i spy

a couple of days ago, i caught this short clip of eddie murphy on hbo. it featured him being interrogated by a shapely famke janssen. at the height of the interrogation, a dashing owen wilson comes bursting through the door to rescue murphy.

when the smoke clears, murphy realizes that the whole scene was a setup to test his fortitude in the face of danger. wilson then says,

“you know, you’re a why not guy. you don’t look for a reason to do things, but rather, you consider doing it first before looking for a reason.” [paraphrased]

the line struck me: am i a why not guy, or a why guy?

i think i’m the former.

often, i catch myself doing favors for people simply because they are my friends. i despise people who whine without even considering the reason why they were the ones from whom the favor was asked.

why else would people ask for your help if they don’t need it, or if they don’t trust that you could do it for them? after all, everyone’s deserving of a helping hand, aren’t they?

maybe the world would be a better place if there were more why not guys and gals around. don’t you agree?

ineptitude

let’s play a game.

imagine that you run a school in the city. the school is located at a particularly traffic jam-prone section of the city due mainly to faulty sewage pipes that run along the major avenue to your school.

then at about 1 in the morning, rains start pouring heavily and don’t stop for about four hours (and counting).

the radio stations have announced that all major roads across the city are flooded and barely passable even for sports utility-type vehicles.

would you call off classes?

[pause to think]

it is this kind of situation that tests a person’s character. at least 2500 people will be affected by your decision. to gamble that the sun would come shining through any moment now even if the weather station has announced that it would continue for the rest of the morning is nothing but pure tomfoolery, to say the least.

what about the teacher who lives just across the street who has to walk through floods to get to your school?

what about the commuter students, teachers, staff and maintenance personnel who sacrifice their health just to be sure that they’re there on time, to run your school?

what about the parents who bring their children from 40 kilometers away through floods in order to assure that they’re getting their money’s worth in terms of the tuition (php90,000) they pay for their children’s education?

what about all the people who think that there should be no classes because it would be simply unreasonable to do otherwise?

think, dear reader. this is a judgment call.

are you inept?

epilogue: classes were cancelled at 7:40am, five minutes before they were supposed to start. by then, students, teachers, staff and maintenance personnel are in school, oh yes, and drenched.

god save us!

had a happy meal lately?

about a week ago i learned a new lesson: happy meals don't come with toys anymore.

ever since i was a kid, a happy meal meant a trip to mcdonald's, getting a burger and a coke, and the latest toy. as i grew older, happy meals weren't so happy anymore (primarily because i wasn't a kid anymore, hence the uselessness of the toy).

little did i realize that i'd come across another type of happy meal. note: a happy meal, not the happy meal.

how much would this cost?

asado siopao (2 pcs)

bola-bola siopao (2 pcs)

hakao

pork siomai

shark's fin dumpling

pork tausi on rice

three coke lights

and a whole lot of chili garlic

just a little over four hundred bucks, baby. that's barely $8.

after that meal at le ching, i felt bloated, but happy.

now i know that happy meals don't come with toys anymore. they come with chili garlic.

the ritzos code

a typical day at school:

"sir, have you read dan brown's 'the da vinci code'?"

"yes."

"what do you think, sir? is it true?"

(i'm borrowing this line from a bishop asked the same question.)
"where in a bookstore do you find the book?"

"…?"

"where in the bookstore?"

"fiction, sir."

while the book does make one think, it is still a literary fictional work, masterpiece or otherwise.

this icon, however, is not. it was made by andreas ritzos, a 15th century cretian, to put on canvas the religious truth that is the assumption of mary.

the reflection takes off from the icon, which the author, ms. kimball, so graciously disects into smaller portions that have their own significance. it's interesting to note that even with this article, there still exist images that aren't accounted for. (who is the boy beside the virgin mary as she is assumed into heaven? why is one woman weeping amongst angels?)

i suggest that every catholic read the full text:a reflection on the feast of the assumption, if only to gain insight into the rich tradition that is part of our faith.

advanced happy feast!

matthew 25:31-46 revisited

received this literary piece over email, and while reading, i realized that this was a much more 'real' and alive version of judgment day (matt. 25:31-46) for the common man.read, reflect, reach out.

apolitical intellectuals
by otto rene castillo

one day
the apolitical
intellectuals
of my country
will be interrogated
by the simplest
of our people.

they will be asked
what they did
when their nation died out
slowly,
like a sweet fire
small and alone.

no one will ask them
about their dress,
their long siestas
after lunch,
no one will want to know
about their sterile combats
with "the idea
of the nothing"
no one will care about
their higher financial learning.

they won't be questioned
on greek mythology,
or regarding their self-disgust
when someone within them
begins to die
the coward's death.

they'll be asked nothing
about their absurd
justifications,
born in the shadow
of the total life.

on that day
the simple men will come.

those who had no place
in the books and poems
of the apolitical intellectuals,
but daily delivered
their bread and milk,
their tortillas and eggs,
those who drove their cars,
who cared for their dogs and gardens
and worked for them,
and they'll ask:

"what did you do when the poor
suffered, when tenderness
and life
burned out of them?"

apolitical intellectuals
of my sweet country,
you will not be able to answer.

a vulture of silence
will eat your gut.

your own misery
will pick at your soul.

and you will be mute in your shame.

—–
otto rene castillo, born 1936, was a guatemalan revolutionary, a guerilla fighter, and a poet.

following the 1954 cia-sponsored coup that overthrew the democratic arbenz government, castillo went into exile in el salvador, where he met roque dalton and other writers who helped him publish his early works.

when the dictator armas died in 1957 he returned to guatemala and in 1959 went to the german democratic republic to study, where he received a masters degree.

castillo returned to guatemala in 1964 and became active in the workers party, founded the experimental theater of the capital city municipality, and wrote and published numerous poems. that same year, he was arrested but managed to escape, going into exile once again, this time in europe.

later that year he went back to guatemala secretly and joined one of the armed guerilla movements operating in the zacapa mountains. in 1967, castillo and other revolutionary fighters were captured; he, along with his comrades and some local campesinos, were brutally tortured and then burned alive.