Quote of the Week

Source

Wise men speak because they have something to say. Fools speak because they have to say something.

--Plato

Quote of the Week

Source

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

--Woody Allen 

Hapa, "Redemption Song"

Originally sung by Bob Marley, this rendition of Redemption Song by the Hawaiian group Hapa is one of the songs I turn to whenever I need re-affirmation that there is goodness in the world. 99.999% of the time, it is not too late. There is redemption.

I admit; sometimes I can be so rararara speak out! that I sometimes forget that a whisper can be just as powerful as a scream. Sometimes it's the little details that make the most profound difference, rather than a huge act. A whisper can resonate the loudest across the vast expanse of the world and a pebble can produce the most enduring ripple as long as they are constant.

That being said, there is something so powerful whenever I hear a chant or a song from my ancestral tongues. Power. Mana, it is called in Hawaiian. Incidentally, Mana in Tagalog means inheritance. So in the words of my Hawaiian and Pinoy ancestors, Mana is a power that is inherited, passed on from a proud people whose cultures and traditions can never be vanished.

Sometimes I do worry, though, that someday my ancestral tongues will cease to exist. We had been silenced before  by missionaries and conquerors who told us our Native ways were savage. They used God as a justification for silencing our tongues, our songs, our chants, our identity. But they couldn't succeed, because Mana is not created by man and therefore cannot be taken away by man. And so we still speak, though not as loudly as we had before the time of James Cook.

What worries me is that there are some in my generation who think that modernity and progress means letting go of Nativeness, that in order to fly one must abandon roots. I am an American in my home country and yet in here, I hunger for the sound of Hawaiian, Tsalagi/Cherokee, and Maori tongues. I yearn for Bisayan and Tagalog that are not peppered with English words; bastardized BisLish and TagLish have become somewhat of a new status symbol that separates the elites from the non-elites. I long to hear pride and survival with each syllable spoken from my ancestral tongues.

Is that too naïve, too idealistic? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, but it is my truth.  


 

Rumi

Make Every Day Count (Author Unknown)

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away
that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose,
to teach you a lesson, or to help you figure out
who you are or who you want to become.   

You never know who these people may be
(possibly your roommate, neighbor, professor, boyfriend/girlfriend,
long lost friend, or even a complete stranger), but when you lock eyes with them,
or feel their energy, you know at that very moment
they will affect your life in some profound way. 

And sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful,
and unfair at first, but in reflection,
you find that without overcoming the obstacles
you would have never realized your potential,
strength, willpower, or heart. Everything happens for a reason.     

Nothing happens by chance or by means of good luck.
Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness,
and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul.
Without these small tests,
whatever they may be,
life would be like a smoothly paved, straight,
flat road to nowhere. It would be safe and comfortable,
but dull and the utter downfalls you experience,
help to create who you are and who you become.
Even the bad experiences can be learned from.
In fact, they are probably the most poignant and important ones.

If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them,
they have helped you learn about trust and importance of being cautious
when you open your heart. 

If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally,
not only because they love you, but because in a way,
they are teaching you to love and how to open your heart and eyes to things. 

Make every day count. 

Appreciate every moment and take from those moments everything
that you possibly can for you may never be able to experience it again.
Talk to people that you have never talked to before and actually listen.
Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your sights high.
Hold your head up because you have every right to. 

Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself,
for if you don't believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you. 

You can make of your life anything you wish.
Create your own life because you never know
what tomorrow may have in store. 

And learn a lesson in life each day you live. 

Today is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday. 

Was it worth it?