Teachers of all ages, wherever you are: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 4:06 PM
Imagine the gift of time that by now we, teachers all over the world can only attribute to Providence. December 21 was predicted as the end of the world and now it is Christmas Day and few days from now,God we welcome the New Year - 2013! If it is not Divine Intervention then what is. . .
Time is a teaching moment for each person. Like yours truly, I am running out of time since I am already 62 and everything else falls within god's territory as to its extension. Another year, another teaching and gratifying moment from God Almighty.
So young folks out there. Never take for granted the time that seems so long for you to become an adult. Only to realize coming from our perspective that you are the best recipient of a gift of time. Do not hurry up to grow old or become an adult. Savor the time that the elderly keeps on hopingn to have more of. Enjoy your being young.
I am now looking at my children who have grown and I cannot help but cry of gratitude and happiness. I am now enjoying Christmas with them - at 62 years old! Still a teacher but will never be this age ever for few days from now - another year will be upon us, another year for me to be grateful.
Fellow mentors and/teachers alike whoever and wherever you are: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The massacre in Newtown, Connecticut heralds teachers as heroes but the parents are in grief for their chidren . . .
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 6:13 PM
It is not all the time we hear of teachers easily acknowledged as heroes. The heinous crime against the 5-10 year old children attending pre-school in Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut: 20 beautiful children massacred by a lone gunman, Adam Lanza, is one for the books. It is in the sense that most of the children who were killed were 5-6 years old. Then three (3) teachers were killed. A certain Victoria Soto was one of the first teachers shot while one of her pupils was able to escape due to her heroism. She used her body to shield her pupils which allowed the lone survivor, one of Miss Soto's pupils to run and scape sure death.
CNN narrates in various ways how the massacre happened. In all instances you are left wondering why someone can do such a horrifying thing. This is aggravated by the information gathered that the guns were owned by Nancy Lanza, the other of the shooter, who ironically happened to be the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School. Then you hear some of the parents who did not condemn the shooter and his family and so we are left condoling for all parties: the victims, the parents and loved ones and the perpetrators of the crime.
Fellow mentors, we need not experience what happened in Connecticut. We can go on with our vocation to teach and learn from this sad event that teaching is our way of loving the children and doing our job not merely for financial reasons but as part of your mission-vocation to mankind. Teacher's teacher prays for the fallen teacher-heroes.
Teachers can only wish that duringthe elections in the Philippines this coming May we can learn from the US elections - if only in spiriit . . .
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 2:34 AM
If the United States, the elderly and the senior citizens and other volunteers played a great role in making sure the election is truly genuine and democratic, other countries rely on teachers and assigned personnel to serve during the duration of the election. Teachers must be heard as to how they go about their tasks and that they be genuinely acknowledged for the commitment they possess.
If asked we can almost hear from the teachers the wish that what has happened in the most recent election of the Americans which lasted for barely a day or two will happen to a certain extent in the Philippines It may just be a wish for the moment but with time when the people themselves become politically matured then the wish may become a reality.
So do not lose hope fellow mentors, time may be an enemy sometimes but it can become our best friend when the right time comes along.
Events of the world tell us that elections matter especially when the country that elects its leaders is USA. For Filipinos for example and I am one of them I like Obama to be reelected. One reason is because my daughter was able to avail of the International Visitors Leadership Program that allowed her to visit USA. Another reason is because Obama represents an everybody's wish to experience USA either as a tourist or as an immigrant. Others may add their own reasons but we know that regardless of who wins, USA is a friend of the Philippines and vice versa.
So at 2:00 or 2:15 a.m., November 7, here is this blogger sharing to the world through her blog her enthusiasm to know who is going to become the next USA President. CNN says it is a tight race because all the polls show that while Obama leads it is not a big lead: Obama 49 vs. Romney 46 or in some cases even a tie. Today shares that in Dixville Notch there were 10 people who voted the earliest and of the 0, 5 voted for Obama while 5 voted for Romney.
By now elections teach us that people's will is a power no one can thwart. If someone does thwart it sooner or later the people will do everything to be heard. In the meantime, we await the result of USA election especially the Americans' choice of their President and Vice-President.
Teacher, it is enrolment time again but the students are slow in coming, why?
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 3:01 AM
In every family, the main topic, at least in the Philippines, when it is June or November is enrollment. June is the beginning of the school year so for the elementary and high school students, the whole year is set for their school life. For the college students, June to October is the first semester and come November it is the second semester. Nowadays however, especially in the college level, the enrollment is slow or is it the students who are slow in coming?
Teaches are still worried when students do not come because we need the young to be lifted up and become better in all aspects. There seems to be laxity in encouraging the young to go to school. The parents want to do their share but finances deter them from showing enough approval. Then there are the peers of our young who seem to engage in many things and sadly not aligned with education. Some of them become pregnant either early in the semester and their grades leave many mentors shaking their heads. Teachers have the tendency to compare the young with the past generations and it cannot be helped but the present generation is preoccupied with a variety of involvements, a big part not exactly good for their educational development.
It is enrollment time again but the students are slow in coming and we know that the answers are more complex than what we can see.
Obama and Romney Revealed presented by CNN - they are human like us!
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 4:50 AM
CNN always makes me think. As a teacher, CNN is one of my major sources of new information and updates. With the US elections about to happen on November 6, two episodes caught my attention in CNN, namely Romney Revealed and Obama Revealed shown consecutively. If I were an American voter, the data presented were very informative. I have my own choice of course but for this blog it is good to know that Obama and Romney were presented as human like us.
One of the highlights that touched my heart was the fact that both great leaders are loving husbands to their wives and parents to their children. This is one perspective that sets the leaders apart from some of the leaders we have in other countries. May there be more of their kind.
There seems to be a great need for leaders who are human yet humane. Nowadays there is greater need for transparency especially when the future of a people greatly rests on their hands. Leaders are persons who are given the rare opportunity to serve others and their impact is so huge their influence is beyond the ordinary.
May I congratulate CNN for such admirable programs. May the American vote accordingly. I think I am an "American" by heart notwithstanding that I am a Filipino in word and in deed.
Lesson learned in moments of tragedy just as there are in moments of sheer generosity and volunteerism
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 5:50 PM
Anderson Cooper of CNN is currently interviewing the nurse, nurse for 26 years, who helped evacuate babies during Superstorm Sandy. This alone is one lesson learned: she was doing her job she says but she tried to do her job well and quickly added, it was a team work and not her alone- humility in action.
Gary Tuckman reported about a man who did not give a helping hand to a mother whose two sons were left in their vehicle. While the man explained his side, still a lesson can be learned from this scenario, that regardless of one's situation, one has to help even if Tuckman did comment the law does not call it a crime NOT TO HELP.
What has happened in New York, New Jersey and the rest of the world is another learning lesson: that the world is a temporary residence and as such, we have to be prepared in a spiritual manner. Today, All Soul's Day and yesterday, All Saints' Day are learning dates to imprint in our minds and hearts which the Scripture captures with depth: "Death is like a thief in the night". If there is one lesson we can always treasure it is the gift of giving one's life through sheer generosity and volunteerism that even death is no longer a fearful event but a hope that greater life which has no end may jut be waiting the giver and the volunteer.
"May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen."
Teaching points in the midst of disaster: Sandy's Wrath in New York turned Sandy's Challenge
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 11:57 AM
By now the world had already seen the damage done by Hurricane-Superstorm Sandy to New York, New Jersey and other places in the United States. By now we saw actually, physically or via cable television Sandy's wrath but in the same breath we also witnessed what this unfortunate event turned into Sandy's challenge to the victims who have accepted the pain and are now moving on to rebuild.
This is one of the shining moments - teaching moments - of the families who have lost their loved ones and through it all - even with tears in their eyes and with heavy heart go beyond the almost unbearable challenge of their lifetime. To a certain extent we can identify with their pain because wherever we come from in this world, pain, whatever form it takes, is pain and the same hearts bleed. This is the miracle that comes for amidst this purging experience is a person who looks up to the heavens and in the core of one's being lifts up to Someone who Cares Up There and Anywhere the depth and extent of what man not be worded.
We join the New Yorkers and all the residents of New Jersey in their struggle. Keep the Faith. At the end of the tunnel is a bluer sky and a limitless room for better things ahead.
We have physical storms just as we have emotional storms and both realities may leave us devastated but we can hold on to our Faith
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 9:58 AM
CNN reports 260 patients in one New York hospital have been evacuated - newborn included -yet in the midst of this problem, professional expertise is not one thing that is lacking but is one thing that is so encouraging not one has been hurt. Generators may have filed but not the capability of the hospital doctors and staff. In moments like this, hurricanes, superstorms - physical and emotional - can hurt the surroundings and can even cause deaths as what happened in U.S. but for as long as the people who care are among us and we hold on to our Faith, life goes on with a deeper sense of brotherhood and sisterhood.
It cannot be denied that technology allows the viewers to be awed at the same time dismayed at what we see on-the-spot photos of devastation, pain and suffering on one hand and heroism, volunteerism and strength of spirit on the other. Lessons learned from the life's storms are endless and though we can only close our eyes in prayer and hope for better things, somehow life moves on and humanity emerges with greater resolve to be better prepared next time around.
New York: we love you. We may not have visited it yet but we hope to do so one day. God bless New York and its people.
Unite Nations Day: Are the nations united such that its unity is celebrated?
0 comments Posted by Malaybalay Blogger at 5:33 AM
So many years have passed and here once again the day when United Nations Day should be celebrated. This teacher can not but help ask again if in fact there is enough rationale to celebrate this day if there is a big question hanging in the air: Are the nations united that its unity is celebrated?
Without being cynical, there is some semblance of unity for if there is not then wars will have its way. We just have to stay long enough to watch what is shown on the television set that disunity is a reality but so is unity. Wars and conflicts are usually magnified so we get the feeling that the world is chaotic but we have to be patient enough to let the other television channels give a balance presentations and true enough e see the glimmer of hope that there is unity after all.
So let us celebrate United Nations Day because the mere fact of recognizing it is celebration enough and another chance to give unity a chance is a gift to mankind especially the young.
Happy United Nations Day then to you out there and may unity be born right in each person's hearts.
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