Racial Tension

RACIAL TENSIONS are natural.

These is a natural tension

- between nations -

a gap between our truths

- ordained by the LORD -

a spiritual divide that may only be bridged

by our awakening to an understanding of ourselves.

(Salutation #105 - Trees in the Garden of God)

There is a tension,

requiring our vigilance

and wrought in justice.

Like a sign it warns

of that inertia within -

freedom needing work!

Unity through love

peace through goodwill - love in truth!

This tension reminds.

Some say yes...

Some say no...

---<---@

Baneful Racism

A friend of mine from work once asked me about racism.

It was a question borne of the need to understand what motivates the anger and frustration we sometimes encounter in the call center industry.

It was also a question asked to obtain a perspective about his own tendency to throw pun at other people's differences (as an attempt at humor).

None of those, I replied, came close to racism.

Customers reacting to a situation they perceive to be unfair or detrimental to the good of their person (their family, friends or community) is not racism nor is throwing pun at other people's differences (unless it is done with malice in the heart).

RACISM IS DIVISION embraced so thoroughly it has become instinctive.

In all its various guises, racism is a creed of universal hatred of our common humanity accepted so willingly it has become visceral.

This is racism by commission.

It is EVERYTHING the universal value of human dignity and just equality stands forever against - in any time, in any place, and in any age.

Therefore, racism too is present and inherent in the acceptance of an inferiority that likewise denies an individual and/or individual segment of our common humanity the spirit, will, and means to stand with their siblings shoulder to shoulder as equals within the one brotherhood of the nations of the children of Mankind.

This is racism by omission.

Racism is not a color. It is a lie and one sold (by the Adversary of the truth) to deny the one spirit of our humanity the strength invested in our diversity.

Therefore, as nation-builders and peacemakers, we ought to be especially watchful against its pomp and allure.

Peoples from all nations are vulnerable to its delusion.

=^.^=

Faithful Dedication

Thou belong to that generation,

I deeply respect... and always will.

That quiet presence

reassuring, familiar

and always ready...

That calm leadership

that for sixty years have led

through the darkness, bless!

May God save the Queen

and may God bless the UK -

Congratulations!

I greet you,

mabuhay!

---<--@

Youth is in the spirit. Age is in the soul.

The fruit of youth is constancy in learning.

The fruit of age is constancy in wisdom.

Old Soldier of Country

Old Soldier of Country,

standing with the armies of Peace -

through thy living remembrance

thou shalt instruct thy generations

and the nations shall be blessed with peace.

O generations,

why have thou forsaken me?

Forgotten, those days...

Have thou no mem'ry?

Am I dead to thy own hope -

where art thou, my nation?

Old glories fading,

my sacrifice for thee stands -

now, forevermore!

I am thine,

thou art mine.

---<--@

Beloved of God,

remember thee thy veterans,

observing always their faithful legacy -

and do so gently,

and do so with love.

In such a way,

dearest Starshine,

thou do honor thy shelter of Country,

for what timeless victories thy veterans gave

to each of thee yesterday,

thou have received worthily today.

O my heart -

come alive to thy remembrance!

For if you forget the past,

you deny the future,

and the present shall become

ever and ever

more distant to thee!

- selah -

Time is not distance.

Time is distant - only -

to those with distant hearts.

---<--@

Fast Facts:

In the United States, November 11 is Veteran's Day.

In Europe and the Commonwealth Countries, November 11 is Armistice Day.

In the Philippines, we commemorate National Heroes Day every last Monday of August.

- selah -

To every battle, an outcome.

War has no outcome.

It is good for the military to study battles

but know that War must be understood!

For War has no outcome that is favorable to the military.

The Defeat of War

War confers victory to no one,

not even itself!

For War has no place either in heaven - or -

here on our earth, in exile time - as well as -

at the beginning of all things new.

We are always left with two things

where the focus of the will is on War,

the degradation of the human spirit

and the defeat of the truth.

Where there is any virtue in conflict,

- that is exclusively -

the merit of good human beings.

We must always be mindful of this

and confuse not the nobility of Man

with ignoble, base and evil things.

Lest we forget, lest we forget!

=^.^=

No Plastic Bags?

No plastic bags, yes?

In our fair city, no more -

t'was a rule, ordained.

No plastic bags, yes?

This community goes green,

we're making the step.

No plastic bags, yes?

Gladly adopt the new norm,

citizens comply!

No plastic bags, yes?

The people agree, thinking...

t'was for a reason...

...and they think...

...and they think.

---<--@

Huh?

I went to Puregold Molito (in Muntinlupa City) one morning to get some groceries and went home with a paper bag full of goodies.

While I was riding on the jeep, a kuya noticed I was struggling a bit with the bag because it was packed, and attempted to sympathize with me.

He said, "kasi pinagbawal pa nila ang plastic bag, ano?" (This is all because they banned the use of plastic bags, right?)

I said, "dapat lang kasi ang mga ilog natin baradong barado na." (That's right because our rivers are so chock full of them.)

He gave me a blank stare. I smiled back.

I appreciated the sympathy but I thought to myself, "how can the spirit of the law sustain the letter of the law if the mind of the citizenry is not familiar with the reason behind it?"

I support the drive to ban these plastic bags. (I support the drive to ban sharks fin products too.)

I am willing to change my routine to accommodate this need of a positive change reinforced by the city ordinance but I am only one person in a city of many, many, more individuals...

- selah -

A city takes its decisions together and when a community takes a decision, it is always owed by the leadership to launch these ordinances carefully through effective promulgation and, if need be, a thorough information drive, so that those who individually make these decisions work (the citizenry) do so in depth - not by blindly obeying but by willingly following.

Follow the Pawprints -

Little steps matter BUT only in the context of a mature thinking about the wholesale necessity of ecological preservation and resource conservation.

A baby takes little steps not so it can take little steps but so that it can solve the problem of learning how to walk like an adult.

I applaud our local LGU's for banning the use of plastic bags but this prohibition, for it to be effective, must exist within a larger, central policy that is both nationwide in scope and responsibility and long-term in its vision and implementation.

Make Manila the pilot city with Manila Bay at the epicenter of the national resource conservation and ecological preservation drive. Designate all of Metro Manila as the model community for the entire Country and make every city in the Republic connect with Manila in this way.

Just my opinion, is all.

Before the Law

THE ETERNAL LAW is the binding force of the laws of the nations.

We live under God

for God builds - always with us -

everywhere, in us.

The LORD calls to us.
We heed the voice of our King.
The nation is built.

No one else's yoke

is as light and as sweet as

the yoke of our King!

Before us, the Law -

'tis the commandments God spake,

written in our hearts.

Before us, the Law -

ever always to remind

of Who is above.

So law does

not oppress.

---<--@

We are a Republic, my people,

- an order and a purpose -

gathers our times, talents

and treasures together.

It is an order -

inexhaustible and eternal,

beautiful beyond our imagination.

It is a purpose -

divinely ordained and infinite,

beyond our naked capacity to compehend.

We a nation ruled NOT

by randomness and chance.

There is a distinctive spirit

that calls together and binds

all our generations together

- this spirit of nationhood -

we know, in our hearts.

For God is our King

and the reign of the LORD

is neither mindless nor blind!

- selah -

We do not live under any law,

my beloved people, for we are a free nation.

We live before it, ever before it!

The law is placed

ever before the people

that we may work as individuals,

with and among each other as citizens,

moment to moment, day by day,

according to the freedom of our gifts,

and the better purposes of the LORD,

to better and more effectively

accept and conform

to each necessary social adaptations

required of us by the law,

shaping and enriching our culture,

enabling our community to innovate,

to survive, and to prosper - as one.

In this way,

law is as a mold - that -

helps to give a proper shape

to our particular society

and this requisite shape

is always a thing

guided by reason,

enlightened by faith,

and demanded by Providence -

each in its own due season,

as required by the needs

of every present time.

- selah -

Law is what deters evil
from afflicting all who are covered
by the law.

Therefore,
the surest way a community

- may place itself -

under the protection of the law

is by abiding with the law.

---<--@

The law exists for everybody or none at all.

Youngest and Brightest

A Salute to the Air Forces!

Thou art a shield, winged and indestructible.

From behind thee, all is steadfast and strong.

From before thee, the enemy is swift to flee!

Sea is connection

(limits, frontiers, reach)

and land is concentration

(mass, cohesion, momentum);

each, its own sphere.

Air is what surrounds

(agility, maneouver, distance)

and space, what fills and embraces -

(substance, information, truth)

thy sphere, envelops.

Together,

we defend!

---<--@

Go team AFP, go PAF!

Of the spheres of military involvement, there are five - land, sea, air, space, and spirit (being the region that combines all spheres into one focused unity).

The Magic Sales Meow

Go sell, push, push, push -

How? When? Where? Who? What?

Confusing at that.

Enter the magic -

the touch of the experienced;

the meow that works.

The magic

sales meow!

---<--@

Who Gotz It?

The magic sales meow,

the elusive skill of all sales cats -

The mysterious gift that grows

into that remarkable talent

to sell the service with conviction

and to seamlessly close the sales gap

by transitioning into effective solutions

that push the imminent good of a product

by enlarging upon the obvious truth

of a relevant customer need.

Who gotz the magic meow today?

Those who are skilled? nope.

Those who are learned? nope.

Those who are cute cats? nope.

Only the brave.

Only those who survive.

Only persistence pays;

the winner who never quits!

When you gotz it, you gotz it.

Or you don't gotz it. There is no maybe.

=^.^=

One Song Meow

My love forever!

Let's sing this song together -

our one song meow.

Your life touching mine,

warming my soul with your shine -

one rhythm divine!

One music - our song -

one friendship - one melody;

timeless harmony.

Our one song meow,

an ode to the memory,

reaching far - in me.

Eternal

beloved.

---<--@

No Worries!

SOME PEOPLE own up to their problems

- while -

some people allow their problems to own them.

Of the two,

the former choose to belong with their hopes,

the latter choose to belong with their problems.

I choose to belong with my hopes!

Why should I worry -

worries don't belong me,

so why carry them?

Problems are like weights

they help to strengthen my hopes

making them ready...

My worries will end!

So I cling to them lightly...

till my hopes take wing.

Problems end

so leave 'em...

---<--@

Didn't you know it's darkest before dawn?

Fast Fact: In Australia, "no worries" is an ATTITUDE.

It's called hopefulness.

Centering

I'm thinking... nothing...

here I am... thinking no thoughts...

just letting things be...

Thinking of no thoughts...

...feel them washing over me...

breaking like the wave...

...going far

to see near.

---<--@

Love in Season

Thus,

I can not have

any more or any less love for you

than what I already have.

It seems that I have loved you

from always to always.

When love's in season

everything finds a reason

to come together.

When love's in season

hope is always in fashion;

patience bears its fruit.

So to love,

so to love!

---<--@

YOU ARE completely in love - when -

you can stand apart from your beloved and still say,

"I am complete", completely in love.

One who is in love is always in love.

So that -

one falls out of love

only to learn one never left,

always in love.

And this -

in greater and greater cycles

of depth and intensity.

'Tis only when the learning leaves

and the eagerness is allowed to wane

- when fear is made master of the heart -

and the child in ourselves is lost

that the lover is defeated

not when love departs.

Because love is for always!

Of such is a Christian heart,

never out of love,

always in love.

I am always in love, aren't you?

Outcasted

Pain is the soul of poetry.

I am outcasted!

A broken vessel, wretched -

a dream, discarded.

Wounded, avoided,

and everywhere rejected -

I am a leper!

No one knows

who I am.

---<--@