Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Rizal's Masterpiece NOLI ME TANGERE (Latin "Touch me not.") - a Review

In commemoration of our national hero's 120th Death Anniversary, December 30, 2016
Noli turned out to produce a far reaching consequence. It stirred up the Filipino's sense of national identity which consequently led to the Philippine Revolution which culminated in independence from Spain on June 12, 1898.

Dr Abe V Rotor
Professor, Rizal Course, UST, SPU-QC
Living with Nature - School on Blog (avrotor.blogspot.com)
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, [www.pbs.gov.ph] 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday


Students both in high school and college who are taking up the subject about Dr. Jose Rizal, national hero of the Philippines may find this outline as a handy reference. This may serve as a review material for those taking the forthcoming final examination on the subject which is divided into four series.

  • Review in brief
  • Synopsis of Noli Me Tangere
  • Characters in Noli
  • Living up with Rizal.
1. Rizal got the idea of writing a novel after reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel on the abuse of black slaves in America.

2. Similarly Noli was planned to expose the abuses committed by Spanish friars and authorities on the natives, the Indios, of the Philippines.

3. He proposed the idea to his Filipino friends in Madrid in 1884 that they collaborate in writing a novel on the Philippines, but it was to no avail.

4. Ultimately Rizal decided to write the entire book himself. He was 26.

5. Rizal began writing Noli in Madrid, continued on in Paris, and finished it in Berlin.

6. The book was finished in December 1886, but Rizal was penniless and despaired of ever publishing it.

7. The novel might never have seen print if it were not for Maximo Viola. Viola lent Rizal P300 for 2,000 copies. The book came off the press on 29 March 1887, ahead of schedule.

8. Noli me tangere means in Latin "Touch me not." (John 20:13-17). The newly-risen Christ says to Mary Magdalene: "Touch me not; I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God."

9. French writer D. Blumenstihl noted that "Noli me tangere" is a medical term used by ophthalmologists for cancer of the eyelids. This presented the idea of the book's theme - "social cancer."

10. This is an excerpt from the book's dedication (The Social Cancer). "Recorded in the history of human sufferings is a cancer of so malignant a character that the least touch irritates it and awakens in it the sharpest pains. Thus, how many times, when in the midst of modern civilizations I have wished to call thee before me, now to accompany me in memories, now to compare thee with other countries, hath thy dear image presented itself showing a social cancer like to that other!"

11. The book advocated for direct representation to the Spanish government and larger role of the Philippines inside the Spaniard political affairs.

12. But Noli turned out to produce a far reaching consequence. It stirred up the Filipino's sense of national identity which consequently led to the Philippine Revolution which culminated in independence from Spain on June 12, 1898.

13. The novel was written in Spanish, the language of the educated at a time when Filipinos were segregated by diverse native languages and regional cultures.

14. The Noli has since been adapted in many art forms. A 180-minute film of the same name was produced in 1961. Two movies followed: Rizal in Dapitan (Albert Martinez), and the multi-awarded Jose Rizal, played by Cesar Montano.

 Sisa and her children Basilio and Crispin,
UP Theatre

15. Noli the Musical spearheaded by Ryan Cayabyab et al became a hit on the stage, screen, and TV (series). There are various adaptations of Noli - a comic book and several simplified versions for students and children.

16. Noli was recently published internationally by Penguin Australia and US. It has been translated in major languages that the mere mention of Noli rings a familiar tune to millions of people around the world. Textbooks designed for students were made by various publishers, and the text itself is oftentimes condensed or shortened to facilitate learning among students.

17. Noli me Tangere and its sequel, El Filibusterismo, are studied by Third Year and Fourth Year secondary school students in the Philippines as part of the curriculum. Rizal's Life and Works is required as a 3-unit subject in various courses in tertiary education.

18. In Rizal's time Noli and Fili were banned because of their portrayal of corruption and abuse by the country's Spanish government and clergy. The church and many consevative people did not favor the the reading of Noli and Fili, until a law was passed making the teaching of Rizal compulsory.

19. Copies of the two books were smuggled in nevertheless, and when Rizal returned to the Philippines after completing medical studies, he was arrested and exiled to Dapitan.

20. A character which has become a classic in the Philippines is "Maria Clara" who has become a personification of the ideal Filipino woman, loving and unwavering in her loyalty to her spouse.

21. Another classic character is the priest "Father Dámaso" which reflects, other than their blatant abuse of power, the covert fathering of illegitimate children by members of the Spanish clergy.

22.The novel created so much controversy. Rizal wrote, "My book made a lot of noise;  everywhere, I am asked about it. They wanted to anathematize me ['to excommunicate me'] because of it ... I am considered a German spy, an agent of Bismarck, they say I am a Protestant, a free mason, a sorcerer, a damned soul and evil. It is whispered that I want to draw plans, that I have a foreign passport and that I wander through the streets by night ..."
Rizal is executed by a firing squad at Bagumbayan, now Luneta Park, a re-enactment.

23. The Church exerted pressure on the State over Rizal's fate. Rizal was convicted for "inciting rebellion" based largely on his writings. Rizal was executed in Manila on December 30, 1896 at the age of thirty-five.

24. Rizal depiction of nationality by emphasizing the qualities of Filipinos: devotion of a Filipina and her influence to a man's life, the deep sense of gratitude, and the solid common sense of the Filipinos under the Spanish regime.

25. The book was instrumental in creating a unified Filipino national identity and consciousness, as many Filipinos previously identified with their respective regions to the advantage of the Spanish authorities. It lampooned, caricatured and exposed various elements in the colonial society.~ Rizal death anniversary Dec 30 2016

Synopsis of NOLI ME TANGERE-  By Dr Jose Rizal 

In more than a century since its appearance, José Rizal's Noli Me Tangere has become widely known as the great novel of the Philippines. A passionate love story set against the ugly political backdrop of repression, torture, and murder, "The Noli," as it is called in the Philippines, was the first major artistic manifestation of Asian resistance to European colonialism, and Rizal became a guiding conscience—and martyr—for the revolution that would subsequently rise up in the Spanish province. - Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal, Harold Augenbraum (Translator) Penguin Books


Dr Abe V Rotor
Former Professor, Rizal Course, UST, SPU-QC
Living with Nature - School on Blog (avrotor.blogspot.com)
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, [www.pbs.gov.ph] 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday


Having completed his studies in Europe, young Juan Crisostomo Ibarra comes back to the Philippines after a 7-year absence. In his honor, Captain Tiago throws a get-together party, which is attended by friars and other prominent figures. In an unfortunate incident, former curate Father Dámaso belittles and slanders Ibarra. But Ibarra brushes off the insult and takes no offense; he instead politely excuses himself and leaves the party because of an allegedly important task.

The day after the humbling party, Ibarra goes to see María Clara, his love interest, a beautiful daughter of Captain Tiago and an affluent resident of Binondo, Manila. Their long-standing love is clearly manifested in this meeting, and María Clara cannot help but reread the letters her sweetheart had written her before he went to Europe. Before Ibarra left for San Diego, Lieutenant Guevara, a guardia civil, reveals to him the incidents preceding the death of his father, Don Rafael Ibarra, a rich hacendero of the town.
Noli me tangere (Touch me not), biblical source of Rizal's  novel, one of the world's greatest novels is ranked with War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Le Miserables by Victor Hugo, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas,  Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, among others. Noli me tangere, meaning "don't touch me" or "don't tread on me", is the Latin version of words spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognized him after his resurrection.
According to the Lieutenant, Don Rafael was unjustly accused of being a heretic, in addition to being a filibuster—an allegation brought forth by Father Dámaso because of Don Rafael's non-participation in the Sacraments, such as Confession and Mass. Father Dámaso's animosity against Ibarra's father is aggravated by another incident when Don Rafael helped out on a fight between a tax collector and a student fighting, and the former's death was blamed on him, although it was not deliberate. Suddenly, all of those who thought ill of him surfaced with additional complaints. He was imprisoned, and just when the matter was almost settled, he got sick and died in jail. Still not content with what he had done, Father Dámaso arranged for Don Rafael's corpse to be dug up and transferred from the Catholic cemetery to the Chinese cemetery, because he thought it inappropriate to allow a heretic such as Don Rafael a Catholic burial ground. Unfortunately, it was raining and because of the bothersome weight of the cadaver, the men in charge of the burial decided to throw the corpse into the lake.

Revenge was not in Ibarra's plans; instead he carries through his father's plan of putting up a school, since he believes that education would pave the way to his country's progress (all over the novel the author refers to both Spain and the Philippines as two different countries which form part of a same nation or family, being Spain the mother and the Philippines the daughter). During the inauguration of the school, Ibarra would have been killed in a sabotage had Elías—a mysterious man who had warned Ibarra earlier of a plot to assassinate him—not saved him. Instead the hired killer met an unfortunate incident and died. The sequence of events proved to be too traumatic for María Clara who got seriously ill but was luckily cured by the medicine Ibarra sent her
After the inauguration, Ibarra hosts a luncheon during which Father Dámaso, uninvited and gate-crashing the luncheon, again insults him. Ibarra ignores the priest's insolence, but when the latter slanders the memory of his dead father, he is no longer able to restrain himself and lunges at Father Dámaso, prepared to stab the latter for his impudence. As a consequence, Dámaso excommunicates Ibarra. Father Dámaso takes this opportunity to persuade the already-hesitant father of María Clara to forbid his daughter from marrying Ibarra. The friar wishes María Clara to marry a Peninsular named Linares who just arrived from Spain.

With the help of the Captain-General, Ibarra's excommunication is nullified and the Archbishop decides to accept him as a member of the Church once again. But, as fate would have it, some incident of which Ibarra had known nothing about is blamed on him, and he is wrongly arrested and imprisoned. But the accusation against him is overruled because during the litigation that followed, nobody could testify that he was indeed involved. Unfortunately, his letter to María Clara somehow gets into the hands of the jury and is manipulated such that it then becomes evidence against him.

Meanwhile, in Captain Tiago's residence, a party is being held to announce the upcoming wedding of María Clara and Linares. Ibarra, with the help of Elías, takes this opportunity and escapes from prison. But before leaving, Ibarra talks to María Clara and accuses her of betraying him, thinking that she gave the letter he wrote her to the jury. María Clara explains to Ibarra that she will never conspire against him but that she was forced to surrender Ibarra's letter to her in exchange for the letters written by her mother even before she, María Clara, was born. The letters were from her mother, Pía Alba, to Father Dámaso alluding to their unborn child; and that she, María Clara, is therefore not the daughter of Captain Tiago, but of Father Dámaso.

Afterwards, Ibarra and Elías board a boat and flee the place. Elías instructs Ibarra to lie down and the former covers the latter with grass to conceal the latter's presence. As luck would have it, they are spotted by their enemies. Elías thinks he could outsmart them and jumps into the water. The guards rain shots on the person in the water, all the while not knowing that they are aiming at the wrong man.

María Clara, thinking that Ibarra has been killed in the shooting incident, is greatly overcome with grief. Robbed of hope and severely disillusioned, she asks Father Dámaso to confine her into a nunnery. Father Dámaso reluctantly agrees when María Clara threatens to take her own life. demanding, "the nunnery or death!" taken the shots. It is Christmas Eve when Ibarra wakes up in the forest, gravely wounded and barely alive. It is in this forest that Ibarra finds Basilio and his lifeless mother, Sisa.
-----------------------------
References: Light from the Old Arch, AVRotor; and Wikipedia

   

Musical versions of Noli on stage and screen.



Kaleidoscope in Nature

Painting and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

Kaleidoscope in Nature in acrylic (20" x 24") AVR 2015

A world of colors in splendor and grandeur ,
in magnificence and glory;
the mountains in summer, the trees in autumn;
the sky at sunset over the sea.

Undulating hills, meandering rivers,
flowing down through the mist;
the valley wakes up to the magic of sunrise,
   in living colors that never cease.

Coral reefs, counterpart of gardens on land,
 untouched this submarine park
in luxurious colors and hues in the day,
hauntingly glow in the dark.  

The rainbow grows in the sky with dreams,
romance in the air in colors divine
for a lovely pair bound by love and care,
with nature's beauty they enshrine. ~



Monday, December 26, 2016

Quo vadis, Journalism? (Where is Journalism headed for?)

Editorial: Greater Lagro Gazette

Quo vadis, Journalism? 
(Where is Journalism headed for?) 

From the earliest Roman newsletter in 5th century BC to today's Social Media, journalism has indeed vastly expanded and radically evolved. 

In the Philippines the first newsletter was Tomas Pinpin's Successos Felices 1636, and the first regularly published newspaper was Del Superior Govierno (1811). Print journalism dominated media for centuries until radio and TV brought news and entertainment to the living room. Today computers and smartphones dominate media virtually at fingertip and mobile at that, involving a very wide profile of users interconnected locally and around the world. 

Millennials are often identified with their fondness of using cellphone or smartphone at any time, what with the many features of this palm-size gadget. They are wired all the time, says a sociologist. The cell phone connects practically all - libraries, shopping centers, universities, cities, public offices, homes,  irrespective of distance and time. And it is multiple linked with institutions and systems: e-mail, e-commerce, e-learning, etc. 

Social media catch the earliest news, send quick messages, and react openly, critique without reservation, in fact social media to the general public is open journalism.    

So what is journalism today? People asked.     

"There are set rules and standards of journalism embodied in the Code of Journalism which will remain unchanged," says Editor Feliciano U Galimba Jr, of the award winning community newspaper - The Greater Lagro Gazette.

Applying strictly these rules and standards, and mobilizing a staff of local talents, Editor Fil as he fondly called, succeeded in making this quarterly barangay publication a model in community journalism, albiet citations from leaders and readers. 

The Code of Ethics in Journalism is universal, summarized in four tenets.  These comprise the four pillars of journalism, and it is in defense of this sacred temple that journalists have lost their lives, many of them as martyrs. 

Seek Truth and Report It. Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

Minimize Harm - Ethical journalism treats sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public as human beings deserving of respect. Balance the public’s need for information against potential harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance or undue intrusiveness.


Act Independently - The highest and primary obligation of ethical journalism is to serve the public. Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

Be Accountable and Transparent - Ethical journalism means taking responsibility for one’s work and explaining one’s decisions to the public.
Role models in journalism, like in other professions, provide not only direction but inspiration in work and life as well. The late Teodoro "Doroy" Valencia is undoubtedly the father of journalism in the Philippines. His column Over a Cup of Coffee shaped the thinking of his readers and influenced the decisions of leaders in his time, and even to the present, which makes Ka Doroy is an institution. 

His philosophy in ingrained in his teaching to one who aspires to become a journalists. He must 
  • Be inquisitive
  • Be constant in his purpose
  • Be fair and balanced
  • Be genuinely interested in people
  • Seek the truth
  • Be resourceful
  • Have guts
  • Master his grammar
  • Know his medium
  • Read, read and read.
 Above all, he must be God-fearing, compassionate, and true to his country and fellowmen. And uphold journalism as a profession and institution. 

Another journalist of international fame is Joseph Pulitzer (photo) who initiated the pattern of modern newspaper. For him, newspaper is the ‘vehicle of truth’, and he used it to raise his concern against corruption, fraud, monopolies, gambling rings and ill practices by elected officials.

Joseph believed in the power of press and the intelligentsia involved in journalistic activities to bring a positive change to the world. 


The Pulitzer Award attests to his love and devotion to journalism. The award is equal to the Nobel Prize in the field of journalism. Our Carlos P Romulo received such award for his writing "I saw the Philippines fall. I saw the Philippine rise."  to date, the only Filipino who bestowed with this distinction. 
Our own Filipino propagandists for Philippine independence from Spain are no less models to the aspiring journalists. Jose Rizal wrote Noli and Fili; Graciano López Jaena, published La Solidaridad with Marcelo H. del Pilar as editor and co-publisher, and Antonio Luna as prolific writer. 

Taking a glimpse back in history, searching for role models in the present, while projecting the future of journalism is a most challenging situation for a any critic of what is journalism today. It is a complex crossroad indeed. 

For how can we connect the ramifications of media in the same manner like nerves of a ganglion?
  • Newspaper journalism
  • Campus journalism 
  • Magazine journalism
  • Citizen journalism (also known as "public", "participatory", "democratic", "guerrilla" or "street" journalism
  • Community journalism or civic journalism, 
  • Social Journalism is a separate concept denoting a digital publication. 
  • Online and digital journalism   
The challenge is addressed to us openly.  We are victims of an explosion of knowledge which has consequences of its own - information pollution. It has its undertone to values and to journalism.  It is up for us to devise a system through the same technology, of separating the grain from the chaff, so to speak.

It starts with community journalism, as basic unit, under the tutelage of true and dedicated journalists like Editor Fil Galimba et al. It must focus on the young, the users and followers of social media. Social media is a bridge to journalism, in fact it is the journalism in our postmodern age - if properly directed and applied. ~
----------------------------------------------- 
20 Deadliest Countries for Journalists
1.    Iraq: 178
2.    Syria: 107
3.    Philippines: 77
4.    Somalia: 62
5.    Algeria: 60
6.    Pakistan: 59
7.    Russia: 56
8.    Colombia: 47
9.    India: 40
10. Brazil: 39
11. Mexico: 37
12. Afghanistan: 31
13. Turkey: 25
14. Bangladesh: 20
15. Sri Lanka: 19
16. Bosnia: 19
17. Rwanda: 17
18. Tajikistan: 17
19. Sierra Leone: 16
20. Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory: 16
Two thirds of the journalists killed in 2014 were in war zones, but this year was the exact opposite, with "two-thirds killed in countries 'at peace'", said RSF.
--------------------------------------------------
New media technology, such as social networking and media-sharing websites, in addition to the increasing prevalence of cellular telephones, have made citizen journalism more accessible to people worldwide. Due to the availability of technology, citizens often can report breaking news more quickly than traditional media reporters. Notable examples of citizen journalism reporting from major world events are, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 2013 protests in Turkey, - Courtney C. Radsch
Fareed Zakaria

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Development Communication - Test on Socio-Cultural Issues (True or False, 25 items)

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog



True or False
____ 1. We are living in Postmodernism era, that is, "we are living ahead of our time in a free fall." T
____ 2. Homogenization refers to inter-racial and inter-cultural marriages, to the nth degree, thus creating various combination ultimately leading to a homogeneous people, thus Homo sapiens. T
____ 3. We Filipinos have earned all tops awards - from sports to science. In fact we have won the Nobel Prize for peace, and another, community service. F
____ 4. The term modern consciously attempts to distinguish itself from what we call traditional such classical music and traditional farming, .T
____5. The European Union has recently voted Russia's membership, primarily because of its oil deposits. F
____6. ASEAN and APEC, if combined in their present structures and functions, make an EU in Asia. F
____7. Today the Avian or bird flu virus has hybridized with the human flu virus forming a virulent form. It has also been found to infect pigs. T
____8. A Chinese scientist predicted that anthrax is going to be the next pandemic human disease. F
____9. In the early 1920s, some 100 million people died of Spanish flu in just 24 weeks – more than the total death due to AIDS in 24 years. T
___10. We are prisoners of our genes, and therefore must accept our fate. F
___11. The church does not have a common stand on liposuction even if it is unnatural and harmful – indeed a violation of ethico-morals. F
___12. Urbanization and industrialization go hand in hand like a couple. T
___13. Biopirating (stealing biological resources) is a form of eco-sabotage. T
___14. The true reason the US and UK attacked Iraq is because Iraq allegedly possessed weapons of mass destruction. T
___15. The so-called Cold War which lasted for 45 years was characterized by polarization of countries into democracy and socialism. T


___16. We must be more concerned with endangered species, rather than endangered ecosystems, since loss of species is definitely irreversible. F
___17. Suicide is precipitated by depression. No one would simply want to end up a good life. T
___18. The rate of suicide is higher in less progressive countries because of poverty. F
___19. Acculturation is all right, as long as the ethnic communities are integrated into the main stream of society. F
___20. Agriculture and ecology are in conflict when it comes to the preservation of the natural environment. T
___21. The richest nation and institution ever on earth is the Vatican, seat of the Roman Catholic church. T
___23. Test tube baby, surrogate motherhood, artificial insemination, GMOs – they go altogether in a package - the most recent in the business world. T
___24. Man and woman have the same intelligence level , as well as physiology – biologically speaking, that is. T
___25. It is all about design. In today’s world, designs tend to be more aesthetic than functional. T

NOTE: Provide the explanation of each of the question with False answer. 

Score Rating: 24-25 Outstanding; 20-23 Very Good; 15-19 Good; 10-14 Average; Below 10, Fail

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Release your thoughts and feelings through writing


Writing hones the senses into deeper thinking and analysis, catalyzes understanding and comprehension, and keeps memory longer.

Dr Abe V Rotor
Writing on the ground with stick – it’s blackboard of sort, 
and more.  Puerto Sunken Pier, San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur
Without map and you are in the field, the best thing you can do is get a stick and draw on the ground.

That’s how village folks plan out irrigation schedules, show the location of a remote sitio (purok), design a makeshift hut – or simply to while away time in thoughts and ideas.

Christ did write on the ground, and on one occasion made two curves facing each other to look like fish - one end its tail, the other its head. It is the simplest yet most symbolic drawing I’ve ever seen. Before he uttered these famous words, “He who has no sin, casts the first stone,” He wrote something on the ground which we can only assume to be a mark of supreme meditation.

Writing hones the senses into deeper thinking and analysis, catalyzes understanding and comprehension, and keeps memory longer. Scientists say that we learn but a measly one-fourth of the lesson by just listening to it alone, but with the use of pen and paper, learning can be enhanced twice, if not thrice.

“Put it in writing,” goes a saying. Yes, even only on the ground as our old folks have always done.

By the way, who has not experienced “writing love letters on the sand?” Listen to balladeer, Pat Boone, sing the song of the same title, and you know what I mean.

Or write your problems where the sea rises and ebbs, and watch how the waves erase them away. This is therapeutic, try it. ~

On Writing

To my favorite writers
By Abe V Rotor


1. To Jose Rizal:

Your enemies tried to silence you,
and curtailed your freedom;
the lamp flickers its last rays at dawn
to seal your martyrdom.

2. To Aesop:
Ah! Animals talk louder than men
though in screech, crow and bleat;
yet by moral and sanity, speak
not the language on the street.

3. To Ernest Hemingway:
You seemed as brave as the old man
in your great masterpiece;
the soldier, the hunter, the dreamer -
yet wanting a life of peace.

4. To Charles Darwin:
You did not give up to your critics,
who only prayed and preached;
Around the world you witnessed,
Change by random and fit.

5. To Lola Basyang (Severino Reyes)
You touched a million-and-one lives,
around campfires in their prime;
like Grimm and Anderson and Homer,
storytellers of all time. ~


6. To Boris Pasternak
Zhivago, to the end walked away alone,
from  love neither in winter nor fallow;
what romance away from the war zone,  
wrapped in doubt to sorrow's end.

7. To Mark Twain   
I am a boy forever, Tom or Huck,
down the Mississippi loafing;
and let the world go on sans care
what grownups are missing.  

8. To Robert Louis Stevenson 
"Kidnapped" made a boy into a man
too soon to faced a cruel world;
learning quickly the art of war 
deceit and conceit,  gun and sword.

9. To Oscar Wilde
You're a creator of characters and events,
in novels, stories, and plays 
children and adults alike on the armchair
live in those times and places. 

10. To Arthur Conan Doyle
"Sherlock Holmes" lives to this day,
idol of any detective;
"The Lost World" remains of the past,
is back in our midst to live.     

False Inflorescence

San Vicente Botanical Garden
False Inflorescence

Dr Abe V Rotor

Deceiving flowers - but for what reason?
Fancy though elegant looking; 
Nature's full of conceit, deceit, and joke
to the unwary and unbelieving.

Bougainvillea atop Norfolk Pine


Spike inflorescence over Agave

“Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities 
of the world.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Trees - Nature’s Gift to Man



Acacia trees, Ateneo de Manila University QC

By Anna Rotor

We grow up with trees.
We want them to grow big;
we want them to be around us;
to give us shade in which we play;
to give us strong trunk and branches
on which we climb and swing and laugh;
to give us fruits which make us full,
healthy and strong;
medicine to make us well;
wood that keeps our body warm,
cooks our food;
leaves to keep our air clean
and to whisper and sing
and dance with the breeze;
and above all,
to give us aesthetic beauty
through which we feel
how lucky we are alive.
How irrational would it be to kill a tree,
even if we reason out that we need its wood,
its bark, its roots, its flowers and fruits and seeds,
to keep us alive!

It is a paradox
that for us to survive and progress,
we kill the host of life –
life of birds that build nest on its branches,
passersby who find respite
from the beating sun,
a myriad of small life forms
from insects to lizards
that find a home
and harbor on its roots and crown.
What a paradox
if we kill the tree that gives us oxygen
that brings down the cloud as rain,
that keeps the environment cool, clean and green
to kill a friend,
a companion and a guardian,
the link of our earth and sun,
God and His Son.

Excerpt from a speech of Anna Rotor, then
16 years old at School of St. Anthony QC, 1999.

Town

Town
Dr Abe V Rotor

Magsingal town in Ilocos Sur, aerial view from a helicopter, 
photo by the author in the early eighties.

The roads are parallel
To each other in perfect angle,
To form a circle and crown,
The poblacion of the town.

Wasn't Rome built this way?
But so mute is the Appian today,
So with Teitihuacan or Pompeii
Where no inhabitants stay.

The roads are empty and clear;
In the plaza there's no stir.
Where have the people gone?
Don't all roads lead to town? ~

- AV Rotor, Light inthe Woods 1995, Megabooks

The Cricket - Nature's violinist


Dr Abe V Rotor
Field cricket (Acheta bimaculata) 


Aesop called you - like your grasshopper kin - sluggard,
      for heeding not your want for the rainy day;
in summer you fiddle all day and whole night through,
      lifting the spirits of those at work or play.

I say, what could best earn your place and your existence,
      but to unburden the load of the world,
etching a living, each thought nothing else but living,
      than sweet violin and some kind word? ~

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Personal Reflection of Unknown Heroes of Today


 Little do we know of the unknown great man:
the Unknown Soldier -
unknown doctor, unknown teacher
farmer, worker, entrepreneur,
old man, father, housewife, child;
the unknown in other fields of life, regardless.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog



Lesson:  Make your own personal reflection on a regular bond, in any style, 500 words more or less. Reflection brings out the inner person in you, like the inner eye of Heller Keller, the Little Prince of Antoine de Saint-Exupery', idealism of Longfellow and Alexander Pope, meditation in Michelangelo's Pieta, the mysticism of Venus de Milo, enigma of wildlife in Rousseau's painting, inner ear of Beethoven, waning light in Claude Monet's Waterlily Pond. 
Dr Jose Rizal
I invite our viewers to this exercise. You may find this useful in retreats and seminars, specially in leadership, and in the fields of theology,  philosophy, and humanities.


One man fought a nation, and save a nation, abhorring violence.
His greatest weapon: peaceful protest and civil disobedience
in asceticism that swept the land;
people revering him as father and almost god.
His name is Gandhi.

His likes are the greatest specimens of mankind; they too, changed
the world forever, making it a better place to live in.
  • His name is Mao Tse Tung.
  • His name is Ho Chi Minh.
  • His name is Jose Rizal.
  • His name is Ramon Magsaysay
  • Her name is Princess Diana.
  • His name is Jose Burgos.
  • He is Maximilian Kolby
Nelson Mandela 

  • She is Mother Teresa.
  • He is Nelson Mandela
  • He is Pope John Paul II, et al
They are people for all seasons, for all ages, for all waves of change.


They are whose deeds are also those of great men and women we revere today.
They are us – each one of us
in our own little way to make the world go round and around –
or make it slower, that we may taste better the true Good Life,
the sweet waters of the Pierian Spring, the cool breeze on the hill.

All of us - we have the capacity to be great.
Bringing up our children to become good citizens,
being Samaritan on a lonely road,
embracing a returning Prodigal Son, 
plugging a hole in the dike like the boy who saved Holland from the sea,
or living life the best way we can that makes other lives better.

These and countless deeds make us great,
and if in this or that little way we may fall short of it,
then each and everyone of us putting each small deed together,
makes the greatest deed ever,
for the greatest thing humans can do is collective goodness –
the key to true unity and harmony,
and peace on earth. ~