Opulent Odyssey

Fox Rain (Creative Prose)

By charline - Monday, June 20, 2011

The rays of the fiery sun strike in every tree branches making the lush greenery much more alive. As the beam of light kissed my cheeks while sitting on a solid wooden bench, my mind started to sail on a calm shore. I've always been like this; never allowing any thoughts to disturb my contained inner peace. Nor did I grant anyone the permission to seduce my complacency to thrive into the unknown, unsafe.

Everyday, for years, Ive kept myself afar, watching from a distance. Sitting in the corner while keenly observing every people pass by give me this rare chance to try to decode those faces and expressions.I've been wanting to fathom what is behind those surreptitious glances and smiles, this feeling of dire need I myself could not comprehend.

Then, a sight of you just came dashing in my supposedly tranquil and typical day. Everything changed in an instant. I started to feel like Im now being drowned in my own oblivion,victimized by my false hopes and optimism. Yes, I want to blame you for that. But how can I hold it against someone or rather something, I have never experienced for real..

My vision started to go blur and my breathe went into a heavy panting and irksome sighing. All my thoughts swerved to a topsyturvey turn. My used to be rational mind abruptly could not decide what to do. I've started to wander myself with questions; should i search for you? should i make a move now?

I want you to come to me, at least just the idea of you trying,i guess would suffice. I want to meet your eyes, gaze at you for a while. Eventually, finding out to have no stupid reason why I just like to.I imagine holding your hand, grasping it too tight and will never let go.

Then my thoughts drifted back to reality. It was a mere daydream. When I opened my eyes you were nowhere of sight. Lost were the feelings and the dreams Ive tried to suppress. Holding my hands, I could feel my heart contracted heavily for a while. There and then, no cure can mend it except for the tears let alone get out of its way. Just as rain started to drench me, I could feel myself trying to wipe those tears away. When I closed my eyes, I suddenly prayed. Then, a glimpse of hope came rushing in. It is something divine and it continues to comfort me til now. Seconds after, a rainbow started to appear in the sky. Not now but perhaps soon, I told myself.

* It was indeed a sunny morning that day but it suddenly rained. A fox rain.

*The theme of this write-up is basically from a koreanovela that I had finished watching, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho.

4 Comments

Life

On Stage

By charline - Wednesday, June 15, 2011

0 Comments

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When You Believe...

By charline - Wednesday, June 08, 2011

0 Comments

Life

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

By charline - Monday, June 06, 2011

Much has been said in a seemingly endless conflagration of debates among people regarding the Reproductive Health Bill. Each party whether it be the pro RH bill, which I myself belong to and the Anti RH Bill seem to have their own respective arguments on the matter. But who is losing to whom? What are the real issues at stake? I am writing this blog for the sole purpose of expressing my thoughts, opinions and view without undermining or personally attacking those groups who are against the bill. I respect their opinion.

Last weekend, I happened to watch a late night TV show featuring a debate on the Reproductive Health Bill. The two opposite parties have three different representatives being given only a short span of 2 minutes to discuss their arguments and assert their stand on the issue. In light of defending my stand on the issue, I opted to deflect the arguments and concerns raised by the opposite group.

Economic Priorities

The anti RH group is dwelling too much on their argument that this bill should not be the top priority and that instead of spending millions of money for condoms or other contraceptives and the like; they should be building new schools, investing on books and on teachers. In short, why focus on things that are not relevant for now when in fact our education system is now in shambles.

The government is running insufficient in meeting the demands and the needs of students, of teachers, of public schools and of state universities. They assert that education is one of the ways to reduce poverty and one of the foundations in nation building. Now we can get it straight from then “it is just one of the many problems that we have..” and so it is not the only priority that we should consider.

And yes, what they had argued is a fact. It is a very crucial fact so as not to visibly see the underlining reason as to why not only our educational system has resulted to this. They are not able to discern that lack of budget is attributed to one of the reasons that an increasing population would mean a far outstretched budget resulting to people being provided with minimal and low quality social services. This is not an inquisition as to which one is the top priority and which one is irrelevant. For the two factors, in my own view, are economically and socially related.

No one is downplaying or questioning the importance of education. But what I'm trying to arrive at is that how can the government provide quality education to so many Filipinos if we will not incorporate the fact that population is now a major problem that we have to deal and that by continually neglecting it would only stem to a much more complicated and serious socio-economic woes and dilemmas in the long-run.

Freedom to Choose

The purpose of the RH bill is not to coerce people to abide even if they refuse to. This is just a way of laying out options and choices for those people who are directly affected- the women. The women and the children are usually the ones who suffer the direct consequences.

Some groups tend to forget that not all families in the Philippines are as rich and as educated like them. There is a staggering number of people on the lower echelon of the society who need to be educated and be provided with these vital services.

Just imagine an ordinary household setting where the mother is bearing her 9th child, her husband doesn’t have a work, they have 9 mouths to feed, the other children who instead of studying and listening to the teacher inside the classroom are now on the streets trying to earn meager money to both ends meet.

So I couldn’t help but laugh whenever I see Manny Pacquiao on tv giving senseless opinion and off-tangent answers to questions. I am a big fan of him when it comes to boxing, but not with this one. He should have known how life really is since he experienced being the poorest of the poor. But I was disappointed when he said that “Mahirap kami wala kaming makain wala kaming matirahan pero nagsikap kami”. Again, the question here is how many of the these poor families will be able to reach like what Pacquiao has achieved?

Dogmatic Beliefs and its Pitfalls

The serious debate has now reached high tides as the catholic church is totally against it. They view the bill as an act of disobeying God's commandments by saying that the bill is immoral and that it entails abortion. But I dare say, that it is also God's command that parents should nurture and be responsible to their children and raise them to the best of their abilities. However, the present situation would affirm that this is not the case for many poor families. So which one is more sinful? Being able to have many children but these children lacking not only love but even the basic necessities of life or having a few children but parents can actually provide for their needs. The failure of parents and the government on this part brings society into an endless vicious cycle - poverty.

Quoting from Conrado De Quiros article, "RH... is not the solution to poverty.Not by itself. Neither is land reform, neither is fighting corruption, neither is graduating from college. Not by themselves. But taken together, they do push back poverty and misery immeasurably. Indeed, RH alone may not solve poverty, but the lack of it adds to poverty and misery all by itself. The absence of it deepens pain and suffering all by itself. The benighted opposition to it spreads benightedness and ignorance all by itself."

And so I say yes to life.Yes to RH Bill.