A DATE WITH HISTORY

December 26. With Mother Lily, Dr. Voltaire Joseph, Rene, Estelita, Peter at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, CA.

The place which overlooks the city of San Diego was named after the explorer of California, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who and his crew "sailed into this harbor and became the first Europeans to set foot on what would later become the west cost of the United States."--from a post card.

It was late in the afternoon, when we arrived here and cars were still making a bee-line for the entrance where a fee was collected for each vehicle. DR. Bong flashed her mother's senior card for US parks and we were waved in by the guard in US uniform.

***

"We all have choices in the way we react to the words we hear. Our lives and the lives of all those around us will be significantly improved if we choose to react positively rather than negatively."--Ben Carson, author of "One Nation"

MAINSTREAM MEDIA AS PURVEYORS OF HALF-LIES AND DISINFORMATION

     Philippine mainstream media, print and broadcast, have a tendency to warp their news and opinions and convey them as gospel truths. This is not journalism of the 5 Ws ( who, where, why, what, when) and H (how) variety. Whatever genre the journalist writes--news, editorial, feature--he or she starts the facts that must be checked, doubled checked if need be. This is not only accuracy with respect to names of persons and things and places, but on statements or quotations made by persons of interest or subject matter especially those controversial comments.

     Sadly to say, these mainstream media, for the most part, don't dig deeper on the why and how of things they are looking for. "Bias" is the name of their game that give them handsome dividends.

     For example, they keep on harping on human rights abuses committed during the martial law regime, blaming everything to Ferdinand Marcos, referring to him as dictator and Hitler. (Describing Marcos as dictator and liking him to Hitler is fiction, not objective journalism. Why the name-calling? Did Marcos kill or ordered the killing of people? And how many people were killed during his reign? Millions as did Hitler who caused the gassing of 6 million Jews?)

     If these abuses were really a fait accompli, who did it or what forces under the command of Marcos committed them? His private army? Or the Armed Forces of the Philippines that were at his beck and call at that time? Did he order the executions  of these victims? Did he issue a presidential decree to the effect?

     Manila Times columnist Roberto Tiglao, who headed a communist party group in Southern Tagalog during the martial law regime, has written about the Philippine Constabulary, then headed by Fidel Ramos, that did most of the human rights abuses. Ramos, who became president of the Philippines after Cory Aquino, has not refuted the charges.

    Who were these victims? Were they combatants, physically and mentally? Did they belong to the Kabataang Makabayan, a creation of Jose Maria Sison, the former caudillo of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army?

     And many other questions that mainstream media appear to have ignored since Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in 1986?

THE KNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN

     In relation to the election, a fait accompli, of a president:

     Known things are scary and it is possible that more scary are things that happened that are or were not known and things that will yet to happen. The blogger and his wife flew to the US legally and entered the American dream, but sometimes we shudder and try not to forget to remember all these things.

     Yet hope springs eternal, as they say, and we expect to enjoy our days in the so-called land of milk and honey.

The Bishops' Theological Confusion Or Dementia?

Does it follow that, by their behavior against Ferdinand Marcos and his heirs, Philippine archbishops worship the God of Wrath of the Old Testament?

(The deity with the tetragrammaton name would not forgive a transgression, even if the deed is committed by just one man, and would destroy, as he did in Biblical times, the sinner and all members of his tribe including his animals.)

Or are the bishops suffering from theological confusion, or selective dementia, and forget that they are the High Priests of the Compassionate Almighty God?

And speaking of accountability, how can a dead man make up for what he did, whatever these are? His heirs had nothing to do with what he committed during his lifetime. This is the askew logic of Marcos haters.

Banner near the St. William Cathedral in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte 

The Ilocos Norte Provincial Capitol

Tired and weary of reading hate messages, especially those excoriating a corpse.

It is absurd, inhuman and un-Christian to kick a dead horse or spit or urinate on a cadaver.

***

"First, learn much and seek to understand it profoundly."--Talmud 

THEY BUNGLED THEIR OPPORTUNITY TO EFFECT CHANGES IN THE PHILIPPINES

HATE AND ANGER AS HINDRANCES TO Human EVOLUTION
     Or Economic Progress,if you may. Also political, social

Ferdinand Marcos was toppled from power in the so-called Edsa People Power Revolution. That was more than 30 years ago. They wanted to change the socio-economic political conditions with the mind-sets that did not go beyond hate and anger. Obsessed with what happened in the past--atrocities, human rights abuses, perceived murders of those who fought the "dictatorship"(their), and other grievances, they miserably failed because they could not shake off the old habits that overwhelmed them--greed, betrayals, revenge.

They could not shake off the hate and anger that dominated them.

Meantime, did they and this generation ask why Mr. Marcos proclaimed martial law in 1972? What was the situation in the Philippines and the world at that time?

For the young people, especially those students from exclusive colleges and universities, mostly in Metro Manila, why don't they ask questions and make their research and read history during the period?

Why did Marcos proclaim martial law? Was it to extend his term/power as elected president?
Who is Jose Maria Sison? Was the "hero" Ninoy Aquino a communist? Who killed him? Why was he killed?

Did the CIA had a hand in the ouster of Mr. Marcos? Did the CIA kill Aquino? If it did, why?

 And many more questions that need answers and explanations.

Dagiti Sansanuong iti Aringgawisda
Wenno Agar-arimasa a Gura ken Pungtotda:

    "Ukinam Marcos. Lastogka Marcos."

Such expressions in the streets in Metro Manila can only come from infantile and decadent minds that invalidate whatever cause they are fighting for.

     Ay, anian a bunga dagiti baribar a pampanunot.
     Ay, ania ket ngatan a lagtolagto dagitoy nga Ilokano
                                                kontra kadaydi Marcos.

Excoriating a dead man and the writer's powerful mountain

The quotation, from a New York- based expatriate writer, represents one of the best paragraphs we have read in English fiction by native literary persons. She has complete control of the language she was not born into.

But the blogger says, thus: " Absurd. Utter nonsense. Sorry, I am a Christian."

You don't kick a dead horse, or a corpse, whose owner has been dead for more than 30 years.

It is like the practice of violent Muslims beheading Christians, believing that by doing this barbarous act,  they will go to heaven or their version of paradise,

Neverthelles, my admiration for her and her writings is yet to diminish. Writers in the language (Ilokano) should read her works.

***

The Writer's Powerful Mountain

The writer --poet, novelist, short story writer, even the journalist-- has a powerful position, a perspective that gives him the vantage point,  authority, if you will, to see all things.

But what if he or she does not see communist rats, praying corrupt catholic bishops, preying yellows and their puppies gnawing then, as now, at the walls of the state?

What if he or she does not see the massacre of Christians, the hijacking of billions for the victims of floods and typhoons, the ransacking of the national treasury by members of Congress, the killing of farmers and other misdeeds of the oligarchs including the incompetence of the intellectual imbecile of a president?

Or what if he or she did not see the money rats ransacking the treasury of the unfinished house by the sea in the North Country?

The "Confession" of Fidel Valdez Ramos

"My atonement was leading the military and the police during the EDSA People Power Revolution. From the 22nd to the 25th of February 1986 and I stand by that record.It's there in the history books."--Response of the former Philippine President to the comment of Imee Marcos, daughter of Ferdinand Marcos, that he should also apologize for the human rights abuses committed during the Martial Law years.

Christian atonement is reconciliation with God as a result of Christ's death. In Judaism, it is reconciliation with God "by means of repentance of one's transgressions or sins."

A person apologizes for a wrong or injury he or she inflicted against another individual or society.

FVR, at the mercy of Convalescence and the Almighty, was chief of the Philippine Constabulary, forerunner of the Philippine National Police, that executed Martial Law that ruled the country starting in 1972 and lifted 9 years later.

****

Peter La. Julian is not writing to be remembered.

He is trying to understand the anti-Marcos rhetoric of anger and hate in Christian Philippines.

This has been a one-sided monologue of the Aquinos whose business empire expanded a million times after the fall of Ferdinand Marcos and their leftist allies for more than 30 years.
PLJ has long accepted this reality, but he could not swallow this bitter cup of judgment against the dead man.

FERDINAND MARCOS AND THE BITTER CUP OF JUDGMENT

"Arise, O LORD,
Do not let man prevail;
Let the nations be judged in Your sight.
Put them in fear, O LORD
That the nations may know themselves
     to be but men."-Psalm 9: 19-20



The Supreme Court of the Philippines has spoken: It is legal to bury the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani in Taguig, Metro Manila. Not as a hero, but as a former soldier and former president of the Philippines. The vote was 9-5 in favor of the burial. That was November 8, 2016.

And following the Ilokano tradition for the dead, the body was laid to rest on November 18.

This sparked a storm of protest led by the so-called Yellowtards fanned by disinformation spread by the biased mainstream media like the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN TV Network.

They spew words that only speak volumes of their kind of persons that they are. Such expletives are just "manifestations" of the dysfunction of the egoic mind, such as:

     --"Bury him at the Bataan Nuclear Plant."
     -- Bury him in a landfill."
     -- We will exhume the body."
      --Masarap bigkasin, 'HUKAYIN'

We can still create a new Philippines with open gentle minds and hearts bereft of anger and hate conditioned by past wrongdoings and injustice.

Give us emancipators and true reformers like President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

And compassionate religious leaders who can feel the pain and agony of the Anointed One as he was dying on the cross.

Religious leaders who can weep and see the message of the Christ: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

FERDINAND MARCOS AND THE BITTER CUP OF JUDGMENT

"Arise, O LORD,
Do not let man prevail;
Let the nations be judged in Your sight.
Put them in fear, O LORD
That the nations may know themselves
     to be but men."-Psalm 9: 19-20



The Supreme Court of the Philippines has spoken: It is legal to bury the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani in Taguig, Metro Manila. Not as a hero, but as a former soldier and former president of the Philippines. The vote was 9-5 in favor of the burial. That was November 8, 2016.

And following the Ilokano tradition for the dead, the body was laid to rest on November 18.

This sparked a storm of protest led by the so-called Yellowtards fanned by disinformation spread by the biased mainstream media like the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN TV Network.

They spew words that only speak volumes of their kind of persons that they are. Such expletives are just "manifestations" of the dysfunction of the egoic mind, such as:

     --"Bury him at the Bataan Nuclear Plant."
     -- Bury him in a landfill."
     -- We will exhume the body."
      --Masarap bigkasin, 'HUKAYIN'

We can still create a new Philippines with open gentle minds and hearts bereft of anger and hate conditioned by past wrongdoings and injustice.

Give us emancipators and true reformers like President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

And compassionate religious leaders who can feel the pain and agony of the Anointed One as he was dying on the cross.

Religious leaders who can weep and see the message of the Christ: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST'S VIEW ON WHY FERDINAND MARCOS SHOULD BE BURIED AT THE LIBINGAN

as published on the Manila Standard:

"I do not want one version of history to be absolutized and enshrined as historical dogma. This is the version of those who opposed Marcos, because there is another version of the story (one which I favor) that maintains that he acted in his best lights, as the law and the system at that time allowed, as sins and faults to which all of us must in one way or the other plead guilty!

"My real question is this: What exactly is the opposition to his burial at Libingan nga mga Bayani? By what logic? By what philosophical principle? By what ethical norm? By what legal precept? By what equitable standard?"

---

On November 8, 2016, the Supreme Court, by a vote of 9-5, allowed Ferdinand Marcos, dead for 30 years, to be buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

Alleged Martial Law victims including University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila so-called "activists" staged protest actions slamming the decision of the highest court of the land.

MORE DANGEROUS THAN SMALL-TIME DRUG PUSHERS

The Muslim rebel leader is more dangerous than the drug pushers and drug addicts that Mr. Duterte's police forces kill with impunity in the streets and sub-human dwellings in Metro Manila. When he was in power as chair of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, he lived like an ostentatious Oriental Potentate. He practically stole millions of government funds that would have been spent in projects benefiting economically-deprived Muslim areas in so-called Moro lands.

Welcoming a fugitive from justice, who caused the deaths of thousands in his "war" of liberation, and "lionizing" him in Malacanang leave a bad taste in the mouth. Mr. Duterte's behavior towards Misuari was as detestable as that of Mr. Aquino who received with open arms the corrupt pork barrel queen Janet Napoles in the Palace.

What actually was Nur's war of "liberation" that started in the 1970s? Liberate Muslims from their lands allegedly occupied by Philippine Armed Forces? Or liberate them from poverty because of their kind of social structure or is it religious structure? Changing reality with so-called "noble ideas" accompanied by force has never succeeding in history.  In the Philippine case, it caused deaths and destruction and loss of money, reducing us further to abject poverty.

***

"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."--1 Corinthians 13;2

DUTERTE'S POLITICS OF DISGUST?

We don't understand the President of the Philippines' politics of hate, anger, and, maybe, disgust against the United States, where a great number of Filipinos have immigrated and settled. The more he talks, the more he reveals he has little knowledge about the Americans.

President Duterte's inflammatory statements not only against the US, but also against the United Nations and the European Union are useless and disclose only his ignorance of the theory and practice of international diplomacy, not to say, the nuances and intricacies of geopolitics.

At least 100 village folks, at the blogger' prodding, voted for Mr. Duterte as President in the May elections because they believe he would make a difference. The presidents who came after Ferdinand Marcos--Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada who was ousted for economic plunder; Gloria Arroyo, and Benigno Simeon Aquino III--were all monumental failures.   Now, he has become disgusting.

Is he jeopardizing the Fil-Americans who, at 4 million individuals, comprise the second largest Asian Americans in the United States?

***
The Number one Ilokano Writer of His Generation

Poet, philosopher, teacher, the Ilokano icon is always in his elements writing exquisite lines and thoughts as if plumbing from an inexhaustible source of wisdom, nobility, spirituality.
        

BOB DYLAN AS 2016 Nobel Prize Winner

WHY HIM?

The answer, my friend,  is blowin' in the wind.

CROSSING THE RIVER TO FREEDOM

Freedom from what?

Freedom from fear so you can plan to achieve your goals in life. Freedom to swing your arms, but alert where the other person's nose begins.

Freedom from anything that you can do without as the years go on: beliefs, possessions?

What are these beliefs? Belief in the Almighty God? Belief in the sanctity of marriage? Belief in the karmic law?

What are these possessions that must be thrown away or given to others?

Books, old newspapers and magazines, old shirts, old brand jeans, old brand rubber shoes, diplomas hanging on the walls.

Do you need them when you cross the Great Divide?

Expand, expand. Ideas are not coming. Are they locked somewhere in the mind? Or the ideas are just not there in a corner of the old mind?

****

Quotations from great writers in fiction


"A writer is at his best only when writing within the character and range of deepest sympathies."--Willa Cather

"The job of the fiction writer is simply to make actual the mystery of our position on earth."--Flannery O'Connor

"The greatest poverty is not to live in a physical world, to feel that one's desire is to difficult to tell from despair."--Wallace Stevens

FILIPINO ADOLF HITLER?

     He must have used "Hitler" as hyperbole, or in a sarcastic manner, in describing how he would deal with his country's 3.3 million drug pushers and drug addicts--slaughter them as what Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany did to the 5.5 millions Jews who perished in the Holocaust.He touched a raw nerve and now he is reaping bitter reactions, nay censure, from not only Israel but from the US, the United Nations and Germany.

     He has since apologized to the Jews, not only in the Philippines, but all over the world.

     Nevertheless, somebody should tell President Duterte to moderate his language, especially in the presence of international media who sometimes distort his message in translation. His foul mouth is creating enemies not only for himself but for his country, the Philippines with more than 100 million population, most of whom are poor and living below the poverty line.

ON WRITING AND READING

"Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation, They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life. They feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We re given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping with the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed it over and over again. It is like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together at that ship."--Anne Lamott

****

Why invest time and energy to an activity that exposes you to unnecessary scrutiny?

           Their arguments against the burial of a dead man have become irrelevant. Are they applying the doctrine of half-truths? 

           These discourses are heartless expletives, routinely parroted by like-minded individuals and speak of the kind of persons that they are--unreconstructed human impostors enslaved by time-bounded psychological thinking of simpletons whose minds are in their anuses.

DUA A DANIW A DI NAIRAMAN ITI "UMAYKA MNEN, GANGGANNAET/COME AGAIN, STRANGER"

panaas

Umarubayan dagiti laglagip
iti kasaor ti malem-sardam
idiay Laoag, ditoy Menifee
iti batog ti kidem a langit:
karkarsanna idi ti kadaratan
iti baet ti saraisi ti paraupo
alaenna ti buyuboy, kil-awanna
sana takuen ti litnaw a yallatiw
iti agar-arimasa a malabi. idi kuan,
ballasiwenna ti karayan, ti imnas
a nagduanig, umis-isem ken nagsusuon iti
nasam-it a danum ni ayat--
daytoy ti kaudian nga am-ammangaw,
alimbasag ken tarimbangon
dagiti palimed ken naliday a dandaniw
a mariing kadagiti ulila a parbangon.

***
dagiti saning-i ti sierra*
(para ken ni grace padaca iti pannakapilina a gobernadora ti isabela)

siasino ngamin ti makalagip
kadagitoy a bambanti? dakami
laeng a lingka ti daga,
dakami a mangyarado iti bagbagimi
iti agmatuon idinto nga agkatkatawa
dagiti mangituray iti imeng
dagiti palasioda iti tangatang
idiay manila idiay baguio
idiay tagaytay idiay ballasiw-taaw.
siasino ti makalagip kadaydi a nasipnget a rabii
idiay angadanan ken san isidro
idi rinumekda dagiti sagrado
a pangngeddengmi?
(ay, dagiti natadem a kawwet
ti basingkawel pinisangpisangda dagiti balota
iti atiddog a basilio ti bilegda!)
kasapulan nga agkantakami
ngem uray iti bantay
saan a mabilang dagiti maligsay
a tarumpingay ket alimbasagenkami
iti adu a dissuor dagiti barukongmi.
nalpasen dagiti ublag ken tirtiris
ta nasarakanmi dagiti timekmi
ket sangsangkamaysakami a nangyebkas
iti luksaw ken pungtotmi
kadagiti rabngis iti kalinteganmi.
(Uray no dagiti sayukmo ti rikna
ibatadna met ti kawaw a kararua,)
Ita, mablinmi a panawan dagiti balaymi,
dagiti agdan iti sanggir dagiti kawayan.
dayyengenmi ngarud ngarud ti duayya ti namnama
ken awyaway
ket ti balligim isu met ti kantami.


*naipablaak iti Bannawag, aglinawas a magasin dagiti Ilokano

WHY WASTE PRECIOUS TIME AND RHETORIC WITH YESTERDAY?

     For Riza Hontiveros, the newly-elected Philippine senator, who allegedly distributed books in the public schools in an attempt to educate young Filipinos on martial law and the "evils" of Ferdinand Marcos. Hontiveros, a beneficiary of the Yellow Cult like  
Senator Leila de Lima, and her like-minded supporters have allowed anger and hate to stifle
their true nature as professional human beings.

          "You may give them your love but not
       your thoughts,
          For they have their own thoughts.
          You may house their bodies but not
       their souls,
          For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
       which you can not visit, not even
       in your dreams.
          You may strive to be like them, but seek
       not to make them like you.
          For life goes not backward nor tarries
       with yesterday."--Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet, published in 1923 


     Hontiveros agitating young Filipinos to hate Ferdinand Marcos is no more than Palestinian radicals teaching young generation of Palestinians to become terrorists. 

WHY NO ILOKANO WRITER WINS FIRST PRIZE IN THE PALANCA

At least for the past four years? Was it second or third prizes only?

From the horse's mouth, Apo Agca (Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa), one of the perennial judges of the contest:

"I don't think any of these entries deserves a first prize. A first prize indicates artistic capability, quality of the work, and a clarity of vision and insight.

"The language, generally, is not the best that I expected. It lacks creativity, restraint, elegance, and the capacity to suggest symbolic meaning.

"We must demand more from our Ilokano fictionists. What we have here is the same format we have seen since time immemorial, the same opera-like stories, the same age-old issues that could be solved by using the magic want or uttering abracadabra.

"We are suggesting to our writers, this: Hey, you shape up. We don't award you the first prize because you came in first in the ranking. We are awarding the first prize because that first prize meets all the criteria of a first prize, of the highest prize."

Addendum from the Lebanese spiritual writer Kahlil Gibran who wrote the masterpiece, The Prophet, published in 1923, that he considered his greatest achievement:

"I think I've never been without The Prophet since I fist conceived the book back in Mount Lebanon. It seems to have been a part of me...I kept the manuscript four years before I delivered it to my publisher because I wanted to be sure, I wanted to be sure, that every word of it was the very best I had to offer."

***
"Preach the gospel at all times; whenever it is possible use words."--St. Francis of Assisi

"We live forward but we understand backward." --Kierkegard

We, the Filipino People Report this Injustice and Inequality and Oppression

The Social Security System and Fat Salaries, Fat Bonuses of SSS Officials

How can Emilio Quiroz, Jr., SSS Chief Executive Officer, say as he did that it was moral for him to give P4-M bonus to himself and other high-ranking officials of the pension fund?

SSS pensioners receive as low as P2,000 per month while SSS Vice-presidents receive as high as P4-M each in monthly salaries. Actually, with their fat salaries and bonuses, SSS officials dissipate the pension fund by more than P100-million a month.

****
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."--Albert Camus

"The serious revolutionary, like the serious artist can't afford to lead a sentimental or self-deceiving life."-- Adrienne Rich

"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, author of "The Hour Has Come", a war poem and other poems.

"In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you."--Buddha

"In their own unique way, the Ilokanos are ramparts of the larger and evolving society. With their contributions, the seed of a larger community has been sown and is today beginning to grow and bear fruit."--from "Ladaoan", the Iloko and the Ilokanos"

Ilocos Norte Provincial Capitol in Laoag City, Philippines

SHAKING THE HANDS OF THE CHEATER

All is forgiven, we say, as we shake hands of the cheater. But the facts of the case are still there and stare us in the face. We should always do right under any circumstances. It is not a hard thing to do.
Yes, there is a postscript in the FB photos showing the blogger and the former president of an Ilokano writers' organization in a sort of reconcile mode.It has something to do with an anomalous election for the presidency of the organization. It has been years since, but things are better left unsaid. He and his supporters knew what they did.

****

Give due respect to the present by giving every moment of it your whole attention, doing things as if there is no tomorrow. This may be connected to what Albert Camus said, to wit: "Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present."

Remember Gloria in Excelsis Deo

The drama was there in all its lying beauty, of men and women who spoke for the little woman. What issued from their mouths were lies, lies, simply lies. And you switched channels every time they did their refrain or shut off the TV. Yet there was a corner of the mind that said: defending her was their bread and butter, Yes, like you, they have a job to do.

Dirt was all around. Corruption at the highest levels. We looked, shaking our heads. at her demeanor in front of the people or on television, citing statistics of economic progress. But then why was poverty, as now, all around?

More brown gods fled and were fleeing with their bounty. Jocjoc and his cohorts, the pork eaters, the ZTE broad band bribe takers and a host of other denizens that fed on the people's money.

God was watching? He has always been watching? Yes, the God of small things and the big things, in his white robes. was on his throne looking down?

The eyes of the Almighty are alert, sharp and wide open. He will make judgment: the tablet of decision, harsh, irreversible, will come down from the mountain.

But the highest court of the land let her go, that bitch.

FOUR PLACES (A Cordillera Diary)

     In the late 1980s, the blogger was assigned in Baguio as head of government information in the Cordillera covering the so-called City of the Pines, and the provinces of Benguet and Mt. Province. We had an office at one section of the Baguio City Library at Burnham Park. From here, we planned information programs in cooperation with media and other regional government offices and the military. Our target were the so-called economically-depressed areas, where we would be bringing services--medical and dental and information that includes verbal and written communication (books, posters, pamphlets.) Sometimes we went home late in the night or we spent the night in the mountains with our military escorts. (To be continued)

HOW TO BECOME A MARTYR

   
   

     The sound has its own unstoppable voice and there will be many voices to speak what it says, its truth. We are the many voices. And the stump? It will grow and it will be a tree again in all its glory. Unstoppable. Agree.Disagree.Break this native nightmare and become a martyr, an Antonio Luna or Andres Bonifacio.

AUTHORS OF PERFIDIA

     "Authors of Perfidia" is the title of one of the poems in "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Penablanca Again, Stranger," an anthology of Ilokano and English poems with critical introduction by Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

    The poem was one of those analyzed by Dr. Agcaoili in his lengthy introduction to the book. It hinted of a house of writers that was started but never finished because of alleged anomaly committed by leaders of the organization.

     In the critical introduction, Dr. Agcaoili spoke of the house dreamed by the founder of the writers' group, who had for 13 years hosted the annual affair of writers and would-be writers. It was his wife who made a comment on the "rottenness" of the organization. She said it to the blogger when the later paid a visit to the husband and wife, both of them now dead, in their house by the sea. "Bulok ti gunglo, Peter," she said then. The writers' house was supposed to have been constructed at the lot donated by the couple.

   In the writers' gathering at the Callao Cave, Penablanca, Cagayan, the then president of the organization submitted copies of financial statement or expenses incurred in the construction of Balay ti Gumil.

    During the last day, the blogger questioned the entries in the financial statement. The answers made by the president of the organization was not satisfactory.

     The following was in response to a text message sent to the blogger by a female member of the organization:

     "I did not question JB out of pique regarding the Balay ti Gumil in Suso, Sta, Maria, Ilocos Sur when I raised the questions before the delegates to the annual national conference at Callao, Penablanca, Cagayan in April 2002. It was only for information on how P700,000 was spent for the construction of a supposedly 2-story house. At that time, three concrete walls of the first floor (ground) had been finished along with the flooring of the second floor.

     Here were the entries of said financial statement, in pesos:

    billboard                                            2,500
    initial materials                                 47,050
    labor                                                40,000
    materials and labor                           100,000
    labor                                                  45,000
    materials/labor                                  90,000  

TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS                P489,000
TOTAL BALANCE                               178,349.50

There was a notation (written by JB in long hand that he returned to the organization a total of P183,849.50.) The date, also in long hand, was 9-7-02

Goodbye for Now, Singapore.

Christian Julian and his Lola Estelita and Lola Leticia not far behind.

The 6th wealthiest country in the world, Singapore is a city of a million trees, where every street corner surprise you with something that is unique, where people go about their business, where you can be left alone and see the beauty, the order- even in traffic, rules are the order of the day, no honking of vehicles.

There is always something here that stuns you, reminds you of your country, what it lacks and what it should have, what's wrong with it.

Be charmed by the high-rise structures, the shopping centers, the underground malls and restaurants of many cuisines--Chinese, Indians, Europeans.

****

The preacher from Galilee discovered a river running through eternity--the river of love and life, where mortal enemies can quench their thirst and rid themselves of mutual hate and anger, lies, deceits and subterfuges.

BRITAIN EXITS FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION

     The world's fifth largest economy, exited from the European Union as the results of a referendum among British nationals of the United Kingdom came out stunning the member-countries and other nations. The consequences were immediate: the stocks came falling down and the Singapore dollar, for one, loses its value.

     John Donne, one of its greatest poet must be turning in his grave. It was he who said, in one of his poems, "No man is an island." Actually, that was the title of the poem of the 16th century poet. He even said, "If a clod is washed away by the sea/Europe is the less."

     Will Europe be weakened by Britain's cessation or vice-versa?

     Here is the first part of "No Man Is and Island."

     "No man is an island
     Entire of itself
     Every man is a piece of the continent
     A part of the main."

ART IN POETRY AS ART IN JOURNALISM

   

   

     When the blogger was asked during the launching of his anthology of Ilokano and English poems, "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger," what his book was all about, he told his listeners that it was a presentation of the country's political and social-economic orientation. The statement was made at the Pangil Beach Resort, Currimao, Ilocos Norte,  Philippines, where an international seminar, 11th Nakem  Conference, was held, May 23-25, 2016.

     We shall focus on the country's political situation, where a multiparty system operates and politicians fight for power and control of local and national governments. Journalists are part of the system and the environment and provide information in the shaping of opinions even as they, in their own way, bring out wrongdoings committed by public men. In the process of doing their job, they are threatened, physically and mentally, coerced, and sometimes get killed.

     In a country where there is supposedly unrestrained freedom of the press, journalists are murdered with impunity by hired guns and followers of political warlords. In one such incident in Mindanao, at least 32 journalists were killed in a certain place called Maguindanao in a one-day carnage. Here is the story as recalled in the poem entitled, "The Massacre of Journalists and Other Political Perfidies," which is on page 104 in "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger:"

              "The inner power
               Could not err
               Quote deny not the little woman unquote
               The empress in tandem
               With law cut throats
               Like sunflowers
               And the backhoe was a farmer plowing
               Bloody seeds into the brown earth.
               The newspaper version was a pain
               Thing from Lethe
                    Like the eternal scourge
                    Like the paradoxes of thieves
                    In the summer of their content
                    Like the dream echo
                    Of a surreal world."

So what are the facts in the poem? What are the the 5 Ws, 1H (what, where, when, who, why; how) that guide the journalist in writing a story about, in this case, multi-murders of media persons including civilians? Who is the little woman? What was used in burying the dead?

OTHER VOICES, OTHER DREAMS*

"Agtuloyto ti panagikur-itda/Continue they will write 

Kadagiti pasamak idi kadagiti kalsada/About what happened in the streets
Uray umelto latta dagiti libro/Even if the books remain silent
Iti rikna ken panunotda/On the thoughts and emotions
Idiay Sarrat, Batac, Laoag/In Sarrat, Batac, Laoag
Wenno idiay Pikit ken Victoria.../Or in Pikit and Victoria,,,

....

Ket isuda a nangig-iggem iti rienda/
Agbiagdanto manen uray iti apagkirem
Ta adda met napintas a balikas
A maagsaw kadagiti pinutarda."


"Indeed, this people's domain needs
cleansing cream, new manners, new minds
that, in pursuit of the son, shall burn the
night with liquid fire of gods and high
ambitions: no more ruins to tread this
mid-noon of our separate lives: the swan song
has been sung and the recorder is broken
forever.."

*from the blogger's "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger," anthology of Ilokano and English poems, launched at the Pangil Beach Resort, Currimao, Ilocos Norte during the 11th Nakem International Conference on May 23-25, 2016. 

.

A GREAT CONSPIRACY THAT WOULD DENY FERDINAND "BONGBONG" MARCOS, JR. HIS VICTORY AS VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES?

The blogger noticed this trend in the wee hours of  May 10, when Bongbong Marcos was leading Robredo by close to a million votes. It was allegedly during that time that a personnel of Smartmatic made an unauthorized change in the so-called transparency server of the Commission on Elections.

In a news article by a Philippine News Agency writer entitled "Change made by Smartmatic affected poll results, say IT expert, professor,"

The news item runs thus:

"Information Technology lawyer Rogelio Quevedo, and social science professor Antonio Contreras urged the poll body to conduct a forensic investigation of the entire election system since the integrity of the 2016 elections has been under a cloud of doubt due to the admission that the system had an unauthorized interference by the service provided in the just concluded polls.

"Quevedo, who is a member of the Comelec Advisory Council, pointed out that the mere change in the dash code during the transmission period meant something was not right,

"Although he refused to say whether such change caused cheating in the transmission, it is precisely the reason why Comelec should order an independent forensic investigation to erase all doubts created by the admission of unauthorized change.

"Yung password, yung change ng dash code meant something was not right and the proper step should be for the conduct of a forensic investigation preferably by the Technical Evaluation Committee which I think is quite independent and they are familiar with the vote counting machine technology," Quevedo said.

"For his part, Contreras noted that based on the evaluation he conducted with David Yap, his fellow university professor, revealed that the rise of all the vice-presidential candidates showed a uniform pattern which created a linear line.

"He pointed out that such occurrence was not normal in elections especially when results from all areas were being transmitted at random."

End of news article..  .

LAUNCHING OF "UMAYKA MANEN, GANGGANNAET/COME AGAIN, STRANGER"

     "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger," an anthology of Ilokano and English poems, 2nd edition, will be formally launched, along with the books of Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, in the forthcoming "2016 Nakem Conference" in Pangil, Currimao, Ilocos Norte on May 23-25.

The author as child actor in a drama presentation at the the Spanish-inspired stage at the Laoag Plaza.

     Our eternal gratitude to Apo Dr. Agca, the spark-plug of Nakem Conferences, and Dr. Alegria Tan-Visaya  for the opportunity given to my book of poetry, which has been published in soft cover by Saranay Publications of the esteemed Ilokano writer, Mr. Ariel Sotelo Tabag.

WISDOM FROM THE TOLTEC

The Toltec was an ancient nation or a race that once inhabited Southern Mexico. They were men and women known for their wisdom and tread the spiritual path. Their esoteric knowledge, it is said, was embodied and passed on through lineages of naguals, one of whom is Don Miguel Ruiz, who has written a book entitled The Four Agreements. Excerpt from the book:

"How are we to become a warrior? There are certain characteristic of the warrior that are nearly the same around the world. The warrior has awareness. That's very important. We are aware that we are at war, and the war in our minds requires discipline. Not the discipline of a soldier, but the discipline of a warrior. Not the discipline from the outside to tell us what and what not to do, but the discipline to be ourselves, no matter what." 

ANALYZING THE (1) "NEVER AGAIN " SYNDROME AND THE (2) ANTI-MARCOS MONOLOGUE OF HATE AND ANGER

Syndrome, from the Greek word "concurrence," is a set or group of manifestations and symptoms that 'together are characteristic of a specific disorder, disease' that could be physical or mental or both in combination.

The manifestations have been with them for the past 30 years after the fall of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.  They are smart or cunning, brilliant, brimming with ideas, but for them to repeat these spiels again and again for years speak volumes of minds that refuse to listen to other arguments. Except, of course, their "never again" one-sided narrative of martial law, which is actually a monologue sponsored by the Yellow Media and the Aquino-Cojuangco oligarchy. 

When a person is focused on one thing alone, on one thing alone, he or she does not hear other voices, other things vibrating and pulsating with life.

He or she does not know that there are flowers surrounding him or her. 

They can not smell the fragrance and the beauty that surrounds them in all its glory. 

They can not see poverty and squalor and oppression that have bedeviled the country since they dislodged what they call the dictator from Malacanang.

All they see is Marcos. Marcos in front of them. Marcos behind them. Marcos to the left of them. Marcos to the right of them. Marcos above them.

1.The past and the future are illusions; they don't exist in reality
2.The past should serve as illuminations for the future

ANTHOLOGY OF ILOKANO AND ENGLISH POETRY

The author with the late Kerima Polotan, one of the country's better essayists. (Late 1970s photo)

The Sinking Roman Catholic Church Belltower in Laoag City, Philippines

Contents of the expanded version of "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger"
                                            by Peter La.Julian

Critical Introduction by Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa

Ilokano:

1. Dung-aw III                                              16.
2. Dung-aw II (edited0                               17. Sika a Naumbi a Kanta (new)
3. Ravenna                                                  18. Anastacia, Kasaom ti Bulan (new)
4. Ti Sungbat                                              19. Kelleng (new)
5. Rabii idiay Gamu                                   20. Samtoy Elehia (new)
6.Sapsapulenka                                         21. Dagiti Litania ti Namnama ken                       7.Panaas(new)                                                                  Pannakapaaymi (new)
8.                                                                 22. Nagsaoak Ngem Dika Dimngeg (new)
9.Dagiti Kuddakudda (new)                        23. Ti Babai iti Minuyongan (new)
10.                                                                24.Denggemto Sadi Langit (new)
11. Dagiti Saning-i iti Sierra (new)                       25. Dagidi (new)
12.Sarsarita idi Ugma (new)                        26. Ti Maikadua nga Iyaay (new)
13. Ti Kabusor                                             27. Dagiti Sirmata iti Isusuknal (new)
14. Panaguummong                                     28. Dagiti Ipalagip dagiti Saguday (new)
15.Iti Daytoy a Pagiliam                              29. Elehia ken ni Arturo M. Padua (new)

30. Adan (new)
31. Ti Mata ti Lubong (new)
32. Lipaten nga Intanemda a Bannuar (new)
33. Padsan: Maysa a Sirmata

English:

1. Renata, Hold the World Together
2.Notes to Ben Castillo
3. In Your Country
4. Suddenly, It's Evening
5. The Massacre of Journalists and other Political Perfidies (new)
6.Today Arrives the Fall of Doloroso Dans
7. Where Have All the Flowers of Edsa Gone? (new)
8. Authors of Perfidia (A Refrain, Lorenzo, a refrain) (new)
9. Elegy
10, Notes to Josefino Zabala, Ex-Future Nationalist Writer
11. Come Again, Stranger, and Discover These Isles
12. Filipino Sunday Catholics (new)
13. Ethiopia in Negros, But not Vice-Versa
14. The Last Day of Wintry Weather (new)
15. The Saddest Poems (new)
16, Native Crabs in American Work Places(new)
17.  A War of Long Ago (new)

Part of the introduction of Pelagio Alcantara, former regional director of the San Fernando City based Philippine Information Agency, in the first edition, will be included and will be printed after the English poems

The book, in soft cover, was published by Saranay Publicationd of Mr. Ariel Tabag. It will be launched during the Nakem Conference at Pangil, Currimao, Ilocos Norte on May 23-25, 2016. Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili, sparkplug of Nakem Conferences has given his "imprimatur". I hope to make contact with Dr. Alegria Tan-Visaya, one of the leaders of the Pangil Nakem Conference.

The Marcos years and martial law as a novel of multiple characters, multiple actions, multiple settings, multiple themes.

The Marcos years and martial law is not a kind of sudden fiction that can be compressed in a 2-3 pages of narrative, with few scenes, characters, action and a single theme.

EDSA1 is not what the Yellow Army-Aquino Oligarchy Media try to portray as glorifying achievement of the Aquinos--father, the talkative politician Benigno Aquino, Jr. and her wife Corazon and son Benigno III. Cory was not even at EDSA when the 2-day so-called Bloodless Revolution took place--she was in Cebu. So why was she proclaimed as icon of democracy?

Benigno, Jr. ,Benigno III and Corazon were creations of this media--the paid hacks promoted shamelessly that Aquino, Jr. is a hero, when, in fact and in truth, he was a traitor to this country as was his father before him who collaborated with the Japanese Imperial Forces in World War II.

With the above cold bloody facts as part of Philippine history and the Marcos-martial law narrative, it would be unfair if we only have two contending forces in this sudden fiction--Marcos as the antagonist and the father-mother-son as the heroes, defenders and protectors of the oppressed Filipinos. The Aquinos leading the  entire Filipino nation against the evil Ferdinand Marcos?

The Marcos years and martial is a long, long narrative of heroes and anti-heroes, traitors like Juan Ponce Enrile, Fidel Ramos, Gregorio Honasan, the Aquinos and the paid hacks of the Yellow Media.

Shall we make use of hyperbole and other tools of fiction to exaggerate the pain and suffering of the victims, who have been paid, at least some of them, for their "heroic" roles in opposing Marcos and his martial law whose administrators and enforcers were the so-called living heroes of Edsa 1? By the way, why was Corazon Aquino not in Edsa during the two-day February 1986 that toppled Ferdinand Marcos?

The false dichotomy reflects egoistic delusions of individuals that don't believe in possibilities and transformations the way Saul, the number one persecutor of Jesus Christ, underwent when he saw the light on his way to Damascus.

ON MR. PACQUIAO'S DIATRIBE AGAINST GAYS

"Hearts are breakable," Isabelle said. "And I think even when you heal, you're never what you were before." --Cassandra Clare, City of Fallen Angels.
***
The problem of the Filipino mind, at least that of the 2 percent of the population that toppled Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, is that it is too analytic and does not deal with possibilities and inner transformations. It is more aware of the past than that of the present moment--the here and there of what they call the "peoples' victory" that kept Filipinos bondage until now.

This analytical mind says, Ferdinand Marcos was a Hitler; therefore, his son is a Hitler. Look, Sergio Osmena: This is a false logic because it has a false premise. 

Who is Hitler? Does this puerile Filipino mind know him or his first name or what he did to 6 million Jews in World War II? Does this mind knows Hitler's ideology?  

It could not be that hundreds of professors in that Christian university have one captive, sterile mind that, like Mr. Pacquiao, has no room for the values of their supposed spiritual path:  love, charity and understanding. It could not be that they, too,  fell prey to the obsolete refrain, the Anti-Marcos Monologue of  Hate and Anger,  that the Yellow Media have been playing for the past 30 years.

*** Who was the writer who said that we must translate our psychic wounds into significant art or thought?

Multiple issues can be connected to the Honorable Emmanuel Pacquiao's diatribe against gays in his 30-second statement regarding them. The Philippine boxing legend, a member of Congress, left the Roman Catholic Church and joined another Christian group. His mentors in the latter must have succeeded in indoctrinating him certain beliefs that he must also preach to others to gain adherents.

But Mr.Pacquiao's faith as a Christian does not give him the license to crucify gays, for they, too, are created, like him, in the image of God.  And, who knows, these gays are also Christians like him. Was it necessary to describe them as "worse than animals" with respect to their sexual orientation?

Given his stature as a boxing icon and representative of the, people in the Philippine Congress, would he have not used a more civilized language to drive home his point? We speak here of prudence, tact, savoir faire in dealing with sensitive issues like homosexuality.

As a boxing hero to Filipinos and the world, would he have been more heroic in defending the rights of gays because, they, too, have rights like any other children of God?

Instead of denigrating them, would he have been more generous--not with his riches--but with the values of the spiritual path, he said, he has been treading?

"Worse than animals." Words are things and sharp, as sharp as the sharpest kitchen knife, and cut deep inside. I hope that my nephew Gerry understand my issue against Mr. Pacquiao. It's not about marriage between man and woman. It's not about same sex marriage. It's about name-calling that takes away the person's dignity whether he is gay or straight, or whether she is a lesbian or a real woman.

Mr. Pacquiao's homophobic rhetoric before and after is wilting as he goes berserk with Bible verses to defend his cause. It appears he has a weak Bible background and there is a need for him to seek experts on the Scriptures in his Bible-preaching.

For the Bible-quoting boxer:

"As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
   so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor." (New International Version of the Bible)

In a more confrontational rendition, the verse says: One fly destroys a bottle of perfume.

Also, Mr. Pacquiao's Romanized name Emmanuel means in Hebrew, "God with us" (Immanuel).

As foretold:

Isaiah 7:14-16 says: So the Lord Himself will give you a special thing to see: A young woman who had never had a man will give birth to a son. She will give him the name Immanuel. He will eat milk and honey when he knows enough to have nothing to do with wrong-doing and chooses good....

Cross reference: Matthew 1:22-23--This happened as the Lord said it would happen through the early preacher. He said, "The young woman, who has never had a man, will give birth to a Son. They will give him the name Immanuel. This means God with us."

POWER OF MINDFULNESS OR BEING IN THE PRESENT

How do we carry ourselves in high-pressure moments when our behavior is put to the test in a life-changing situation? Are the forces within harnessed properly and we emerge with flying colors? Or we just fold up, lose our mind despite preparations and go away and on our way out, this idea that could have saved us from the tight situation suddenly appears, but it's too late.

Books by inspirational authors give methods and illustrate ideas that give you the confidence to achieve your goals and be in control of the situation instead of the situation taking control of you. 

Just like that? As easy as eating an apple pie? We also speak of bad habits here in the way Jack Canfield, the co-creator of "Chicken Soup for the Soul," perceive and get rid of them. So can we get rid of a habit overnight? Not all the time. It takes at least a hundred days to change a habit, he said.

Personal transformation takes time and discipline. And it is not a hit-and-run affair.

But let's go back to that precious present when we are supposed to be in our best elements, or, shall we say are our best selves. There is a book here, recently published, by Amy Cuddy, one of the best speakers of a forum of spreading ideas. 

The title of the book is "Presence," a well-researched presentation on the subject, which the blogger purchased at a Wal-mart store in Lake Elsinore at the discounted price of $19.58. In the jacket, Jane McGonigal, author of "Reality Is Broken,"says about the book, "Reading this book will forever change how you carry yourself, and in doing so, it will make you braver, bolder, and better able to show up for all of your life's greatest opportunities."

However, the quotation below is not from the "Presence" but from the book by Lama Surya Das entitled "Letting Go of the Person You Used To Be." The quotation is by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese spiritual teacher:

"Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you can not live the moment of your daily life deeply. That is why those who are not capable of being there in the present moment, they don't really live their lives--they live like dead people, like the French writer Camus used to say. That is why if you know the techniques of mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, you can bring your mind back to your body and you become truly alive at every moment and that can be described as the practice of resurrection. Resurrection can be at every moment for life to be possible." 

Exercise of Political Power Against the Powerless

Some of them are now in their seventies and 80s. They would have received a P2,000 across-the board increase of their measly Social Security System monthly pension which is as low as P1,200. But the President of the Philippines rejected such hike.

Aquino, in his public statement as quoted in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, said he was "heartless to the pensioners" preferring to be kind to those 31 million projected member-pensioners in 2024 or earlier. This is a heartless comment against them who will not live long. This son of an oligarch does not know suffering and deprivation.

Did his economic advisers apply the wrong algorithm or did they simply follow the equation and calculus and extrapolation but came out with the wrong figures? Did they not consider other variables like deaths of present workers enrolled in the system or members quitting because of immigration or going into business?

He swallowed the advice hook, line and sinker of the present crop of SSS managers and functionaries, who will also retire, not as SSS but GSIS members, and given their gargantuan salaries, will receive mind-boggling pensions. These people he appointed are actually depleting the pension funds by giving to themselves P1-M bonuses and other allowances.

He chose to be kind to people in the future, who will outlive him, this intellectual imbecile who should not have been president of his country.

What Aquino did to the pension hike was a violent exercise of mindless power against the powerless--the suffering, ailing, starving retirees who also contributed to the SSS pension fund during their time.

FLASH FICTION

First Sentences:

She was jogging on the pavement across the road, a wisp of a girl in black sneakers, black pants and black sweatshirt, a white cap on her head. For a brief moment, she looked in my direction. Hey, but the face looked familiar: Estrella de la Cruz?  It was not my intention to wave at her, but when I did she waved back and I thought I heard a voice that spoke of angels in the heavens.

Walking-jogging in LA.

Marga Denise Julian in Oscariz, Ramon, Isabela




"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life."--Anne Lamott

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Jack Canfield, co-creator of the best-selling "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series, said that some people aren't as successful as they'd like to be because they haven't decided what they want. "They are living their life by default and not by design."

Canfield is also the author of "The Success Principles: How to Get From Where to Where You Want To Be."

In an interview with a US newspaper last year, Canfield discussed some of the success principles, which include the following:

1, Take 100 percent responsibility for your life.

     This means that you should not blame others--Congress, their parents, their children, their boss, their employees- " for the parts of their lives they don't like."

     Canfield said that about 85 percent of our behavior is habit, and it takes about 100 days to change a habit or behavior. So the key, he said, is to change your behavior for a different outcome.

2. Take Action

     Canefield says that if you take action, you trigger all kinds of things that will eventually carry you to success.

3. Develop Four New Success Habits a Year

Blogger and wife Estelita on a night out in Las Vegas

     Canefield says it takes about three months to change a habit. But, he adds, you have to change one habit at a time.

     The bad habits that need to be broken include: procrastinating; not delivering on documents and promised services; arriving late for meetings and appointments; talking over other's comments instead of listening.

4. Commit to Constant and Never-Ending Improvement

     Canefield says that successful people are extremely curious and commit to learning something new everyday. "They are often voracious readers," he says. "I do something daily called the Hour of Power--20 minutes of meditation, 20 minutes of exercise, and 20 minutes of reading. If you do that basically you are going to be calmer, healthier and more aware when you interact with people."

5. Be a Class Act

     Canefield says that class acts places better than they find them. He enumerates some examples of what to strive for: Maintain dignity and grace under pressure. Counteract meanness, pettiness and vulgarity.

     
****

"It is not fashionable to teach college students to develop their spiritual life. Many university educations leave students virtually undeveloped in the most meaningful part of their existence. Indeed, some seriously damage what Christian convictions students may have had."--Oral Roberts, from his address to the first class of Oral Roberts University, September 7, 1965.

"And we should consider everyday lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least a laugh."--Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra