In an uncharacteristically emotional article written by Ronnie Nathanielsz for Philippine Daily Inquirer, he said Pacquiao is the greatest of them all, including Ali.
I say not.
Nathanielsz said, "Ali, for all his greatness and his charismatic personality and glibness, had one trait that reflected poorly on him, especially in comparison to Pacquiao. That was his habit of insulting and mocking his opponents. He referred to Joe Frazier, a great champion himself, as a “Gorilla.”
I say, Pacquiao, for all his greatness and his charismatic personality, has traits that reflected poorly on him: his allowing himself to be surrounded by dirty politicians. How many of as want to shoot the TV set when Chavit Singson climbs the ring each time Pacquiao wins a fight? Or that former "First Gentleman" who joined the bandwagon in the ring like a king? Or that former non-President who if had not been restrained would have claimed Pacquiao's victories as her doing? Or the countless congressmen and half a dozen senators who hugged a share of Pacquiao's limelight? What about that Hawaiian shirted father and son who sandwiched Pacquiao in parades showing off Pacman as theirs and so was the city that "adopted" him for a son?
What about Pacquiao's gambling? His womanizing? (Now, I just have to include those. Nathanielzs is running to Vatican to ask the Pope to canonize Pacman.)
Nathanielsz said, "Greatness must be judged not merely by overpowering performances in the ring but in the humility and decency with which a fighter conducts himself outside of it. Pacquiao is the supreme example of what a fighter and a gentleman should be."
Nathanielsz also listed down Pacquiao's saintly acts:
"Despite the fact that Oscar De La Hoya said his fight against Pacquiao was 'personal' and that he would knock him out, when Manny pulverized the 'Golden Boy' and rearranged his handsome face, he embraced him in the center of the ring and said for all the world to hear, 'You are still my idol.'
"When a bloodied David Diaz crashed to the canvas in a heap, Manny sought to give him a helping hand.
"When he separated Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton from his senses, he showed concern and sought to lift him up. And when Hatton was embroiled in a drug scandal, he advised him to pick up the pieces of his life and look up to God for solace and assistance.
"When he battered Antonio Margarito, Manny felt compassion for the Mexican. Margarito and his trainer Robert Garcia had promised to knock Pacquiao out and in the process ridicule trainer Freddie Roach because of his Parkinson’s disease.
"He requested referee Laurence Cole to stop the massacre and even asked Margarito whether he was alright before laying off him in the last two rounds."
I say, you start talking about character traits as the best gauge to being called the greatest, you ought to have dug deeper into the other sports heroes' characters. Particularly Ali.
It was from Ali that Mayweather got the "trash talk" strategy to wobble the knees of the opponents in pre-fights. Mayweather couldn't hack Ali's fight style to "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," he settled with the trash talk.
But with Ali's trash talks, were sentiments and beliefs that put all of America to shame when the American government arrested him and found him guilty on draft evasion charges, stripped him of his boxing title, and suspended his boxing license. All these because he refused to join a war he didn't believe in.
Ali might have said the famous line during the promotion of Thrilla in Manila: "It will be a killa... and a chilla... and a thrilla... when I get the gorilla in Manila," but he also said:
"I ain't got no quarrel with the Vietcong. No Vietcong ever called me Nigger. ” (Haas, Jeffrey (2009). The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther. Lawrence Hill Books.)
“No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder kill and burn other people to simply help continue the domination of white slavemasters over dark people the world over. This is the day and age when such evil injustice must come to an end.” ("Muhammad Ali — The Measure of a Man." (Spring 1967)).
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?" (Haas)
Now, Pacquiao could have been half as great as Ali in terms of character had he refused to kiss the hands of Gloria and her cohorts. Pacquiao can be half as great as Ali if he can show more strength in character not just in brawn.
Let us not gloss over Manny's humility. The man came from dirt poor beginnings, how can he not be humble and thankful?
And if we believe that Manny is truly the greatest, let's stick to athletics and tell the world exactly how he rose from grit to greatness.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
WOW! Philippines
That says it all. Good recall. Short and sweet.
If it ain't broke...Have they not heard of this old, old saying?
Not everything that came out of GMA regime is bad. Neither those who have Marcos in them are evil.
"WOW! Philippines" is good. What Department of Tourism need only do is to make sure that everything that is Philippines is WOW! If not everything, at least, more things.
And must you change it, change the logo and make it yellow, if only to please your boss. But leave the slogan alone.
DOT Secretary Lim apologized for the error. For rushing things to the point of copying Poland's logo. For forgetting that we are selling the Philippines as a tourist destination to the non-speakers of Filipino. He admitted that the idea (Pilipinas Kay Ganda) didn't go through FGD (focused group discussion) which according to him should have been the "normal process."
Doesn't DOT have budget for R&D? Doesn't DOT have budget for third-party marketing think tanks? Or they haven't heard that these two actually exist?
And we ask again: Where does Noynoy get his people?
If it ain't broke...Have they not heard of this old, old saying?
Not everything that came out of GMA regime is bad. Neither those who have Marcos in them are evil.
"WOW! Philippines" is good. What Department of Tourism need only do is to make sure that everything that is Philippines is WOW! If not everything, at least, more things.
And must you change it, change the logo and make it yellow, if only to please your boss. But leave the slogan alone.
DOT Secretary Lim apologized for the error. For rushing things to the point of copying Poland's logo. For forgetting that we are selling the Philippines as a tourist destination to the non-speakers of Filipino. He admitted that the idea (Pilipinas Kay Ganda) didn't go through FGD (focused group discussion) which according to him should have been the "normal process."
Doesn't DOT have budget for R&D? Doesn't DOT have budget for third-party marketing think tanks? Or they haven't heard that these two actually exist?
And we ask again: Where does Noynoy get his people?
Manny and Tony
"Losers quit when they're tired. Winners quit when they've won," says an anonymous quote.
Margarito didn't quit despite. Pacquiao quit punching on the 12th, and it is because he knew he'd already won long before that. And to quote Pacman, "Boxing is not about killing each other."
It was amazing that only minutes after a 12-round match, Pacman could still give an interview, some of his lines worthy enough to quote. His usual answer when asked about Mayweather, "It's my promoter's job to choose my next fight. I'm just here to train and get ready for it," always hits the mark. This time, with a little sting, "I don't need him. I'm satisfied with what I have." His standard answers to standard questions sound real and sincere. We've seen athletes who are divas. Manny is way, way beyond their league.
Tony, like the others who lost to Pacman, wouldn't be left behind. Eyes closed, hamburgered face, swollen lips, they answered questions if only to redeem a bit of themselves.
Win or lose, they earn millions in dollars. I can volunteer to get slaughtered in the ring at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas right now, but the world will think I'm 100% nuts. They wouldn't even stamp my visa for it. You betcha!
One has to deserve to be manslaughtered in pay-per-view.
That's how the world works, ladies and gentlemen.
Margarito didn't quit despite. Pacquiao quit punching on the 12th, and it is because he knew he'd already won long before that. And to quote Pacman, "Boxing is not about killing each other."
It was amazing that only minutes after a 12-round match, Pacman could still give an interview, some of his lines worthy enough to quote. His usual answer when asked about Mayweather, "It's my promoter's job to choose my next fight. I'm just here to train and get ready for it," always hits the mark. This time, with a little sting, "I don't need him. I'm satisfied with what I have." His standard answers to standard questions sound real and sincere. We've seen athletes who are divas. Manny is way, way beyond their league.
Tony, like the others who lost to Pacman, wouldn't be left behind. Eyes closed, hamburgered face, swollen lips, they answered questions if only to redeem a bit of themselves.
Win or lose, they earn millions in dollars. I can volunteer to get slaughtered in the ring at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas right now, but the world will think I'm 100% nuts. They wouldn't even stamp my visa for it. You betcha!
One has to deserve to be manslaughtered in pay-per-view.
That's how the world works, ladies and gentlemen.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Painfully Watching Shalani
I came home late last night. Had late dinner, therefore. Sister went to the kitchen to take a breather from watching Willing Willie which according to my officemate airs over TV5 from "6:30 PM to forever."
"Ako nahihirapan manood sa kanya!" She complained.
Then stop watching the show! I retorted.
I guess that's human nature to check what's new. Surely, my sister watched Shalani out of curiosity. This big entry into showbiz has been all over the spreads and the airwaves the past days. If that doesn't worm into your psyche, I don't know what can.
You've just freed yourself from a high-profile relationship. And sure as hell, the media hadn't been easy. Demons running amok inside your personal hell when lights go out and the external support system has all gone to sleep.
And now this.
Why Shalani?
Was it really that bad?
Please, quit the show and go to Italy and eat pasta. (Yes, I read the book.)
"Ako nahihirapan manood sa kanya!" She complained.
Then stop watching the show! I retorted.
I guess that's human nature to check what's new. Surely, my sister watched Shalani out of curiosity. This big entry into showbiz has been all over the spreads and the airwaves the past days. If that doesn't worm into your psyche, I don't know what can.
You've just freed yourself from a high-profile relationship. And sure as hell, the media hadn't been easy. Demons running amok inside your personal hell when lights go out and the external support system has all gone to sleep.
And now this.
Why Shalani?
Was it really that bad?
Please, quit the show and go to Italy and eat pasta. (Yes, I read the book.)
The Things That Suck In This Country
Based on my experiences and the news that came out the past few days.
No, not the wine. No, Filipino men are still the best looking males in the world.
Drivers. And there are A LOT of them. Both of public and private vehicles. But bus drivers are the worst, of course. This morning I thought would be the end of me as I got sandwiched by two huge JAC Liners racing along SLEX. SLEX as it is, is in a very bad state what with the topsy-turvy way the Skyway contractors work. Narrow roads, concrete barriers, construction vehicles, construction workers - all contributing to one big mess. The contractors work like a careless bride cooking for the groom for the first time. Hurricane in the kitchen; tsunami in the sink. Add the government contractors to the list of those who suck in this country.
Traffic police. I was robbed in broad daylight. I was apprehended along Libis because I took the line down a U-Turn Lane but didn't take it. I didn't intend to be in that lane. How would I know that somewhere along the long C5 Road, there would be a U-Turn slot I should avoid like a plague? I didn't bother anyone turning left by going straight. And tell me, how could I possibly change lanes when there were huge trailer trucks ready to make steel sheets of my Honda. I got robbed trying to avoid an accident. Great! They were asking for four Ninoy bills or they would confiscate my license which I would redeem for P2,500 and a seminar. They were pulling my leg, of course. You gotta be third-world kidding me! I heard "third-world" has been put to sleep. "Third-world" is now called "developing countries." But what the heck! Third world is third world! Why in Webster's name are names and terminologies being changed now? RP is no longer RP but PH or PHI. What's in a name?? Going back, what could a poor driver like me have done? I was threatened. There were about half a dozen of them and a policeman waiting on the side. Noynoy, you removed the wangwang, but not the varmints in uniform. And is that even allowed - a band of traffic enforcers and a policeman having a tea party along C5?
Jaywalkers along C5. Street vendors along C5. Worse are those with pushcarts.
Congressmen going to Texas to watch Manny's fight. With free airfare and accommodation, care of Manny. Manny, your money is your business. But between giving those elected officials free rides and giving street children (which you once were) a year's worth of food, education and shelter, I'd rather that you look back at your past and remember some of your thoughts about rich men burning away money while your stomach growled as you waited for the rain to let up so you could sleep on the pavement of a lamp-less street.
P-Noy's Miscommunications Group. Are Mr. Carandang and Ms. Mislang still glued to the post? What brand are they using?
No, not the wine. No, Filipino men are still the best looking males in the world.
Drivers. And there are A LOT of them. Both of public and private vehicles. But bus drivers are the worst, of course. This morning I thought would be the end of me as I got sandwiched by two huge JAC Liners racing along SLEX. SLEX as it is, is in a very bad state what with the topsy-turvy way the Skyway contractors work. Narrow roads, concrete barriers, construction vehicles, construction workers - all contributing to one big mess. The contractors work like a careless bride cooking for the groom for the first time. Hurricane in the kitchen; tsunami in the sink. Add the government contractors to the list of those who suck in this country.
Traffic police. I was robbed in broad daylight. I was apprehended along Libis because I took the line down a U-Turn Lane but didn't take it. I didn't intend to be in that lane. How would I know that somewhere along the long C5 Road, there would be a U-Turn slot I should avoid like a plague? I didn't bother anyone turning left by going straight. And tell me, how could I possibly change lanes when there were huge trailer trucks ready to make steel sheets of my Honda. I got robbed trying to avoid an accident. Great! They were asking for four Ninoy bills or they would confiscate my license which I would redeem for P2,500 and a seminar. They were pulling my leg, of course. You gotta be third-world kidding me! I heard "third-world" has been put to sleep. "Third-world" is now called "developing countries." But what the heck! Third world is third world! Why in Webster's name are names and terminologies being changed now? RP is no longer RP but PH or PHI. What's in a name?? Going back, what could a poor driver like me have done? I was threatened. There were about half a dozen of them and a policeman waiting on the side. Noynoy, you removed the wangwang, but not the varmints in uniform. And is that even allowed - a band of traffic enforcers and a policeman having a tea party along C5?
Jaywalkers along C5. Street vendors along C5. Worse are those with pushcarts.
Congressmen going to Texas to watch Manny's fight. With free airfare and accommodation, care of Manny. Manny, your money is your business. But between giving those elected officials free rides and giving street children (which you once were) a year's worth of food, education and shelter, I'd rather that you look back at your past and remember some of your thoughts about rich men burning away money while your stomach growled as you waited for the rain to let up so you could sleep on the pavement of a lamp-less street.
P-Noy's Miscommunications Group. Are Mr. Carandang and Ms. Mislang still glued to the post? What brand are they using?
Friday, November 5, 2010
Ridiculously Sad
I always see them early in the morning at 7. Toddlers running, babies in their strollers, puppies on a leash - all of them basking in the early morning sun. At Eastwood Mall Open Park. Playing, running, giggling, crying, barking, wagging their tails. Dogs and babies in one happy world in the park.
No, they are not there on their own. Each baby, each toddler, each puppy, each dog has a yaya to push the stroller, to watch over the little kid running, playing by the lagoon, to hold the leash of the dog, to pick after the puppy.
Yaya.
We look down on mothers residing at the slum for bearing a dozen children they couldn't feed. But hey, what do we say about condo mothers, executive mommies and rich moms who bear a child or two and can't even push a stroller, join their kids at the park and have to pay someone to do one of the most basic maternal duties of all? Having children is a big personal responsibility. Motherhood should not be a right or an obligation, but a choice. By that I mean, you choose to be a mother, then give up five years of your career life and spend it with your child. You don't want to bear a child, then don'y marry a guy you can't convince not to have children.
Yaya.
You buy an expensive dog for show and hire a yaya to take care of it. If you're not an idiot, I don't know what to call you. Having dogs is like having children. It is a huge responsibility. You take care if it. You hands-on take care of it. If you don't have the time to do it and the sincere inclination for it, then don't get a dog!
So sad. So ridiculously sad.
No, they are not there on their own. Each baby, each toddler, each puppy, each dog has a yaya to push the stroller, to watch over the little kid running, playing by the lagoon, to hold the leash of the dog, to pick after the puppy.
Yaya.
We look down on mothers residing at the slum for bearing a dozen children they couldn't feed. But hey, what do we say about condo mothers, executive mommies and rich moms who bear a child or two and can't even push a stroller, join their kids at the park and have to pay someone to do one of the most basic maternal duties of all? Having children is a big personal responsibility. Motherhood should not be a right or an obligation, but a choice. By that I mean, you choose to be a mother, then give up five years of your career life and spend it with your child. You don't want to bear a child, then don'y marry a guy you can't convince not to have children.
Yaya.
You buy an expensive dog for show and hire a yaya to take care of it. If you're not an idiot, I don't know what to call you. Having dogs is like having children. It is a huge responsibility. You take care if it. You hands-on take care of it. If you don't have the time to do it and the sincere inclination for it, then don't get a dog!
So sad. So ridiculously sad.
Who's Afraid of OFWs?
Not very many Filipinos would dare say it pointblank. Not very many could do a Winnie Monsod. No other high-paying broadcast journalist would touch the subject. No stalwart columnist, not even Conrado De Quiros would be as bold.
This morning I read De Quiros column on why we are an ASEAN country that's only a little better than Myanmar. Why a country who had the best promise of success after World War II, second only to Japan, has become this desolate six decades later. (Seriously, is De Quiros reading my blog? I have just touched on this topic the other day. Oh, well.)
That the problem of this country is not the system. Well, it could be that. But more than that, it is our character as a nation, of what we have become as a people. A people who discovered paradise outside and forgot what we have at home. De Quiros won't blame the OFWs. Won't dare. But he was quick to say our elites' first choice is America; our neighbors' elites choose it last. Why blame the elite? Forget about them. They are a handful. Stop looking the other way simply because we have chosen to elect OFWs the new heroes, a title that Rizal, GomBurZa, Bonifacio and Ninoy had risked their lives and those of their families for.
Now, I remember, the last time De Quiros criticized the OFWs, he calling this nation a country of toilet cleaners or something like that, he was almost burned at the stake. Now, I figure why a lot of our brave mouth-motors and thinking writers who make a living criticizing others have kept away from touching the OFWs.
The OFWs have prided themselves of keeping this country's economy afloat, that without them this country would have gone to the dogs. Well, this is with great thanks to BSP for announcing quarterly how much dollar remittances the OFWs send back home, and how much in percentages, they have grown. Spread the news and you have OFWs thinking they are the kings and queens and messiahs of this nation.
You criticize them and they would ask you, can you give us decent jobs there that pay as much as we're paid overseas? Then the usual rant. The government sucks. They can't give us jobs. Our families will go hungry.
Oh, it is none of our business if they choose to work elsewhere to earn dollars. That is our biggest problem. That "none of your business" mentality. Most of our people have embraced it. Sense of country? What country?
Yes, overseas workers, it is none of our business. But those who stay behind keep it their business to do the jobs you abandon. Even the rearing of your own children who surely will follow your footsteps and work anywhere that isn't called the Philippines.
Good luck making other countries become the most advanced economies. Back home, we will enjoy our sunrise and sunset and mangoes that have stayed true to form and shape and purpose.
This morning I read De Quiros column on why we are an ASEAN country that's only a little better than Myanmar. Why a country who had the best promise of success after World War II, second only to Japan, has become this desolate six decades later. (Seriously, is De Quiros reading my blog? I have just touched on this topic the other day. Oh, well.)
That the problem of this country is not the system. Well, it could be that. But more than that, it is our character as a nation, of what we have become as a people. A people who discovered paradise outside and forgot what we have at home. De Quiros won't blame the OFWs. Won't dare. But he was quick to say our elites' first choice is America; our neighbors' elites choose it last. Why blame the elite? Forget about them. They are a handful. Stop looking the other way simply because we have chosen to elect OFWs the new heroes, a title that Rizal, GomBurZa, Bonifacio and Ninoy had risked their lives and those of their families for.
Now, I remember, the last time De Quiros criticized the OFWs, he calling this nation a country of toilet cleaners or something like that, he was almost burned at the stake. Now, I figure why a lot of our brave mouth-motors and thinking writers who make a living criticizing others have kept away from touching the OFWs.
The OFWs have prided themselves of keeping this country's economy afloat, that without them this country would have gone to the dogs. Well, this is with great thanks to BSP for announcing quarterly how much dollar remittances the OFWs send back home, and how much in percentages, they have grown. Spread the news and you have OFWs thinking they are the kings and queens and messiahs of this nation.
You criticize them and they would ask you, can you give us decent jobs there that pay as much as we're paid overseas? Then the usual rant. The government sucks. They can't give us jobs. Our families will go hungry.
Oh, it is none of our business if they choose to work elsewhere to earn dollars. That is our biggest problem. That "none of your business" mentality. Most of our people have embraced it. Sense of country? What country?
Yes, overseas workers, it is none of our business. But those who stay behind keep it their business to do the jobs you abandon. Even the rearing of your own children who surely will follow your footsteps and work anywhere that isn't called the Philippines.
Good luck making other countries become the most advanced economies. Back home, we will enjoy our sunrise and sunset and mangoes that have stayed true to form and shape and purpose.
Hotdog-Eating Christians and the Promise of Greatness
Over the weekend, I watched two WW II films - Back to Bataan (1945) , starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn, and No Man Is An Island (1962) , starring Jeffrey Hunter and Barbara Perez. Two great Hollywood films that tell you the Philippines ought to be the most advanced economy in Asia today.
No Man Is An Island is a film on Japanese occupation of Guam during World War II. It was shot in the Philippines and used a host of Filipino actors and actresses including Barbara Perez and Chichay. Ms. Perez was outstanding in all aspects. Her beauty was world class, her acting defined Hollywood. However, there was a little booboo in one of the scenes that escaped editing. That scene where the American Navy Tweed celebrates Christmas with the Cruz family. Go check Youtube for No Man Is An Island Part 9 posted by user Alchemy618.
In Back to Bataan, Col. Madden (Wayne) told Maximo, a school boy, that the boy would help the Philippines be a great country after the war. You watch that film and you know that line isn't just a script but a promise. Albeit, still unfulfilled. In this movie, I learned that the Philippines had 17 million population. About 65 years and additional 73 million Filipinos later, we are still in our own war against poverty and corruption. From 17M to 90M Filipinos over the span of 65 years, what an achievement in human reproduction! Surely, the Catholic Church is happy to note.
In a classroom scene in Back to Bataan, the pupils were asked what Spain and the US contributed to the Philippines. The pupils said Spain gave us saints and Christianity. The Americans gave us hotdogs! Now, we've become a nation of 90 million, majority of us, hotdog-eating Christians.
I stay in this country, not feeling stuck in it. I'm staying because I'm waiting for that breakthrough. Of the promise of greatness. Over that seemingly far horizon is a ray of legendary hope that this country will be the greatest in Asia. And I will not be in Europe or the US or in any other part of the world when that happens.
No Man Is An Island is a film on Japanese occupation of Guam during World War II. It was shot in the Philippines and used a host of Filipino actors and actresses including Barbara Perez and Chichay. Ms. Perez was outstanding in all aspects. Her beauty was world class, her acting defined Hollywood. However, there was a little booboo in one of the scenes that escaped editing. That scene where the American Navy Tweed celebrates Christmas with the Cruz family. Go check Youtube for No Man Is An Island Part 9 posted by user Alchemy618.
In Back to Bataan, Col. Madden (Wayne) told Maximo, a school boy, that the boy would help the Philippines be a great country after the war. You watch that film and you know that line isn't just a script but a promise. Albeit, still unfulfilled. In this movie, I learned that the Philippines had 17 million population. About 65 years and additional 73 million Filipinos later, we are still in our own war against poverty and corruption. From 17M to 90M Filipinos over the span of 65 years, what an achievement in human reproduction! Surely, the Catholic Church is happy to note.
In a classroom scene in Back to Bataan, the pupils were asked what Spain and the US contributed to the Philippines. The pupils said Spain gave us saints and Christianity. The Americans gave us hotdogs! Now, we've become a nation of 90 million, majority of us, hotdog-eating Christians.
I stay in this country, not feeling stuck in it. I'm staying because I'm waiting for that breakthrough. Of the promise of greatness. Over that seemingly far horizon is a ray of legendary hope that this country will be the greatest in Asia. And I will not be in Europe or the US or in any other part of the world when that happens.
A Tale of Two Teachers
About three weeks ago we witnessed the feisty Prof. Monsod's teaching presentation to her students at the University of the Philippines via a Youtube video that circulates over the Internet.
In the last day of her class in economics, Prof. Monsod bade her students to live by UP's principle of Honor and Excellence. In her excitement to ignite the fire of patriotism of helping the country by being in the country, she ruffled a few feathers particularly the "bagong bayani" Overseas Fiipino Workers.
The other day, an article/letter written by Asuncion David Maramba to her former student-priests who wrote to PDI to "condemn the Celdran's Damaso protest act" came out of the same daily.
To my dear student-priests
By Asuncion David Maramba
Philippine Daily Inquirer
THERE WERE your names: Fathers Lincoln Carabaña, Sammy (misspelled Sanny) de Claro, Edgardo Coroza, Alexander Thomas, Antonio Navarrete Jr., signatories with eight other priests to a letter to the editor, “Priests condemn Celdran’s protest act.” (Inquirer, 10/5/10)
Your names brought back memories, for make no mistake, you are very dear to me, a “generation” of seminarians at San Carlos Seminary and the Rogationist Seminary with whom I spent the last dozen years of teaching, rudely terminated by the onset of double vision right in the classroom. Nobody noticed as I cautiously picked my way down the staircase at San Carlos.
Who can forget your dramatizations and improvisations for stage, costume and rendition, as when with flair you acted out the election of the new Pope from “Shoes of the Fisherman” as “cardinals” filing in to cast their votes? Or our singing of “Sounds of Silence” and “Eleanor Rigby” as final flourish to reading and interpretation? And it was one of you who introduced me to a naughty word, “manangoniacs” - so pre-Vatican II, you said.
Now, you are parish priests, rectors, superiors, deans, formators, spiritual or vocation directors, etc. (It matters little whether you become bishops or cardinals). Thank you, because my heart swells when I hear of you or bump into you and can never seem to have enough of talking.
Your letter made me wish we were in the classroom again. I would put its subject up for discussion. (Horrors, the manangoniacs might say, or, thank God, she’s no longer teaching!)
Remember “symbol”? We’re in class again, so here goes: First, a symbol is a thing, deed, person, etc., that is explicitly and literally in the selection. Second, like a clap of thunder it instantaneously bears a meaning. Third, it has one or many meanings (thus the phrase “levels of meaning”). Lately we have been served symbols related to RH. The incident you protested yields several: Celdran himself, Celdran dressed as Rizal, the Damaso placard, the protest action itself in the Manila Cathedral.
How we could explore the meaning/s of each! Outspoken Coroza would readily say what he thought; De Claro would pause before giving his measured opinion; Thomas might smile and demur. Or we could confuse each other by forcing meanings that are not there. And after collegial consensus, we could finally agree that this or that is closest to the truth of the situation. Or we could hear no evil and see no evil and dismiss the matter as just an amusing story.
But no one thinks it was just an amusing story. “Damaso” was instantly picked up like “wang-wang” (sirens) and meanings were attached to both its parts and to the whole. The Internet has been flooded with meanings mixed with flotsam through which you must navigate.
But what is the meaning of your choice? That’s important. At this point, your one-time teacher chooses to sit with you as a forever-student. Go figure.
Since we are at symbols, we might as well go the mile. I refer to the babies and fetuses: the survivor in the airplane toilet, the dead ones at the Cathedral and Quiapo Church, a dead newborn on Pioneer Street, a fetus in the Starmall toilet. Are they isolated cases or deliberate “plants” to “malign the Church” (Inquirer, 10/14/10) or sharply symbolic as “an eloquent statement of unwanted pregnancies,” now becoming a recurrent symbol?
I am tempted to ascend the teacher’s platform again and ask you to write a half-page reaction to the last question.
We can’t go on skirting the issue seething beneath these symbols. We all know what it is. Let’s go on study-group mode and toss some statements and references too:
High hopes for the dialogue between bishops and leaders are dim in the sense that neither will change their stand; but there are talking points to thresh out. (See the RH paper by the Loyola School of Theology and the John Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues.)
Let there be no more name-calling, labeling, intellectually dishonest accusations like “abortionist,” “pro-death,” “an abortion bill.”
Anyone who would comment on the RH bill should read one through. (Try the Consensus Bill for Population, Family Planning and Development. 8188501—Philippine Center for Population and Development.)
Science may still moot all our quarrels on when-life-begins. A friend just told me about Aquinas’ view on “ensoulment” which is certainly worth checking.
The bottom line is not “foreign funded” or “the saintly mother argument” but whether birth control is moral or not. This is the sticky part. Here’s food for thought: “The Church has never explicitly claimed to speak infallibly on a moral question” (“Christian Morality” chapter in Richard McBrien’s “Catholicism”). There are two models of morality: one looks only at the “act”; another also considers “circumstances and motives.” The first descends as a general principle/rule from the top; one size fits all. The second weighs in who-what-when etc. on specific applications of the principle whereby not all contraception, etc. is immoral. (See “A Morally Complex World” by James Bretzke, S.J.) And we haven’t even touched conscience.
Since we have gone back to school, let’s quote newly beatified Henry Cardinal Newman who proposes: “the culture of the intellect,” “…to remove the original dimness of the mind’s eye… to look out into the world right forward, steadily and truly; to give the mind clearness, accuracy, precision… to conceive justly what it thinks about, to abstract, compare, analyze, divide, define, and reason, correctly.”
Happy reading!
The first teacher has threatened that when she dies, she would haunt her students when they err. The second one has just proven she would. The latter didn't wait for death.
In the last day of her class in economics, Prof. Monsod bade her students to live by UP's principle of Honor and Excellence. In her excitement to ignite the fire of patriotism of helping the country by being in the country, she ruffled a few feathers particularly the "bagong bayani" Overseas Fiipino Workers.
The other day, an article/letter written by Asuncion David Maramba to her former student-priests who wrote to PDI to "condemn the Celdran's Damaso protest act" came out of the same daily.
To my dear student-priests
By Asuncion David Maramba
Philippine Daily Inquirer
THERE WERE your names: Fathers Lincoln Carabaña, Sammy (misspelled Sanny) de Claro, Edgardo Coroza, Alexander Thomas, Antonio Navarrete Jr., signatories with eight other priests to a letter to the editor, “Priests condemn Celdran’s protest act.” (Inquirer, 10/5/10)
Your names brought back memories, for make no mistake, you are very dear to me, a “generation” of seminarians at San Carlos Seminary and the Rogationist Seminary with whom I spent the last dozen years of teaching, rudely terminated by the onset of double vision right in the classroom. Nobody noticed as I cautiously picked my way down the staircase at San Carlos.
Who can forget your dramatizations and improvisations for stage, costume and rendition, as when with flair you acted out the election of the new Pope from “Shoes of the Fisherman” as “cardinals” filing in to cast their votes? Or our singing of “Sounds of Silence” and “Eleanor Rigby” as final flourish to reading and interpretation? And it was one of you who introduced me to a naughty word, “manangoniacs” - so pre-Vatican II, you said.
Now, you are parish priests, rectors, superiors, deans, formators, spiritual or vocation directors, etc. (It matters little whether you become bishops or cardinals). Thank you, because my heart swells when I hear of you or bump into you and can never seem to have enough of talking.
Your letter made me wish we were in the classroom again. I would put its subject up for discussion. (Horrors, the manangoniacs might say, or, thank God, she’s no longer teaching!)
Remember “symbol”? We’re in class again, so here goes: First, a symbol is a thing, deed, person, etc., that is explicitly and literally in the selection. Second, like a clap of thunder it instantaneously bears a meaning. Third, it has one or many meanings (thus the phrase “levels of meaning”). Lately we have been served symbols related to RH. The incident you protested yields several: Celdran himself, Celdran dressed as Rizal, the Damaso placard, the protest action itself in the Manila Cathedral.
How we could explore the meaning/s of each! Outspoken Coroza would readily say what he thought; De Claro would pause before giving his measured opinion; Thomas might smile and demur. Or we could confuse each other by forcing meanings that are not there. And after collegial consensus, we could finally agree that this or that is closest to the truth of the situation. Or we could hear no evil and see no evil and dismiss the matter as just an amusing story.
But no one thinks it was just an amusing story. “Damaso” was instantly picked up like “wang-wang” (sirens) and meanings were attached to both its parts and to the whole. The Internet has been flooded with meanings mixed with flotsam through which you must navigate.
But what is the meaning of your choice? That’s important. At this point, your one-time teacher chooses to sit with you as a forever-student. Go figure.
Since we are at symbols, we might as well go the mile. I refer to the babies and fetuses: the survivor in the airplane toilet, the dead ones at the Cathedral and Quiapo Church, a dead newborn on Pioneer Street, a fetus in the Starmall toilet. Are they isolated cases or deliberate “plants” to “malign the Church” (Inquirer, 10/14/10) or sharply symbolic as “an eloquent statement of unwanted pregnancies,” now becoming a recurrent symbol?
I am tempted to ascend the teacher’s platform again and ask you to write a half-page reaction to the last question.
We can’t go on skirting the issue seething beneath these symbols. We all know what it is. Let’s go on study-group mode and toss some statements and references too:
High hopes for the dialogue between bishops and leaders are dim in the sense that neither will change their stand; but there are talking points to thresh out. (See the RH paper by the Loyola School of Theology and the John Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues.)
Let there be no more name-calling, labeling, intellectually dishonest accusations like “abortionist,” “pro-death,” “an abortion bill.”
Anyone who would comment on the RH bill should read one through. (Try the Consensus Bill for Population, Family Planning and Development. 8188501—Philippine Center for Population and Development.)
Science may still moot all our quarrels on when-life-begins. A friend just told me about Aquinas’ view on “ensoulment” which is certainly worth checking.
The bottom line is not “foreign funded” or “the saintly mother argument” but whether birth control is moral or not. This is the sticky part. Here’s food for thought: “The Church has never explicitly claimed to speak infallibly on a moral question” (“Christian Morality” chapter in Richard McBrien’s “Catholicism”). There are two models of morality: one looks only at the “act”; another also considers “circumstances and motives.” The first descends as a general principle/rule from the top; one size fits all. The second weighs in who-what-when etc. on specific applications of the principle whereby not all contraception, etc. is immoral. (See “A Morally Complex World” by James Bretzke, S.J.) And we haven’t even touched conscience.
Since we have gone back to school, let’s quote newly beatified Henry Cardinal Newman who proposes: “the culture of the intellect,” “…to remove the original dimness of the mind’s eye… to look out into the world right forward, steadily and truly; to give the mind clearness, accuracy, precision… to conceive justly what it thinks about, to abstract, compare, analyze, divide, define, and reason, correctly.”
Happy reading!
The first teacher has threatened that when she dies, she would haunt her students when they err. The second one has just proven she would. The latter didn't wait for death.
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