Pure Madness

Imagine this, you go to the mall with your family or friends to eat and have a good time but later, one of you or worst, all of you ends up dead. It may sound incredulous but it did happen.

The recent Glorietta 2 bombing that occurred last October 19 was so shocking. Watching the survivors' recount their experience would make anyone thankful that he or she was not there at that time. Bombing a mall is just like shooting anyone in random. It could have been you and me. You see, going to the mall is one of the most popular past time of Filipinos. We just have so much time to spare that we would go to the mall any given time of the day. It's not just a place to shop and dine but now, it is also a place where you can pay your bills, exercise, meet and conduct business meetings, get a massage, leave your kids to play while you do errands and more. In short, it is a place where everybody goes and where everybody thinks they are safe. Or so we thought it to be.

Feeling safe or having a preconceived notion about it enables any human being to function normally. But what happens if this feeling of safety is threatened? Is this what our society is all about now? The architect of this evil act will never be able to justify what he did. There could be no valid reason for this.

Pure madness. This is just what it is all about.

Corruption at its Best

The news headlines recently featured Father Ed Panlilio showing the Php 500,000.00 given to him by a nameless palace employee. Father Ed, as he is more known, is the current governor of Pampanga. The money was handed over in a small paper bag. He was told that he could use the money for whatever purpose he deems will be appropriate for his constituents. The way it was given and the absence of formality suitable for disbursing government funds was indeed questionable. One can easily assume that it might be bribe money. But, hey, what were the Palace officials thinking? Bribe a priest? Well, they could try... after all, he is still human. Unfortunately, it didn't work and Father Ed exposed it to the media.

In the province of Pampanga alone, the amount of money lost in taxes was so huge. Imagine, almost 1 million pesos of taxes lost everyday during the time of Governor Mark Lapid. This was discovered when Father Ed seated 4 months ago. The total taxes being remitted now is a gigantic leap from the previous collections done 4 years ago. Whew!

The degree of corruption in our country is so intense that one could understand why politicians would kill come election time. No wonder they would do everything, as in everything, to hang on to power. Philippine politics is not about servitude. It has become a business, a family business, which is handed down from one generation to another.

Sadly, it is the ordinary Filipino who is getting nailed deeper and deeper into poverty. The fact remains that we are a poor country because of corruption. It seems that this ugly word is so ingrained in our system. However, I do not blame only our leaders. We, the Filipino people are also to blame because we let things happen and we permit things to be the way they are. We quickly forget and act as if nothing happened.

So what will be the solution to cure all this? A cynic once said, "Annihilate the Filipino people and start a new breed."

My eBay

It's been exactly 10 days since my last post. Partial reason for this is my current pre-occupation with eBay ph. I was browsing at it and decided that I could do our house a favor by unloading stuffs that we don't use or need anymore. So, I looked around the house and took pictures of the things that I intend to sell. Well, I sold my electric bottle sterilizer last week and now I have a bid for 2 wall frames. Pretty good, I guess. Of course, I do set the price low since it is already pre-owned. Besides, it is better that I sell it a low price and let another person use it than just keep it and let dust accumulate. That, in my opinion, is the very definition of WASTE.

Transacting in eBay is relatively safe. I've been a buyer myself and so far had only good experiences to tell. It's a good place to find reasonably priced items. But not everything sold in eBay is pre-owned. Some are brand new with its tag intact. Sellers are required to describe their product as accurately as they could or they risk being reported to eBay.

So, the next time you need something or looking for a great book, browse eBay. It's worth a try.

Opening One's Eyes

If you are a driver, you know very well what a blind spot is. You can experience this if you are switching lanes or when overtaking. This is how John Maxwell, in his article on Leadership, compared the "blind spots" that leaders have.

I enjoy reading Maxwell's articles on Leadership and I thought I would share it with you. According to him, a blind spot occurs when one does not see his real situation and this happens in some or almost every aspect of being a leader. Inevitably, this could affect a leader's over-all decision making capacity when he sees only one side. It would be difficult for him to understand his subordinates if his unawareness engulfs him. Maxwell used singular perspective to describe more aptly what a blind spot is.

The article stressed also that before a leader can be understood, he must understand. It also discussed the importance for leaders to do a self-examination so as to broaden his limited view. This statement is so true not only for leaders but for any ordinary individual. Often, we only see one angle... one facet of a situation.

On a personal note, this Blind spot in our life can also be the root of conflicts arising in human relationships. As a person, we all have different roles in our lives. I, for one, am a mother, a wife, a sister, a friend, an employer, just to name a few characters that I assume. And there are some people that I know who assume greater roles. In my day to day encounter with life, I would find myself in a situation wherein a conflict is brewing. Applying this Blind spot of John Maxwell, we will realize that we have to see where the other person is coming from for you to be able to understand his/her actions. One must be reflective as to why he/she is reacting this way? However, this capability to be introspective does not come easily especially if we have just met this person and sometimes even if we do know this person, we have to go deeper by tracing how this person thinks and the events surrounding him or her.

People are not wired the same way. We may be married with our husbands or wives for a decade yet still not totally understand this person who shares the same bed with us. We may have grown up with our siblings but still have spats with them. We may have a childhood friend that still never fails to amaze us why he does some things. When we take into consideration what the other person is thinking and feeling then we would become more open to communication. Every so often, when we are in a "not-so-good situation", we tend to think inward focusing only on what concerns us. Thinking out of the box is what we must commit to do.

By constantly checking our blind spots and through self scrutiny, we could hopefully diminish, if not totally remove, the big and small conflicts in our relationships. If this happens, then this world will just be a better place to live in.