Saturday 26 October 2013

Be Responsible of One's Action

          "Shall I go to work today or not?", "Will I marry this girl/boy or not?", " To whom will I entrust my career?", "What will I do with my life?"......

          These are but just some of the questions that we may encounter in life. As we continue with our life journey, we also proceed making choices and decisions for its betterment. As one famous philosopher said, " Man is condemned to be free; because once he thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. It is up to you to give LIFE a meaning."-  Jean-Paul Sartre

          What Sartre shares here is something which I deeply treasured in life. Every now and then, we take responsibility on decisions that we make either good or bad. Yet while we are free, we nevertheless are constantly guided by the basic reality that everything aims for goodness. Consequently, for every bad decision that we make, we take full responsibility of that. We are endowed with the will, wisdom and the intellect to weigh actions whether good or bad.  

imagecredit:
By graur codrin, published on 13 October 2010
          Experience will tell us that sometimes in life, we come up with decisions that are against our norms and values, or standards and beliefs. Instances wherein we really are not at ease and glad to be involved to. Somehow, in all those occasions, what counts most for us is that we are able to stand on our own and that we own total responsibility of such decisions and situations. 

          Regardless of its outcome, we are never in the position to put the blame on others. As Sartre said, we are the ones who will give meaning to this life so that then it will become worth living. We are created unique from one another and this allows us to appreciate each other's uniqueness. Further, being different enables us to realize that we need each other ---that we don't really have to exploit and downgrade each other to reign supreme in our life. 

          On the other hand, we are constantly invited to utilize our resources to progress peace and harmony among us. Sad to say that in this world's present reality, this is far from what's going on in some places around us. However, I still firmly believe that inside our hearts, there is still lies our innate goodness. With this, a world that is colored by love and meaning is still reachable. 

          Thus, what will help us reaching that world is by being responsible to every action that we will take with the consistent consideration to a life that is aimed for goodness.    

          Anyway, are we responsible enough in life?



                               
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Sunday 20 October 2013

Life: A Wonderful Gift

          LIFE- what is it anyway? There have been so many meanings and attributions to it yet personally, I claim it as a gift --a very precious gift from somebody up there. Hence for being as such, I am also called to positively extend it with others. Every single day, countless world events unfold, both good and bad, and as I take notice of them, I could not help myself but be reflective on them specifically with the negative events that struck our great world nowadays.

imagecredit:By Matt Banks, published on 13 March 2010
While I could not contain myself from feeling pity to all those helpless victims above, the more that I become appreciative to my own life that I have the privilege to wake up everyday. The unfolding of each new day bears personal memories so worthy to cherish. This day is parallel to a great day- the outstanding weather, such fresh air, clean environment, the serenity of the place-they usher me to treasure any day. 

          On the other hand, this day further develops into another occasion for me to exchange laughters and joy with people, both significant and ordinary, in my life. As it is, I am aware that life would never be the same from one person to the other and I can fully understand that there might be people out there who are not that enthusiastic about today due to illness, problems, stress, poverty, disillusionment and other reasons like natural calamities.

imagecredit: 
Free Photo Bank
       
           With this reality in hand, my heart goes along with them on their plight and on their struggles in their journey. Thus far, what is noteworthy in all of these, both for them and for me, is the sensibility that we are still alive this day---that is one great reason for us to be grateful each day.



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Wednesday 16 October 2013

Where Do You Get Your Inner Strength?

          Recently, I had the opportunity to join our household community in one of its regular meetings. And the gathering allowed me to gain further strength in the midst of my own life's struggles. Hearing from the prayers and sharings of my brothers and sisters in our group, I realized how marvelous life is. Being with loved ones and with friends are favorable circumstances that enable me to go deeper of myself and look back if where am I leading to in my own journey.

          Having said that, I know beforehand that my time is not wasted unlike when I will allow it to just stay idle thus allowing me to just dumb myself with nonsense things. Moreover, I admire the candidness of my brothers and sisters in our sharing for this openness allowed me to have an outstanding sense of themselves and of myself.

imagecredit:By Christian Meyn, published on 08 April 2009
          Treasured moments like this are nevertheless imprinted in my heart and when I go back to my own self, this will serve as one experience that I can recall and extract strength. "I gain my strength from my husband and he does the same. Yet at one time, I realized that it is actually from God whom I am getting this real strength to face this life's struggles and trials"- Thus came one of the realizations of our sister in the group. While listening to this, I continued closing my eyes and inaudibly murmured to myself, "she is not alone in that predicament for that is exactly what I'm doing in my own trial stages". 

          Yes, everything lies in my God. He is my  main source of strength aside from my family (wife and little boy). Knowingly or unknowingly, He consistently guides me into the right path. To boot, He draws everything in me. Without His guidance, I am nothing.  "In Jesus, and through the relationship He offers me, I find my hope…He is my strength — my peace, my purpose and my power.:-Sylene Mack- president-Transformed by Grace community.  Thus, I offer to Him everything in my life-my joys, my treasures, pains, aspirations etc. Going back to our community, I am so grateful to have encountered the bond of friendship with these people. And as we proceed with our respective journeys in life, may the guiding hand of our Divine Creator continue to inspire and mold us into persons whom He wanted us to be.







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Sunday 13 October 2013

How Does You Tube Affecting a Country's Politics, Culture and News?


          Since its foundation in 2005, Youtube has gained enormous amount of influences to viewers like me. And citing as an example the situation of my beloved country, the Philippines, I would claim that Yuotube has much impacted the world of politics while culturally also, it has emerged as one of the top influences when it comes to promoting the Filipino culture. Then next the area of the news reporting which for me, came as least affected among those areas (politics, culture) 

          Though I am now presently living abroad yet I keep myself updated everyday with what is going on in the country.Youtube videos showed how the Philippines emerged as the top economy in Asia this year.To put a further meat on the said comment, more Yuotube videos explcitly showed why the Philippines through the initiative of the president, Benigno Aquino Jr., was able to outgrow other performing economies in Asia. And it is such a source of joy to learn such accomplishment when I am far away from home that it is performing positively amidst the present crisis in other Asian countries. It is then my prayer that this positive growth will also benefit the lowest members of the society. (reference 1)  

          With regard to the Philippine culture, Youtube also brings a lot of help in its promotion since through this site, one can view and comprehend the various cultures of the Philippines which makes it a unique country. Eversince its occupation by the Americans, Japanese and finally by the Spaniards, it has made efforts to free itself from all those influences. The country did not stop to regain its freedom and continued with its own development. Thus today's social media becomes such an effective tool in spreading the vastness and richness of the Filipino culture.  (reference 2)


imagecredit: By digitalart, published on 03 August 2011
Stock Image - image ID: 10052038
          And going now to the least affected by Youtube in my country, I would still claim that Youtube's news reporting contributions are relevant for they enable viewers to own updates on the daily events all over the country. What made Youtube news relays more atractive to the viewers comparing to print media are the accompanying videos and footages that happen during the actual event. Thus just by acquiring access to the internet and viewing Youtube, any Filipino or even non-Filipino then becomes aware of today's happenings in the country. (reference 3)


          To end, I would say that since the beginning of Youtube in the early months of 2005 up to this time, much has been evolving in the world of the internet video. As Robert Kynel puts it, "There's a lot of work to be done....."- 

(Reference 4)  ((http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/16/120116fa_fact_seabrook?currentPage=all)....hence with his words, we can expect for more surprises and developments in the internet tv world-Youtube.



References:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl_PSHXAqq8- Philippine Politics
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7iwmL13B0c- Philippine Culture
3.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoO3mAKqvpQ-Philippine News
4.  “It’s certainly not going to be easy,” Kyncl said of the new venture. “There’s a lot of work to be done, to make sure this works. But, as a friend who just landed a job at one of the networks said, ‘At least you guys are swinging for the fences. There are a lot of other people who are just sitting around and watching things happen.’ ” ♦- Robert Kynel- senior officer of Youtube.(http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/16/120116fa_fact_seabrook?currentPage=all)




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Saturday 12 October 2013

"Is Google's Intention to Digitize the World's Books a Good Thing or a Bad Thing, and For Whom?"

          As I keep  myself busy with my online course, the more knowledge that I received consequently by the resources and reading we have on this. We know how powerful the influence of the internet nowadays and that's exactly the focus of this university-level study as we discuss on the topic, "Understanding Media by Understanding Google" by Prof. Owen R. Youngman under Northwestern University. Hence, I would also like to share with you my reflection on our subject. 

          Quoting from the question itself, "Is Google's intention to digitize all the world's books a good thing or a bad thing, and for whom?, my answer would be both good and bad. On the first place, I would say that it is good. Why? As Google emerges as a leading contributor to the world becoming a global village, the more that relationships among people of different races become augmented since the distance among nations both near and far becomes a "mere" closer one due to innovations brought by Google like Gmail, Blogger etc. To cite another example, allow me to share with you this resource, 

          "Google will help ........and set up a €60m (£52m) fund to finance digital publishing innovation......"- 
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/feb/01/google-52m-fund-help-french-publishers

          Seeing the contribution of Google on this quoted news release, the recipients then of this act will benefit and reap the fruits of such a genuine contribution. 

          On the other hand, Google's intention to digitize all the world's books could also have some repercussions as I quoted it below:

           "If Google is the main source, what picture of reality does it give us? It is “sometimes harmful when people [..] trust a simple Google search as the first step towards the truth” (p. 78) because the results have already been filtered by your preferences, location and previous searches. You never know what Google doesn’t show you."- Book Review: The Googlization of EVerything (And Why We Should Worry) by Siva Vaidhyanathan By: Floris Spronk....

          Thus it could also be bad for anybody if he/she will just absorb everything what Google say without weighing first other resources. Yes it is true that Google has made enormous contributions yet we could not deny the fact that there are other possible resources of what could have been considered as TRUTH.





                                                                

Tuesday 1 October 2013

The Impact of PHC (Primary Health Care) to the Community

          As I go on with my online course, I just want to share with you the relevance of our course to us all. It is a 5-week course with the main concern on the impact of PHC (primary health care) to people especially to those who are less privileged in terms of health issues. 

          Our recent chapter involved some resource videos. Among them, I was overwhelmed to discover the development of PHC along all those years. Enriching, moving and so powerful- those are the words that I can extend to describe the lecture of Dr. Carl Taylor in one video. Indeed, he noted the immense development in the field of primary health care along the years. What was touching in his sharing is that PHC becomes a tool to extend health care to those who are deprived and sufferings.

           Another resource person of the lecture was Dr. Abhay Bang-Shodhgram who in his video shared that "PHC is crucial to empower the people so as to save the poor and the unborn"1. If realized, this is a great development and help to those who need it. As I reviewed both of these resource speakers' videos, I found out that their point and emphasis is very much similar to each other.
imagecredit
          Another interesting contribution  which I got from the resources is that "women are trained to be local agents of positive health and social change"2. The proponent of this is Raj Panjabi who became a co-founder of TH (TIYATIEN HEALTH). By tapping the resources of women as agents to extend positive health care to others especially to their fellow women, the quality of the women's life will be promoted. 

          Further readings and quotation were given in the class and those mentioned above were personally the dominant ones when contributions to the upliftment of the life of the poor is based. However as I end this post, can we also ask ourselves this question, " Have we allowed ourselves to become agents of change for others?"




                                                                                

1.Video: Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health (SEARCH) by Dr. Abhay Bang-ShodhGram
2Video: Post- Conflict Health: by: Raj Panjabi


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