In time for the 25th Anniversary of the People Power in EDSA, I have decided to write this blog to take part in its history. I was young when EDSA happened - note how I'm avoiding dating myself :) But nevertheless, I have one extremely strong memory of February 25, 1986.
I was lying in bed playing beside my Auntie Beng who was listening to the radio. My mom says that we were apparently listening to Radio Veritas which at that time was the only radio station reporting anything at all as other stations were shut off by the then President Marcos. I don't really remember much of anything else except that at some point during play time, Auntie Beng started crying. I was so concerned about why she started crying so I said, "Auntie, why are you crying? Please stop crying Auntie." And I remember she hugged me and said, "I'm very happy anak that's why I'm crying." So I asked, "So why are you crying?" She then replied, "Because we have a new President. Her name is Corazon Aquino." I don't know why but even then I knew that that particular moment was historic which is probably why I remember it to this day.
However, like most kids at that time, the meaning of EDSA was only a vague memory. I mean we all knew that yellow was a meaningful color and that the L sign meant Laban. However, as to the gravity of the situation I don't think most of us really understood until maybe a few years later when we started learning about it in school. So what does EDSA really mean to me? I remember a decade ago when EDSA 2 happened and I only had a radio to listen to as I didn't have a tv where I was living and it felt like I was so invested in it as I felt strongly about what was happening. But then looking back what I felt was probably no where near what those who experienced EDSA 1 felt.
So what does it mean to be under a dictatorship? What does it mean not to be free to say things against your own government? What does it feel like to be afraid to go out at night because you don't know if you're going to be a target of some abusive PCs? I don't know. But what I do know is I am very blessed not to know. So can we be grateful for something we've never experienced? YES! We must! Those who fought during EDSA Revolution were not just heroes, they were patriots. If only we can have more of them today.
So, happy 25th EDSA Anniversary Pinoys!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Invictus
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul - William Ernest Henley
When I was in first grade I had books that contained what a family looked like. It was usually made up of a dad, a mom, a son and a daughter. For years I thought that I missed out on having the perfect family because being the eldest I was supposed to be a boy. Of course years later this frustration translated to wishing I had an older brother.
But as life usually teaches us, things don't always turn out the way we want it to. But more importantly we learn that things don't always have to look a certain way to be correct. I later learned that families don't always have to have the oldest child as a boy or that a family can be a family even if there's no dad or a mom - I learned this through Sesame Street :)
So what does Invictus have to do with this? Invictus was a poem written by Henley about self-mastery. In Psychology this can be seen as self-actualization. In Marriage and Family Therapy this can be called, self-differentiation. No matter what it's called, a lot of us strive to achieve this which is why self-help books is big business.
I recently watched a film and a line really spoke to me, "We have the luxury to design our life." I feel that. I know I've been truly blessed to already actually understand what that means. I mean that's what I love about not being so young anymore is that I have the full confidence of knowing what I can or cannot do. I have had enough life experience to truly know what my strengths and weaknesses are. I have seen life testing me. I have seen myself survive challenges and learn from my mistakes. This doesn't mean that I am anywhere near being self-mastered but I think know enough to no longer be as afraid to fail or make mistakes.
Of course as a Christian, self-mastery looks different. We make a choice to no longer be masters of ourselves. We choose to let God take over our lives and lead us to how we ought to live it. But He still gave us free will and I think that part of that is being given the "luxury of designing" it.
A few years ago my mom said that Ethel and I were going to get new rooms in the house. She even told me that we get to design what our rooms would look like and so I did. I took things that I've liked from other people's rooms I've seen and integrated them into the perfect room. I think that that's how most of us live our lives anyway.
We all want to be good people and so we look around first to our parents then relatives then friends then other people and take what's good from them (and some bad) and integrate that in who we are. That's how we are molded into who we become which makes this gift very important. This means that we are the ones who decide who we become as people.
I believe that all of us are given two choices every single time. We either choose to do something or choose not to do something. We either choose to be something or choose not to be something. Even in situations where we think we don't have a choice, we can always choose to do otherwise. But as always, every choice has a consequence. I think most of us are thrown not by the choices but by the consequences, right? I pray that for this coming week you dear reader choose well. So, here's to becoming the best you!
Blessings! Gemma
When I was in first grade I had books that contained what a family looked like. It was usually made up of a dad, a mom, a son and a daughter. For years I thought that I missed out on having the perfect family because being the eldest I was supposed to be a boy. Of course years later this frustration translated to wishing I had an older brother.
But as life usually teaches us, things don't always turn out the way we want it to. But more importantly we learn that things don't always have to look a certain way to be correct. I later learned that families don't always have to have the oldest child as a boy or that a family can be a family even if there's no dad or a mom - I learned this through Sesame Street :)
So what does Invictus have to do with this? Invictus was a poem written by Henley about self-mastery. In Psychology this can be seen as self-actualization. In Marriage and Family Therapy this can be called, self-differentiation. No matter what it's called, a lot of us strive to achieve this which is why self-help books is big business.
I recently watched a film and a line really spoke to me, "We have the luxury to design our life." I feel that. I know I've been truly blessed to already actually understand what that means. I mean that's what I love about not being so young anymore is that I have the full confidence of knowing what I can or cannot do. I have had enough life experience to truly know what my strengths and weaknesses are. I have seen life testing me. I have seen myself survive challenges and learn from my mistakes. This doesn't mean that I am anywhere near being self-mastered but I think know enough to no longer be as afraid to fail or make mistakes.
Of course as a Christian, self-mastery looks different. We make a choice to no longer be masters of ourselves. We choose to let God take over our lives and lead us to how we ought to live it. But He still gave us free will and I think that part of that is being given the "luxury of designing" it.
A few years ago my mom said that Ethel and I were going to get new rooms in the house. She even told me that we get to design what our rooms would look like and so I did. I took things that I've liked from other people's rooms I've seen and integrated them into the perfect room. I think that that's how most of us live our lives anyway.
We all want to be good people and so we look around first to our parents then relatives then friends then other people and take what's good from them (and some bad) and integrate that in who we are. That's how we are molded into who we become which makes this gift very important. This means that we are the ones who decide who we become as people.
I believe that all of us are given two choices every single time. We either choose to do something or choose not to do something. We either choose to be something or choose not to be something. Even in situations where we think we don't have a choice, we can always choose to do otherwise. But as always, every choice has a consequence. I think most of us are thrown not by the choices but by the consequences, right? I pray that for this coming week you dear reader choose well. So, here's to becoming the best you!
Blessings! Gemma
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Inspired
*Disclaimer: Deep Random Thoughts are blogs on anything that affects me emotionally, mentally and spiritually. They may not be structurally well written but they're from the heart. And you were already forewarned that they're random..
It's been a while... First blog of the year and we're almost halfway through February. I apparently haven't written anything since October of last year and prior to this blog, I don't believe anyone (who has not been my professor) has read anything I've written in almost 6 years. That's a long time.
I actually started this blog July of last year. So if I've had this blog since last year, why am I only publishing it now? Well, the truth is, I have been avoiding feedback. See, six years ago, I decided to stop writing publicly. As some of you may or may not know, me and my sister used to be columnists for the Mindanao Daily Mirror. Then, one day I started thinking that I had really nothing to say that people ought to read about. It was almost like all the bravado that youth afforded me faded away bringing with it what I thought were these amazing words that I've had to share. I guess I realized that I didn't really know as much as I thought I knew and then started thinking why should people read that? Worse... what if people didn't read at all?
See, I was already writing before blogging was even a thing. Blog wasn't even a word yet. And the truth was, I didn't really think that people read what I wrote. There wasn't exactly a quick and easy way of getting instant comments back then so I just never really had feedback except for once or twice when a friend would send me a text about how they liked what I wrote. Other than that, only friends of my parents gave me compliments which I've always appreciated but always felt were unobjective basis for feedback. So writing my columns meant oddly feeling detached from my readers. "My readers," still feels odd thinking about it.
Yet, here I am, braving what once was something so easy. I guess this is what atrophied writing muscles feel like as I try to stretch them back to what they once were. The point in all of this? I just miss writing. I miss putting thoughts together and creating sentences that make sense. I still feel like I don't have anything to write about, but so what? As Colin Firth's character in "The King's Speech", King George VI said, "Because I have a voice!"
So here's my thing. This year, I will write a blog at least once a week (ugh!). I need to give myself a goal and a deadline so I'll actually do this. And, I am also posting previous blogs I've written. Some of them I've edited for public consumption. So, here's to being inspired.
Thanks Nice :)
It's been a while... First blog of the year and we're almost halfway through February. I apparently haven't written anything since October of last year and prior to this blog, I don't believe anyone (who has not been my professor) has read anything I've written in almost 6 years. That's a long time.
I actually started this blog July of last year. So if I've had this blog since last year, why am I only publishing it now? Well, the truth is, I have been avoiding feedback. See, six years ago, I decided to stop writing publicly. As some of you may or may not know, me and my sister used to be columnists for the Mindanao Daily Mirror. Then, one day I started thinking that I had really nothing to say that people ought to read about. It was almost like all the bravado that youth afforded me faded away bringing with it what I thought were these amazing words that I've had to share. I guess I realized that I didn't really know as much as I thought I knew and then started thinking why should people read that? Worse... what if people didn't read at all?
See, I was already writing before blogging was even a thing. Blog wasn't even a word yet. And the truth was, I didn't really think that people read what I wrote. There wasn't exactly a quick and easy way of getting instant comments back then so I just never really had feedback except for once or twice when a friend would send me a text about how they liked what I wrote. Other than that, only friends of my parents gave me compliments which I've always appreciated but always felt were unobjective basis for feedback. So writing my columns meant oddly feeling detached from my readers. "My readers," still feels odd thinking about it.
Yet, here I am, braving what once was something so easy. I guess this is what atrophied writing muscles feel like as I try to stretch them back to what they once were. The point in all of this? I just miss writing. I miss putting thoughts together and creating sentences that make sense. I still feel like I don't have anything to write about, but so what? As Colin Firth's character in "The King's Speech", King George VI said, "Because I have a voice!"
So here's my thing. This year, I will write a blog at least once a week (ugh!). I need to give myself a goal and a deadline so I'll actually do this. And, I am also posting previous blogs I've written. Some of them I've edited for public consumption. So, here's to being inspired.
Thanks Nice :)
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