I'll Never Climb That Mango Tree Again

We all have lots of experiences to share. Most of it are so unforgettable and so memorable that we often share them to others. Some are so embarrassing that we hesitate to share it even with our close friends because we're afraid to be laughed at. The experience I will share is something I will surely never forget.

It happened during one weekend when I went home to my province. We have an Indian mango tree at our backyard and it's been a while since it had fruits. But since my mother decided to trim the tree the fruits were usually on the topmost branches. I was eager to eat so I decided to climb. My sister then warned that something had bitten my cousin when he tried to climb the tree. But still, I decided to went on, when I've passed the part where my cousin was bitten. I fell triumphant and assume that nothing will bit me anymore. When I was almost at the top I felt that something had stung me, then suddenly a group of wasp (not so sure) attacked me. I've seen them going to my face. I almost panicked but I remain calm because I may fall and injured myself if I release my hands from where I'm holding. Luckily, I safely landed on the ground. I was stung like for more than ten times and unluckily one got near my right eye. I was really worried because I'm sure that my face will look like I was punched by Manny Paquiao. I was relieved when the next day it was not my face is better than what I've expected.

From that experienced I'v promised not to climb that tree anymore even if that they have already got rid of the hive.

A Bridge is Better Than a Wall

The story "The Carpenter's Gift" tells us a simple yet an important lesson in life. Sometimes when we are having trouble with other people we often create a "wall" or a barrier keep them away from our lives. We often forget that instead of trying to solve the problem we only make the situation worst. Yet it is normal for people to act like that. It is our innate in us to defend ourselves from things we thought that could harm us.

In some instances it is our pride which dictates us to not forgive those people we had conflict with. We try to justify our actions as a way to revenge for what others had done to us. But we should remember that pride is of lesser importance than a person whether we consider them as our enemy or a friend. Make love not war they say, and just like what the carpenter did on the story. Instead of totally separating the world of the two brothers totally he created a bridge to connect them.

In my life I admit that sometimes instead of building a bridge I built walls. But I realized that instead of helping I am already engaging myself on such conflict. So before I create more conflict and engage myself unto it I decided to create bridges. I believe a best way to solve conflicts with other people is through confrontation. It is better to talk about the problem than assume things or asking help from other people. Let us also remember that being humble doesn't lower us as a person it even makes us a great one and always remember that a bridge is better than a wall.

This one is not part of the blogging activities for my English 1 and I haven't done some of it. This post is about my reaction to what two our country early this week.

First I want to talk about the Miss Universe. What I'm going to tell here is not really about the event but how some people reacted to the outcome. What I mean was the answer of Miss Venus Raj, our countries representative. It is true that she failed to answer the question properly and that's why she didn't won. But for me she is already a winner. Being one of the top 15 and the only Asian (if I'm not mistaken) is already a great pride. Instead of being thankful that our contestant was the 4th runner-up some even made fun of her answer. She was not the only who struggled answering that question a lot of great men had a hard time answering that question. What so sad is that most of these people making fun of her were Filipinos. These incident happened a lot and is very common in this country. That's what were good at, making fun with others not realizing what could be effect of such action to that person. We often look at other's mistake as if we're perfect.

That's why I can say that we deserved the shame regarding the hostage drama on Monday. It is not the hostage-takers fault, its the people behind the justice system. They were the one who provoked that person to that crime. Based on his records his an outstanding police, so its a big question why he was removed from his post. He was just asking to review his case, maybe he was just to desperate because how could he feed his family if he is not going to get the benefits he was supposed to get for the service he had rendered, just because a few years before he retires he was removed from his post. One of the survivor who's husband was killed even said that Mendoza didn't planned to harm them.

Everyone is pointing at each other, blaming who's responsible for the outcome of that incident. Some says it was the media's fault. Well probably, but we are known to be "tsismosos/sas" we often make a big deal with small things. It just happen that this time instead of helping with the situation it leads into a major disaster. For me the one who should be responsible are our very incompetent task force. They were trained to handle the situation efficiently, but instead they just showed the whole world how stupid they are. Imagine it took almost 12 hours before the hostage crisis ended in a disastrous manner with only one hostage-taker. It's like they started planning when they arrived on the scene and after their plan failed they again started to think for the next plan. They should have been ready, that's their job. They were so called the "authority" so they are expected have controlled the situation. But again, they let the media to took a full coverage knowing that there is a TV inside the bus since first of all its a tourist bus. The taker could easily monitor them and went mad after seeing his family on th TV. That incident is now causing a lot of problem. Not only that our economy will be surely affected, but also because a lot of Filipino workers abroad will have troubles in their work place. We are lucky were in the Philippines, but imagine their situation there it will surely make their world smaller. They may even received direct or indirect insults from people around them.

This incident taught a lot of lessons for us, not only to the arm forces because I believed that not all are like those who were present at that time and not all of us are like those people who make fun of others. Whatever happens we are still Filipinos and I'm proud of it. The least we can do is live our life accordingly and properly. Let us live a life not like to those kind of people.

Time passed so fast in these ever changing world. From being nomadic to civilized ones. What brought us to this new age? Maybe knowledge that has been us unto us by our ancestors. But it should only be knowledge we should acquire from them? One of the saddest thing about our world right now is the diminishing manners that brought that us to this new century. Although not all have totally forgot the proper etiquette taught to us when were young, or have we really been taught?
One reason I believed that made the new generation's manner so displeasing is lack of proper education. It's not academic education since as early as two years old children were already sent to school. It's the education that made us human. Made us care for our fellow being, everything that surrounds us. We should remember that it's part of civilization who brought order to the society.
Another reason is probably this new generation failed to see these in their elders actions. Sad to say, but as role models of the younger generation parents or simply older ones failed to do lead those children accordingly. They failed to do so because they focus too much on surviving, not knowing that manners are essential for survival.
Imagine living during the prehistoric time when civilization hasn't existed yet or during the medieval times when people were so barbaric yet civilization already existed. These manners put order in the society. We continue moved forward with our technology and yet we failed to brought order with us. We should not let those "manners' die because it's the most important lesson and gift that our ancestor have impart on us. With what we have now, we should not forget that we're human being after all.

Success

Every person in this world wants to be successful. We would try everything for us to reach our goals and dreams. Some say that intelligent people are mostly the ones to become successful, since they were equipped with the knowledge needed to survived and succeed in life. But can an intelligent man be successful without determination and perseverance?
The story of the Indonesian girl Hani, intelligence is not the sole ingredient in being successful. We can learn from the story that there are lot of important things needed to be successful. You need courage have to faith in yourself and you have to be determined in making your dreams come true. In the story Hani persevered a lot for her to reach her dream. She never hesitates to ask help because she knows she badly needed it. She acknowledged that weakness from the start, which sometimes intelligent people failed to do so.
I can say that maybe the only thing Hani had from the start is the courage to believe in herself that she can reach her dream despite everything. Most people don't have such attitude. We complain too much on the situation we are at but we fail to act on improving it. Sometimes, we rely too much on ourselves that we fail to notice our weaknesses and seems that we don't need help. We should remember that learning is never ending.
We should have the courage to learn everything and the we should persevere in all the things we do. Lastly we should have the faith in our own self.

Worth Watching

Activity 2
One thing that I really love is watching movies. I really spent a lot on movies because I often watch them on cinemas. Watching a movie on cinema is really different than watching it at home. It gives a different kind of experience specially when watching horror, suspense, thriller, and action films. Sometimes I watched alone, but oftentimes I watched with my friends because it's more fun. I love watching movies because aside from it's entertaining it also serves as a bonding time with my friends. One movie that I watched together with my friends during high school was "The Dark Knight'. The film who starred Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger.
The film was really good as its trailer. The casting was good, specially having Heath Ledger as joker. I believed it was one of his best performance on a movie, if not the best. Everyone did a great job on that movie. I like the different twist they've done on the story. The action is there as well as the special effects. I really love how Heath Ledger play the role of "Joker", he showed what a villain is. The other actors also did a great job on giving life to their characters. The movie also tells us a lot of things about our society.
On the movie "Batman" was compared to an immovable object and "Joker" to an unstoppable force. How could two opposing force with equal power fight each other? In reality the analogy does exist, but our enemy is our own self. We struggle so hard without winning. We sometimes see our weaknesses as hindrances for us to move forward. So why not used those weaknesses in our advantage? I believe that they are like signs on the road which guide as along the way.
Like watching movie, we should enjoy life but let us not forget the lessons we've learned from it.

Simply the Best

Activity 1

Nothing is constant in this world except change. Even the earth revolves around the sun, as well as we humans walk into this earth. Nobody exactly knows why were here, but one reason I know is in order to live. The hardest thing in living is how we deal with change. It's easy for some while it's hard for others. We don't know what will happen tomorrow or the next day, so we must do our best in everything.

In this life, we often wished to succeed in everything we do and for us to succeed we must set our focus. When we have focus, we exactly know where we're headed to. We should also not hesitate to do things with our best. We must have a courageous heart, for us not to surrender in every trial we may face. There are many things that we need, but for me the most essential is faith. It is because faith enables us to believe that we could do things beyond we imagined and it motivates us to take risk.

It is very important to fulfill the role that we've given with. Such as being a student or a son to our parents. But our duty does not end there. We may not realize it, but we have bigger roles to fulfill. My mission in life is simply to be the best that I can be.