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Thursday, May 18, 2023
Petal power - An ode to the flowers of May
BY AA PATAWARAN
May 17, 2023 08:35 PM
I will take inspiration from a flower, in eternal bloom, for if it has wilted, is it still a flower? The remains of a flower, a dead flower maybe, but is it still a flower when it is no longer in bloom?
I say flower—and you think petals unfurled, in vivid reds, or blushing pinks, or virgin whites, or sunshine yellows, sometimes blue or violet or orange, the full spectrum. We don’t think brown and brittle like fallen leaves that we can crush to bits, crackling like crackers, when we hold them in our hand or step on them as we walk down the street strewn with poetry in deep caramels and delicate beiges under an arch of slumbering trees.
In her wake flowers shoot forth, a dance bursts out, harmonies awaken, and choirs of devils, nymphs, satyrs, spirits, country maidens, angels, and shepherds dance, shake tambourines, gesticulate wildly, and lay tribute at the goddess’s feet.
—Jose Rizal, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not)
Flowers are forever. In their period of wilting, their colors remain ablaze in our mind’s eye, their petals soft and velvety, their scent lingering. A short memory is all we need for in the nature of flowers life follows death follows life follows death follows life... whether in the cultured gardens, or in our potted paradise, or in the wild. Everlasting is the woman who walks with a spring in her step—and a garland of daisies in her hair.
Little wonder a single long-stemmed rose can perk us up as much as a bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley, as much as lavender buds and chamomile flowers sprinkled on top of the water in our bathtub or a carpet of rose petals on the walkway. There is a sonnet tucked in a crystal vase on the corner table. There is a rainbow perched on the windowsill. There’s a burst of sunshine climbing the fence. There’s hibiscus flowering in your teacup. Between the pages of your chosen novel, pressed hydrangeas and Queen Anne’s lace bookmark your progress, dead as in dead, but alive and abloom as you remember them.
Carry, carry, O flowers,
my love to my loved ones, peace to my country and its fecund loam, faith to its men and virtue to its women, health to the gracious beings that dwell within the sacred paternal home.
—Jose Rizal, ‘To the Flowers of Heidelberg
Were they an expression of love? Were they a note of tenderness? Did you pluck them out of a wreath delivered by courier in a tribute to your achievement? Did someone sling them over your head in a lei that tickled the back of your neck? Or did you pick them off the tree or the plant or the shrub on an afternoon walk, pressing them gently on your nose to get a whiff of the wonderful world? Ah, the language of flowers! How articulate is beauty! How eloquent is silence! Hushed as baby blue eyes in the meadows. Magniloquent as a bird-of-paradise.
A flower holds the answer: He loves me, she loves me not, she loves me, he loves me not... Like a symbol of faith hung like a sampaguita chain on the statue of a saint. All the secrets of the universe are embodied in a single bloom that draws its revelations from light that travels 169,600,000 kilometers from the sun and from the water of life deep in a primeval pool underground. It is speckled with stardust, colored by the entire history of the planetary system, nourished by the good Earth, and worshipped by the birds and the bees on a nectarine feast. Was that the guru Deepak Chopra who said, “In this rose, behold the universe!” as he raised a rose to the view of his audience in Manila decades back, just as we began to embrace New Age lessons as children of a loving, forgiving, generous God who was not above us but within us?
But don’t expect thanks and laurels, crowns of flowers and laurels are the inventions of free people. But perhaps your children may gather the fruit of what the father planted.
—Jose Rizal, Letter to Blumentritt
People are like flowers—we bloom, we wilt, we live, we die. Unlike flowers, however, we can bring as much darkness as we can bring light to Earth’s every corner, death as much as life, mourning like white chrysanthemums at a funeral or bright and cheery like sunflowers at a baby shower. But unlike flowers, there is a chance some of us cannot fully unfurl who we are, unfolding like petals the outside of us to bring out the inside that needs sunshine, moonbeams, and starlight, earth, wind, water, and fire. All in a clamor to return to Eden, which is, in fact, what life is like even now, if we only learn to stop and smell the flowers.
(These photos have been taken during the author’s ongoing exploration of springtime in Türkiye.)
OPM stars shine for children with critical illnesses
BY MANILA BULLETIN ENTERTAINMENT
May 17, 2023 10:14 PM
AT A GLANCE
Every year on April 29, the Make-A-Wish community in over 50 countries celebrates World Wish Day to commemorate the anniversary of the first wish that inspired the creation of the organization more than 40 years ago in Arizona, USA. Make-A-Wish Philippines is celebrating it this year by holding its first-ever Wish Ball in the country.
When a wish is granted, everything aligns to shine hope, strength, and joy. The Make-A-Wish Philippines Wish Ball, entitled “Where Stars Align," prepared a magical evening!
Last April 29 at The Peninsula Manila Hotel, the Philippines’ brightest music stars – Jamie Rivera, Basil Valdez, and other surprise guests – came together to help raise funds to grant the wishes of children with critical illnesses.
Video to teaser: https://youtu.be/QXBCeQZUMoU
Co-presented by Blogapalooza and Wish FM 107.5, this formal charity gala was hosted by Teresa Herrera and Rovilson Fernandez. It featured inspiring stories from wish kids, as well as performances from Auriz Llorens, Rox Puno, Justin Taller, and Danimei Everett with the Make-A-Wish PH Kids & Genies Choir. In addition, there was a special Blue Carpet pre-show by hosts Chal Maling and Ryan Tresplacios live on
Make-A-Wish Philippines; Facebook page. Guests enjoyed a special four-course dinner prepared by The Peninsula Manila.
Every year on April 29, the Make-A-Wish community in over 50 countries celebrates World Wish Day to commemorate the anniversary of the first wish that inspired the creation of the organization more than 40 years ago in Arizona, USA. Make-A-Wish Philippines is celebrating it this year by holding its first-ever Wish Ball in the country.
For more information, and to book your tickets, please visit www.wishes.ph, scan the QR codes, or contact 09159573020.
Truth is not just about facts and data
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By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Chaplain
Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)
Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
MUCH less is truth about a certain view or choice that may be supported by a majority of the people. Truth can only be found in God when the Spirit of Truth shows us what truth is.
We are reminded of this very important aspect of our life when in the gospel of St. John, Christ said that the Spirit of Truth “will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears and will declare to you the things that are coming.” (Jn 16,13)
To know the truth and to be in the truth are a matter of being discerning of what the Holy Spirit tells and shows us. In short, we cannot know and be in the truth unless we follow what the Spirit tells us.
We just cannot rely on facts and data and a majority vote to be in the truth. Understanding truth that way, without the inspiration of the Spirit, would just lead us to be deceived in a way that can be most subtle and convincing. But the result or the effect of such misunderstanding of truth would only be greater division among us or some harm.
Somehow, we can verify the effect of such misunderstanding of truth just by looking at how there is now a lot of division and misunderstanding among ourselves in spite of the tremendous developments we have in the sciences and the technologies. We can have a glut of facts and data and we can make choices by majority vote, and still the truth would elude us.
Facts and data need a proper spirit for them to serve the cause of truth. We need to realize that truth in the context or setting of our human condition needs a proper spirit. Without considering the proper spirit, they can only be used—or misused—by all sorts of possible human motives that in the end may not be right for us, or may just be self-serving to some of us but harmful to others.
The truth that comes from the Spirit of truth obviously can make use of facts and data and the results of some majority vote, but it will always be a dynamic one that in end would lead us to our ultimate goal in life—our own salvation, our attainment of the fullness of our human dignity as children of God, sharers of his divine life and nature.
We can ask the question: how can we see the truth amid our unavoidable biases and other conditionings that affect how we see, judge and react to things? The simple answer is to be like Christ who himself said that he is “the way, the truth and the life.”
Thus, in the gospel cited above, Christ clearly said that the Spirit of truth “will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason, I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” (Jn 16,14-15)
We obviously need to adjust our understanding of what truth is and of how we can be in the truth. To know and to be in the truth need to be pursued in the context of our relation with God through Christ in the Spirit. They just cannot be achieved through pure science or reliance on facts, data and majority vote!
Sicherung der Rente: Die Spielräume werden kleiner - aber es gibt sie noch
Politik-Redakteur Sebastian Horsch über die Rente: Die Spielräume werden kleiner © agefotostock/Imago/Montage
Von: Sebastian Horsch, Merkur
Das Rentensystem steht unter Druck: Auch wenn der demografische Wandel doch günstiger ausfällt als bisher erwartet, so wird er dennoch zur schweren Aufgabe - und fordert ein Handeln der Politik, meint Politik-Redakteur Sebastian Horsch.
Neue Zahlen machen der Rente Mut. Die Bevölkerungsentwicklung könnte günstiger ausfallen als lange angenommen. Kommt es so, wäre der demografische Wandel zwar immer noch ein Problem – aber eines, das man einschätzen kann. Alles würde auf einen erneuten Alterungsanstieg herauslaufen, wie ihn die Rentenversicherung schon zwischen 1990 und 2010 überstanden hat.
Sind all die Diskussionen über höhere Beiträge oder ein späteres Rentenalter damit hinfällig? Zur Wahrheit gehört: Spurlos am Land und am Rentensystem vorbeigegangen sind derartige demografische Veränderungen auch in der Vergangenheit nicht. Ganz im Gegenteil. Zwischen 1990 und 2010 lag neben anderem die Einführung der Riester-Rente und die Absenkung des Rentenniveaus – es wurden neue Abschläge eingeführt und der Steuerzuschuss des Bundes erhöht. Dazu kommt, dass sich auch die positive wirtschaftliche Entwicklung der vergangenen Jahre samt stetigem Beitragszahlerzuwachs wohl nicht einfach so unbegrenzt fortsetzen lässt.
Die Spielräume werden also kleiner. Aber noch gibt es welche. Bei der Beschäftigung Älterer ließe sich zum Beispiel mit klug gesetzten Anreizen noch mehr erreichen, um das System zu entlasten. Auch mit einer strukturierteren Zuwanderungspolitik, die vor allem darauf ausgelegt ist, diejenigen zu uns zu holen und in den Arbeitsmarkt zu integrieren, die unsere Wirtschaft braucht, könnte die Politik viel in die richtigen Bahnen lenken. Ob sich die Ampel dazu durchringen kann, ist offen.
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