some time in my stint as a teacher. Before the school year started and after having learned of this new task, I kept wondering who my students are going to be. I received the list of the Kesy gangsters. I saw their names and kept wondering what these people are going to be like. Just seeing the list of my advisory class students keeps me in awe because I will be with them for the next ten months, and a lot of things are bound to happen in the coming months. I was not at all disappointed of finally having to meet my students. Rather, I am and will always be h...

I still cannot move on. This is the lingering feeling that I still have right now after the Parents and Son Camp of my gr. 7 Francis Kesy students. At first I am not sure why this activity of my students affected me greatly, but soon I realized that this event left a great mark in my heart which will always be there until my dying day. The Parents and Son Camp is a spiritual program of the high school department of Don Bosco College whose goal is to of course bring parents and sons together for a day of bonding and hopefully getting to understand each other as a family a little bit better. As the class adviser of gr. 7 Kesy, it is my duty to make sure that all preparations are all set for this camping. If you are going to ask me, it was a whirlwind experience of going here and there, meeting parents, and prepping students for the camp. To tell you honestly, it was so tiring just thinking of all the things that must be done for the camp, but thank God, everything pushed ...