The Phoenix Musings

This video has been making rounds on the Internet for some time now. It’s been 17 years since Severn Suzuki gave this speech during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which is also known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 3-14, 1992.

It wouldn’t hurt to listen and reflect on what she had to say. Maybe, we do need to listen more to children…

I noted two random things while I was on my way to the office earlier. First one was when I was along España where I saw a policeman receiving and secretly pocketing Php20.00 from a jeepney driver. The flawless execution of that split-second act makes me think that it must not have been the first time it happened. It usually takes a lot of practice to perform something smoothly.

The second one I observed along E. Rodriguez. As soon as it started to rain, two people inside a private vehicle bought all the rags this littler girl was hawking in the middle of traffic. There was a certain bounce on the little girl’s gait as she walked away.

Free will is a beautiful thing. We always have the luxury of choice. We choose what we acknowledge and recognize. We wear different lenses that afford us the cushions of choosing our reality. But I think optimism and pessimism are overrated. Seeing only the good does not eliminate the bad. Focusing on the bad can never deny the goodness in this world. There is always an invisible scale that balances everything out. It is what we choose to do with what we believe that would make the difference.

(Image found on the Internet)

I smiled the first time I saw that The Bus Stops Here sign at one of the bus stops I pass everyday on my way to the office. I like the sense of finality those words offer and at the same time, that underlying hint of possibilities. I imagine myself getting off a bus in that exact spot.

Bus stops are fascinating. They’re never dead-ends. When you get off on one, it’s because you’re meant to be somewhere else. Unless you intend to wait out the rest of your life in that bus stop, you wouldn’t want to be there long enough to have roots growing out on you.

I remember this one trip I had before. I was traveling with my teammates and we were on our way to Macau for a competition. Like in our previous trip there, we took a flight to Hong Kong and from there would board a ferry to Macau. But unlike our previous trip, the airport was now farther from the city so we had to take the bus going to the ferry terminal.

I could still recall the excitement and how we pretty much enjoyed choosing a double-decker bus because it would be the first time for most of us to ride on one. Of course, almost all of us wanted to be on topside so we climbed up, suitcases and all, and made ourselves thoroughly comfortable throughout the long drive to the city. We became so comfortable that we realized we’re nearing our destination barely a minute before the bus rolled to a stop.

Buses in Hong Kong, and in my experience, in most other highly developed countries follow a strict schedule. They don’t wait around longer than what is scheduled and they won’t certainly stop longer than necessary just so people can get on and off in their own good time. And so it was that despite our best efforts scrambling down, the door was already closing by the time we reached it. Suffice to say, we had to get off the next bus stop and walk a few blocks to where we will board the ferry.

I think that was one of the trips where I learned the value of traveling light. I believe it was after that trip that I began to form this habit of packing and traveling light. I do this especially if I’m anticipating a lot of bus rides thrown in. Although this mind-set don’t work for some trips where there’s just no workaround with the amount of stuff I need, I still try to stick to the basic idea of it, which is light as light it could get. Somehow, that bus trip taught me that it is much comfortable and interesting to travel with less.

I’ve seen a lot of different bus stops in my life. I’ve been to simple, and sometimes, dusty ones in beautiful quiet towns with a view of dirt roads stretching as far as the eyes can see, pink and blue painted ones in busy city streets and simple and efficient ones in quiet Japanese and European streets. I’ve met and converse people in those many bus stops. And regardless if I got off alone, with someone or with a group of people; I’ve never stayed far longer than necessary.

People get off buses to move on. This is why a bus stop is a beautiful thing. It’s there waiting as some sort of transition point. It offers temporary shelter from heat and rain. I’d hate to travel on long stretches of roads without at least seeing one of those. Knowing that there’s one somewhere gives that comforting feeling that when I do decide to get off, I’d have a place to pause and think before I move on.

(Photo found somewhere on the Internet.)

First thing I saw in my personal email inbox this morning was the 2009 Asian Rowing Federation (ARF) Rowing Championships jury nomination form from our president. The event will be held in Yilan, Taipei from November 3-9. I haven’t been to Taipei yet - neither for competition nor vacation. I’d love to go, especially since it’s an Asian championships and all. I want to hone my jury/umpiring skills there.

Right now though, every tomorrow is like a blurry thing going on in my head. I’m more into the here and now. It’s much easier to face whatever life throws at me that way. November is like a haze in my mind. At the moment, all I know is I’ll get there somehow. The how part is something that will just fall into place. One small step at a time first. Things can only get better.

This circus-like attention to the circulating (and multiplying) copies of sex videotapes makes me think that just when I thought I live in a high tech era, I’m jolted back to the reality that there are times I might as well be in the dark ages when it comes to how women are perceived or treated. The irony of this is that this thought sneaks in my head while I’m here sitting and waiting for my classmates in the IOC-Olympic Solidarity advanced sports management course where 70% of attendees are women. Women who all play critical roles, management roles even, in their respective national sports associations.

As I wait for the others, I couldn’t help but hear how these two guys talk about DVD copies of those videotapes that are currently circulating on the web. It seems there are unscrupulous people who are making huge profits out of it. Never mind that by selling copies of those videos they’re dehumanizing the women involved over and over again.

I guess it would be easy for others to justify that by blaming the women. One common theme I hear is that it’s the women’s fault for being part of it in the first place. But lest anyone forget, sex is a normal thing. What’s NOT normal is for someone to take videos of the act without the knowledge and consent of the people involved.

I’m sorry for those women. It seems that even how amidst continuing progress and little wins to emancipate women, time and time again I get to see acts where I begin to think that the world may not yet be ready for us women after all.

took this quiz in Facebook at natawa sa result

“Ikaw ba si Jercyl?!? Gumanda ka! Dati ang itim-itim mo at mahaba ang buhok mo!”, says Ms. Corina Mojica of Bodybuilding. Her remark has drawn some chuckles from me and some of our classmates whom we both have known for some time now.

It’s our first meeting for the ASMC-MOSO course. I’m pleased to see that I know most of the people in class. With a few exceptions, most of the participants were the same people who volunteer their time and efforts to their respective national sports associations (NSAs).

I have not been very active outside of ARAP. I have not seen most of them for some time. And yet, it’s nice to see them all again. I feel like I’ve not been gone that long. It feels natural to be here. I’m glad to be part of this.

I got an email from Mr. Ramos today. He forwarded the memo from the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) listing all participants for the International Olympic Committee-Olympic Solidarity Advanced Sports Management Course. To say it was a surprise is an understatement. The course was supposed to start last April 18 and since I did not receive any feedback before that, I assumed I was not picked.

Apart from myself who will be representing the Amateur Rowing Association of the Philippines (ARAP), other national sports associations who have representatives are Archery, Basketball, Bodybuilding, Board Sailing, Canoe-Kayak, Chess, Dance Sport, Dragon Boat, Football, Karatedo, Lawn Bowls, Muay Thai, Pencak Silat, Sailing, Sepak Takraw, Soft Tennis, Swimming, Triathlon and three from POC.

This is an unexpected but extremely pleasant news. It does complicate my situation more as the course is for sixteen Saturdays and I have just recently made the decision to go for that major leap, which might bring me back home in two or three months.

I guess it would be pointless to worry over that at this point. I might as well learn everything I could in the time fate gives me to be part of this. I am grateful in the opportunity alone. The rest would just be icing on the cake. Thank you universe!

According to Mike Murdock’s Book, “The Law of Recognition” everything you need is already in your life merely awaiting your recognition of it. Anything unrecognized remains uncelebrated by you. Anything you refuse to celebrate eventually exits in your life. A Gift, A Miracle, or a Person.

This beautiful message came to me via SMS that I believe got passed around so many times already. I kept it in my inbox for as long as I can remember. This resonates to me once again, especially at this time, that another person has flown out of the coop so to speak.

I understand that sometimes we allow people to just slip quietly so as not to disturb the balance. We do it because we’re careful not to rock what’s long been an unsteady boat. We are sometimes afraid to let even just a shadow of darkness to fall on what we painstakingly paint as a pretty picture, full of light and colors. We do all these at the expense of so many things.

I am a shallow person who still believes in celebrating the smallest and most ordinary things that reflect our humanity. I think of it as little reminders that we live. I find it sad though that sometimes just because we get used to people leaving that we become immune to it. It comes to a point where we don’t care anymore. And when they leave, we let them just disappear and forget them.

Someone chose to quietly slip away. I understand why the person chose to do that. Sometimes it takes courage to make a stand, regardless of the risks that taking a stand would entail.