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| The Padsan River and Gilbert Bridge in Laoag City, Northern Philippines |
in the hometown church
are no more than hagglers
in the marketplace while
God's messenger
wastes away his voice
over a defective microphone.
In the river not faraway
the driftwood, half-sunked in the sand,
preaches to croaking frogs hugging
moss-covered stones.
The Eternal also lives
in the flowing water
in this massive bridge
in those mist-shrouded mountains
and beyond.
*Included in the poetry anthology, "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger" with introduction by Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa
MENTAL CHANGE
Mental change can take a lot of time, or as little as an hour, according to sports psychologist Jarrod Spencer. He explains that when we "hate" something, it is because we are threatened by it--physically, socially or emotionally--and there is likely a trauma tied to it.
Confronting this trauma, he said, is through the amygdala, a part of the brain that plays a great role in the processing emotions. Needless to say, this "hate" and fear can be eliminated in an hour or more.
THE ILOKANO MACHISMO
There is in the male Ilokano psyche a kind of brinkmanship that prompts him to do and enforce, no matter what happens, what he believes is right and proper. He may die for this kind of faith, but for him, "surrender" is not an option and the word is not in his vocabulary. A kind of machismo or a code of honor that the Ilokano male says what he means and means what he says and he can say it mean, so to speak, under certain circumstances.
This characterizes the so-called Ilokano "malalaki" who easily takes umbrage on a negative comment against his manhood.The prefix "ma" indicates a virile, macho man ("lalaki") who never runs from a fight.
There is a danger zone in confrontation and the Ilokano male is not unaware of it.
Quotes:
"I could tell you my adventures--beginning from this morning," said Alice a little timidly: "but it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then."--quoted by Lewis Carroll
"Oh, to be alive in such an age when miracles are everywhere and every inch of common air throbs a tremendous prophecy of greater marvels yet to be."--Angel Morgan, from "The Hour Has Come," a war poem.
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