Invictus

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Timothy 4:7

How many of us can die now and say those words? How many of us have lived our lives to its full potential? Will we able to live behind a great legacy? Can people say that we have taught them that “to live is to die”?

We all can say that we have lived out lives selfishly and cunningly for ourselves.  I have lived a selfish life; I have lived for my own.

Not just the South Africans mourned over the passing of their great leader, but the world does. We have mourned for the passing of a leader, who lived his life to die for his people. We learned from him of what forgiveness can do to a long separated country. The whole world mourned for the passing of Nelson Mandela.

What did we really learned from his life?

In all accounts of Nelson Mandela, the movie Invictus, gave us a very summary of what he is as a leader. He has a calling, he knew he needs to lead his people to reconciliation, to forgiveness; to bury what was the past and start a new future.

How did he start?

It all started when all he had were the 4 walls of the prison cell, when everything seems hopeless he remained hopeful. When everything seems useless, he make use of his time to study his “enemy” , he learned that the only enemy he has is himself.

 

 

Even the Springbok’s Captain can’t fathom how Mandela was able to forgive the “people” who put him into prison. But the reconciliation and forgiveness didn’t come easy. They have a Jonah Lomu they still have to face, but they were ready, they all are ready for it. They have all been inspired and are willing to give it all.

 

 

Let the life of Nelson Mandela be a lesson for us, for our dear Philippines. Let be Mandela’s consistency be our inspiration to aspire great for our country, and let’s keep on hoping for our country. Redemption for Philippines will come, it may not be in our lifetime, but let our lives speak, be an example.

 

It matters not how strait the gate

How charged with punishment the scroll

I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

-Invictus, William Ernest Henley

Philippines’ “Norbury”

“Watson,” said he, “if it should ever strike you that I am getting a little over-confident in my powers, or giving less pains to a case than it deserves, kindly whisper ‘Norbury’ in my ear, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you.”

– Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

In so many times I tend to be as confident as any balloon the world could ever contain. We could be as arrogantly proud sometimes, and mind you, IT WILL NOT TAKE YOU ANYWHERE. It will not take me anywhere.

I’ve tried writing something about this topic but the 7.2 Magnitude came, then the devastating Yolanda. My heart is grieving with the news, and netizens bashing out  the Philippine Government, with the very slow relief operations (Rappler News). I pity my beloved country, I pity my fellow countrymen, I pity my government. The people are upset with the government, nothing really is going on, my people is still out there hungry and getting desperate, and no government’s aid came. Our government should have been the beacon of hope of my countrymen, all hope seems to crumble when help are not given. Our government remained apathetic. It’s an epitome of what we are as a country, as Filipinos, as a people.

Let these calamities be our reminder. Let these be my reminder, I have yet a hill to climb for my country.

To all of my countrymen who suffered from the typhoon; who lost their loved ones and their homes, my heart and my prayers are with you.I grieve with all of you. There is still hope! We can rise again! Bangon Pilipinas!!

Tayo ay babangon muli! Bangon Pilipinas!!
(Disclaimer: All credits to the rightful owner)

Desperation

My desperation leads me to realize that failing is a battle one needs to overcome, and to prepare us for greatness.

All of us must have failed at least once, or twice. We failed in our relationships, in academics, in our dreams, marriage perhaps, or we have failed our parents, expectations from our peers; and it leads us to desperation. Desperation to move out from the phase that is not comfortable, shameful, depressing, and all the negative feelings the world has. No one is an exemption to it. I am not exempted to it.

I’ve failed countless times. I failed in my academics most often, I’ve lost so many tournaments, I failed my mom’s expectations of me, and I’ve failed my mentor’s expectations. As I journeyed and bounced back from all these failures, I always end up bringing loot full of lessons and realizations.

*     *    *     *     *

Whenever you have someone whom you looked up to, you always wanted to be like them, or follow their footsteps.

Recently, I took a license exam for Sanitary Design. I’ve always wished to become an Architect-slash-Sanitary Designer because one of the teachers I looked up to during college is one. I took my chances. I studied diligently, I poured my time and heart into it. Everyone was hopeful, I was hopeful. Few days after the exam, the results came out. Almost everyone of my friends passed, a few failed. I’m one of the few who failed.

It broke my heart.

“We all at certain times in our lives find ourselves broken. True Strength is found in picking up the pieces.”

In these brokenness, the people around me encourages me to remember Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver and to “Keep Moving Forward”, to never feel down and let my head held high and march on.

 

Great men and inventions are not made overnight, nor made in a single try. I am still starting the marathon, if I never march on, I will never pass the finish line.

We are all beginners in the course named life, there will be a lot of hurdles to make, a lot of bullies to overcome, and a lot more lessons to learn. Let’s march on, let us not be quitters.

March on.

Disenthralling You and Me

When you never resolve the things of the past, it will come back and haunt you either of your present, or of your future.

“We’re all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we chose to act on, that’s we really are.” – Sirius Black

Recently, I have been thinking of really giving it up and to stay firm with my resolution of not going back to the old ways, to the old vices, and to the old me. But what is harder is to forget and erase that impression and perception of the people who knew what you were in the past. If only I did not go and explored. If only. This will go through a looooooong process, and I am afraid yet, willing to go through the honing. This too shall pass!

 The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.   -Abraham Lincoln   

Po, of Kung Fun Panda 2, very much reminds us to let it go, and let it pass. Not that we have to and needs to bury what we have been, but learn from it and let go; to bounce back and get back on track.  The past never shapes us of what we are to become IF you don’t permit to.

A Hypocrite’s Practice.

BEWARE: Corruption Ahead.

We become hypocrite to a  special certain extent but I’ve become too discouraged when I heard a favorite teacher’s hypocrisy from somebody who ‘truly knows’ the hypocritical practices of Architecture in this country. Quite discouraging for an intern,aspiring architect; who is one step closer to being one. I mean, corruption is never an alien in this country, but I never thought of Architecture and Construction to being too dirty and full of hypocrites.

Corruption in Architecture and Construction
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I’ve heard and seen enough. It’s incomprehensible.

Anyone, please enlighten me. At least, a little hint of hope.

Listen to a Father’s Tale.

Old people has always something to tell, it’s not that they are boasting of how resilient they were but “those were the good (sad, horrific) old days”. it is common for them to tell the younger generation to “learn” from their mistakes and experiences. it’s quite enriching to learn from people of their past. I mean it’s like reading a book, meeting different kind and type of characters that, to every end of the story everything and everyone is molded into certain plot and eventually everything makes sense.

I hope ours also does makes sense. Anyways.

I have another story to tell and brought with me a lesson for us to learn.

You already have encountered my boss (from my previous rants) and he has many stories to tell. His experience in life is not most of our youths today, he was the breadwinner and works for school tuition fees. He’s quite focused and dedicated. Life then was difficult, very difficult. So what is extra ordinary of his life? Simple. He never made the monetary hindrances his dream and goals. He wants to finish Architecture when he was young, what he did was wakes up in the morning earlier than most of his peers, and go for the newspaper office and go he went to deliver these newspapers. He worked from dawn till evening. After his newspaper deliveries off he went again to send his siblings to school, worked as a shine boy part-time and many others. He really is a resilient man.

When he got his bachelor degree in Architecture, off he went to Singapore to earn a living and support his siblings who then was still in Med School. Worked as a designer then looked for greener pastures in Saudi,I’m not quite sure whether he really worked in Saudi but he did mentioned an interview. Despite of his work experience he still pursue Masters Degree in Holland and eventually went back to start an office.

Everything didn’t go that smooth as other professions would be like, like any business the difficult stage is starting to operate an office and finding projects. My boss always told us time and time again, Architecture is difficult and getting projects are more difficult more than anything in the world. There will be turn down from clients, yet he said nothing bitter sweet starts with success. He planted the thought that it will be rough but head on,to hope for betterment in every hurdle so push harder,that their is nothing wrong with being idealistic towards the profession but forever remind ourselves that always get grounded with life’s realities.

I have nothing to ask for, my boss already has given us a sneak peek and I’m glad. There is nothing wrong in listening to the tales of our forefathers, just bare in mind that it is always ‘garbage in,garbage out’. Not everything is worth listening to, so filter what comes inside our minds.

I Learned My Lessons

Injuries. We all get injuries, we may be an athlete on training or not. To be a better athlete, we go through pain (like injuries) for us to get better.

“The Motto of Champions: … If injured, you can rebound and return bigger and better…and continue to inspire!”  – T.F. Hodge

I was once an athlete, was part of a varsity team. In my sport, injuries is a norm and giving up on the pain is a sign of weakness. I’ve been trained not to show any weakness or else it might be an advantage for my opponent. Of the way of this world, giving up means failure. Well for me, I gained something.

I’ve been fighting for an injury I got 3 years ago. I thought it was fine and “healed” by time until I got my knee snapped 2 weeks ago. This injury is a reminder of my disobedience and stubborness. Disobedience because my mom’s been telling me to stop the sport I truly loves and begin to focus on what is certain and stubborness because I persuade my mom and never seek wholeheartedly the counsel of the doctors. This knee pains and few monetary and time I spent are the results of my wrong choices I made in the past.

“Study the past if you would define the future.”
― Confucius

It takes a whole lot of humility to accept what this knee have become and admit that I’ve made a mistake and these are the consequences. To tell you the truth, I can’t accept and admit it yet. While writing this blog post I’ve got thousands of reasons and people to blame with. Very Stubborn indeed!

Anyways.

Lessons Learned?

1. Humility is a BIG word. And given by Up Above through and by grace.
2. Don’t just forget the past, learn from it! It is wise to learn and never go through it once more.
3. Band-aid solutions ain’t gonna cover the cracks forever.
4. Excuses will never cure the injury.
5. Asking help from family and relatives won’t hurt at all (especially given with a negative answer).
6. No pain, No gain.

Series of Exemplary Actions: Ordinary No More

What does it cost to be different? If you are to ask me, I don’t know really because I’m trying to be a circle in a triangle.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

I ride a public utility jeepney everyday and it comes in routine, most of us somehow knows what does a routine works..pretty boooooring! Anyways, I spotted an exemplary action worth writing to. A nature, A BLOGGER ALERT! I have to write about this not-so-ordinary driver.

Here it goes.

Most of jeepney drivers are rude, majority. They never thought of their passenger’s safety, all that matters to them is there profit.

an example of Jeepney services here in the Philippines.

With the traffic and the scorching summer heat, nobody seems to bother except this exceptional driver. I usually walk on my way home, but that day I chose to ride the jeepney, gladly the passenger’s seat adjacent to the driver’s is empty so I took chance. I’m surprised that an ordinary jeepney offers candies to their passengers. That driver should have saved his time and money in more useful things but no, he offered it to anyone who wants one. He somehow knows marketing, in his own little ways. If only I took note of his plate number I’d only ride his jeepney and maybe I’d recommend that jeepney to any of my friends who will take the same route.

I’m humbled by that jeepney driver. He knows how to take care of his passengers and never complain of the extra expenses. If only our government officials and the rest of the community will be like him, sympathy and love for work, and if I’m like that jeepney driver, no doubt the Philippines will again be a tiger nation.

P.S. :  I took a candy and thanked the driver for the sweet treat. hihi 🙂

Series of Exemplary Actions: Honed by the Potter.

I didn’t get to write and update for quite sometime, the start of my year was already a roller coaster. I mean, it’s still in the first quarter and many things already happened. I had been slacking, stressing and recovering at the same time. For countless of times, I urged my self to write but nothing comes up. Been juicing my brains and heart out but no juice is pouring out.

Lately, I’ve witnessed several homo sapiens who have done quite out of the packaging box. And my brain is perfectly kept on prompting me to write about it, and here I am now. Writing.

 

For the past months I have this leave-not work urgency. Work have been stressing me so much that quitting is my next option. My love (architecture) became a work, a burden. And here goes my boss, after our one-on-one talk, he made me realized that we’ve been both a difficult person to each other. I hated him so much, at that time being. He’s so frank and quite right about me. He’s words pierced me, stabbed me up front. Despite everything , he gave me a chance to prove to myself and himself that I am worth the expectations from my peers, from my teachers during college and from his expectations. He didn’t gave up on me, like a father does in his lost child. To make a long story short, everything went well after it. My performance in the office in my opinion improved and got to prove to my self that I can, and will be able to survive the profession.

Little things like that never happen too often, l am thankful that earlier in my path to being a practicing architect, I’ve been honed and shaped to betterment. Thank you so much sir!

I’m crafted into perfection by the Potter’s Hand.

The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running. Where it is lacking there are no real students, but only poor caricatures of apprentices who, at the end of their apprenticeship, will not even have a trade. – Simone Weil

 

A Little Setback Won’t Hurt.

Uplifting Quote to ponder

The quote pretty much talks to itself, a very powerful quote! A mentor once texted me this quote to motivate me, in one of my very tragic times. He himself gets motivated by this quote. We don’t like any disturbing gaps in our lives, we pretty messed up on these things. Yet, whatever we do we can never remove ourselves to the life’s norms. These things, keeps us on fire and on-track. Motivates us, and pushes us to do well and gets us back to the dance floor.

A new year comes, and we are given another shot to make it count. Whatever we are going through right now, keep your heads up and be reminded that it isn’t always a storm, there’s always rainbow after any rain. Setbacks? don’t fear.. it will launch you into something great!  Happy New Year!