ariellalisan.org – Homeward Bound

I WAS on Youngblood last Tuesday but I wasn’t able to savor the feeling of having been published again because I was in a quandary. It’s perplexing how easily people judge you and condemn you when you only did what you know is right and how people could easily sever relationships just because your principles do not meet?

But that is for another blog post.

Well, I went to the principal’s office last Tuesday and happened to scan the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I saw my name on the byline of the Youngblood contribution for that day. It somehow lightened my mood. There was too much pressure that day but God knows how to make me smile.

I’M NOT talking about tenses here nor about girlfriends.

I’ve never had a conversation with an online friend quite a long time. Just this afternoon, we had the chance to chat on Facebook.

Our conversation came to a point that he said he doesn’t have a future anymore. He told me that his parents used to tell him to always think about the future but until now, he said, that future hasn’t come.

Then I told him, “What you are today, was once your future. The future you are thinking of today will soon come. That future will become your present, and eventually, your past.”

IF YOU watched the news last night, they again showed the usual predictions of Chinese astrologers for 2010. I could remember the astrologer saying that people who are born under the zodiac sign Aries, like me, are warned to be watchful as the coming year is foretold to be quite an unlucky one for us.

I am not really superstitious—spiritual, may be—and I believe that God is communicating to us in various ways but definitely not through horoscopes.

IN A country where leaders are into endless political bickering due to their personal ambitions the real social problems remain unseen and, therefore, not addressed.

Noralyn Obrial Ramos sent me emails on Facebook entitled, “Frustrating Facts About Regular Philippine Public High Schools” and “More Frustrating Facts About Regular Philippine Public High Schools“.

In the email–which she also posted on her blog– she blurted out her frustrations about the situation in Philippine public schools, where she has spent 16 years of her life as a teacher. She presented a cross-sectional view of the problems in the school.

RIGHT NOW, as I am writing this, throngs of locals  flock to the municipal plaza of Alabel, Sarangani Province to welcome the boxing champ.

Aside from the chance of meeting the famous boxing icon, most of the people here expect to receive, if not cash, giveaways from Pacman.

Last year, the Pacman team distributed bags to gradeschool pupils. He’s also sponsoring free embalming and free casket for indigenous Sarangans. His political ads are also being shown on local TV since last month. All these are proofs that his camp is more than ready for the political battle.