Acknowledging the past... It should be done, right?

I once encountered a student who told the class "I don't care much for the events of World War 2 because my parents and grandparents weren't involved so we don't ever talk about it." I was shocked to hear this, but more so saddened. To live your life with only the knowledge of what's in front of you, never curious or caring about your heritage... Isn't this how history is forgotten?

I've been reading a lot in the past few weeks about the Philippines. As I dig through articles about the Marcos era, I encounter so many present day articles written because of his controversial life, some including slurs and name-calling of either supporters or opposers, heavy biases, propaganda, and anger... Oh the anger! It has been difficult for me to understand. And it indeed causes me concern (and even anxiety) about the future of the Philippines and of the Filipino (by nationality or heritage). 

This essay by Rio Renato Constantino has been probably one of the better things I've read in the last few days. It is subjective, opinionated and passionate, yet there is something about it that captivates me in a positive way. Could it be that I've read so many "articles" with slang and swear words, attacks on one kind of person or another, that I lost hope in the sanity of the Filipino people? Perhaps. Mr. Constantino writes with a clarity that I think many of us need to find again. 

 

Thank you, Mr. Constantino, for showing me, and other old people like me, that your youth will not dictate your intelligence and your respect for Filipino history. As long as young people like you continue to open your minds, are aware of what is happening around you, and never stop thinking, you will surely be a beacon for the future. Happy belated birthday. 

http://interaksyon.com/article/131426/essay--dissonance-and-the-marcos-burial-issue

Here goes nothing!: Politics. Philippines. I have no idea. Yikes.

As a child, my understanding of my heritage was simple. My best example is about food. Since my mom is Filipino, and she cooks food, anything she makes (including perogies or cornbread) I considered "Filipino food." Ah, silly, simple, young me.

And then I reached grade 4. We had to cover current events in class. I had no idea what that meant. I watched "Kids news" on KVOS12 at almost 8am every weekday morning before finishing breakfast and heading to school. They reported mostly about positive events, and sometimes community events. I felt like I was always in the know for local news. But school-worthy current events had to be bigger than the puppy parade happening this coming weekend. So I asked my parents to help. I ended up reading an article about the former Filipino president Ferdinand Marcos and some of the many bad things he'd done. I can't remember the details. All I understood was that this type of person should have probably not been the ruler of a country. I had a hard time with the article. I did poorly for my report. I thought it was because I wasn't really a Filipino. I struggled to understand Canadian politics, so Filipino politics was surely too advanced for me. And of course, my only connection to the Philippines were the long distance phone calls my parents would have to make at odd hours of the day... They would speak in Tagalog or Kapampangan, but talk more loudly and slowly than usual so I could catch on to the conversations. I probably only understood 50% of what was happening. I ended up being quite discouraged about my heritage. Can you blame me though? My parents left that country for a reason. I often heard it wasn't a safe place to raise a family. So I was not in a rush to learn more, or even to try and prove them wrong.

Fast-forward to today. I'm an adult. I read the news all the time. I do my best to understand all sorts of politics. And yet, I feel just as confused as I was in grade 4 when it comes to the Philippines. Again. 

I know I don't know enough about my heritage. I strive to learn, but it confuses me endlessly. Lately, I see my Facebook feed split over the politics in the Philippines. And of course it's about my first ever current events subject matter, Marcos. Those of you like me know it's tough asking any grandparents, parents, aunties or uncles about the Marcos era. There's too much emotion tied to their generations and his reign. It's pretty tough to find legit articles to read too. I feel like there's no such thing as writing without a bias when it comes to the Philippines. 

My need to understand is driving me to redeem my fourth grade self and do some independent research on Marcos. I already gathered why people don't like him. But I would like to read for myself why he was so ethically and morally unsound. I will also search to understand why there are people who like him. I'll eventually look for archives and microfiches at the library. For now, I'll dig online. 

This article I found was originally published in The New York Times in January of 1986 by Jeff Gerth. It talks about Marcos' wartime role in the Philippines, and how it was all discredited. It's long and thorough. It only tells part of what his controversial life was about. If you read it, let me know what you think about it. I haven't read anything as informative as this about Marcos before so I'm quite happy to now have some of this info in my brain. 

http://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/23/world/marcos-s-wartime-role-discredited-in-us-files.html?pagewanted=1

forgiveness

this school year started out with a major change: a new principal. he's a super cool guy. i can't even begin to explain how much he cares about this school. all i know is that it shows in everything he does.

so one of the roles as a principal is to write out the monthly newsletter. at our school, we have themes for each month to help us focus on our lives as good Chrstians. march's theme is forgiveness. here's a few little excerpts of what he wrote:
"Holding grudges, being angry and resentful, or storing up anger in our hearts can consume a person."
"We say, for example " Well, I'll forgive but I won't forget". What if God said that to us? We say: "I'll forgive, but I'll have nothing more to do with you". Fortunately for us, He does not. He forgives us because he loves us from his heart."
"... forgiveness is not an act. It is an attitude - an attitude that is born of the fact that we Christians, who have been forgiven a debt we could never pay, are to go out into the world, armed with the spirit of forgiveness. Wow. That's quite a mandate. But we can do it: one act of forgiveness at a time."


now how this relates to my life. well, i guess i'm guilty of doing the whole "forgive but don't forget" for some things that have happened... but it's not to say that i don't try to forget. at least i don't hate the person who did me wrong. i just hurt deeply. however in the end, forgiveness IS a very good thing.
on the other end of things, it TOTALLY SUCKS when you try to live your life being as forgiving as you're able to, and then you encounter someone who just doesn't live that way. and then you get hated on. the practical side of me tells me to just walk away and never deal with that person (or those kind of people) ever again. but it just doesn't feel right. i don't like living every day knowing that someone just hates me. my instinct is to try and fix it. to think any more about it might lead me to believe that forgiveness is futile... i don't think i have the stomach to accept that though.

my conclusion is this: we have to perpetuate the good first. only then will the good will manifest itself to us in its own way, in its own time. the time it takes is penance for people to realise their mistakes and recovery for people to heal. the haters will recognise, then come around. i'll just keep telling myself that.

got church?

so did you know that catholics are required to go to church on 2 days out of the year, no matter what day it falls on?... yeah i just found that out in december. so the first day is, of course, christmas. that one's a gimme. the second one i didn't guess. i really thought it was easter. but now, upon reflection, easter is always on a sunday, so catholics would typically be there. the second day is new years day.

so yesterday evening, after i got back from shopping with the girls at the seattle premium outlets, i went to church at the cathedral downtown. i usually go to the 8pm mass when i go there. i've been there enough times that i know there are vagrants pan handling in that area. those people aren't so bad... it's the junkies that are not so pleasant. they just want money. no food or coffee even if you're offering to buy it for them. it's so bad that even the priests say that we should refrain from giving any pan handlers around there coins because it encourages them and the junkies to be there, and it's not so safe for anyone else to be there. it sounds mean, but i kinda agree with the priests. it got so bad in that area that there were even drug busts in the cathedral. now that i think of it, i am pretty sure i wrote of another incident at the cathedral i had... it's somewhere in my blog.

but i digress...
last night at mass, when we were standing to say the our father, i noticed someone moving to my right, across the aisle. a vagrant had slipped in the church, stepped into the pew at the end behind a woman, and took her purse which she had left unattended on her seat as she stood. it happened SO fast! the lady in the pew behind her was holding her child but noticed the man who had slipped in and out so she alerted the first woman. the woman was so shocked, she got out as quickly as she could to chase the man. i really hope she found her stuff.

i guess there are a lot of things you can take out of this blog. what i was getting at is that there are just so many people who don't go to church enough to know what the deal is anymore. i'm not out to convert people, but i do believe that you gotta be aware of the changes around you. i bet those people who show up for the three times a year that they do at church must think that the churches are full! here's news for you: it's only full three times a year! and there are still those who wonder why the world seems to be headed to hell in a handbasket.

it's just a diversion!

merry christmas or happy holidays?

yeah i wasn't even gonna justify this debate with an opinion of my own, but i'll point out what my 7th graders said:

"saying happy holidays might make people confused. how do you know that they wouldn't be talkin about halloween or something?"

"i'd say happy holidays. that way, you can say it to everyone and be respectful of their beliefs."

"i'd say merry christmas because i'm catholic and that's what i celebrate. you shouldn't get offended if someone says that to you. if someone were to say happy chanukka to me, i wouldn't be offended."

my conclusion on this "newsworthy" debate is that it doesn't matter what you're celebrating this season. the whole idea is to be happy about whichever occasion you honour. i don't recall a particular event in december where it's required to promote segregation and hatred towards those who are different. maybe it's a typical sentiment in some places regardless of the occasion. what bugs me about this whole thing is that because it's in the news, the kids are getting asked about it too. is the goal for them to grow up to be even more self-conscious than they already are? i tell you, there are some higher-powers out there who love to fuel insecurity and uncertainty in other people's lives. haters.

however, i must say, i like it that my kids think the way they do. for a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds, they're pretty open-minded. not once did i hear them say anything that implied one thing is better than the other. they found positive things about both sayings. i hope the society they grow up in helps nurture their open-mindedness rather than suppress it.

a little perspective ;op

this was forwareded to me, courtesy of the 7th grade teacher at my school. chew on it.

Teachers get paid way too much! I'm fed up with teachers and their hefty salary schedules. What we need here is a little perspective.

If I had my way, I'd pay these teachers myself! I'd pay them babysitting wages. That's right! Instead of paying these outrageous school taxes, I'd give them $3 an hour out of my own pocket. And I'm only going to pay them for five hours, too... not for any coffee breaks. That would be $15 a day. Yup. Each parent should pay $15 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their child. Even if they have more than one child, it's still a lot cheaper than private day care.

Now, how many children do they teach every day? Maybe 25? That's $15x25=$375 a day. But remember, those darn teachers only work 180 days a year! I am not going to pay them for all those vacations! Now, let's see... $375x180=$67,500. (Hey, wait a minute, I think my calculator needs new batteries.)

I know, I know... some teachers will whine "But what about those of us who have 10 years experience and a Master's degree?" Well, maybe (to be fair) they could get the minimum wage, and instead of just baby-sitting. And maybe they could read the kids a story while they're at it, too. We could round that off to about $5 an hour, times five hours, times 25 children. That's $625 a day times 180 days. Let's see... that's $112,500... HUH?!?

Wait a minute, let's get a little perspective here. Maybe baby-sitting wages are too good for these teachers. Hey... did anyone see a salary schedule around here?

(Sorry, source unknown.)

P.S. Try reversing the above approach: Figure out, using your salary, what you are paid per child per hour. No baby sitter of any age would even think of working for that amount of money!

being a teacher... in the public school system

so people ask me what i think about this whole teachers on strike situation. here's what i've come up with:

what sucks:

- the kids are losing the opportunity to learn by not being in class. mind you, i can say from experience that given the opportunity, kids won't always be in "learning mode" when you find them in a classroom.
- people who've just gotten a permanent teaching job (vs. being a TOC) this september (or october in some cases) have barely had the chance to get used to actually being an all out teacher.
- the government is being jacked up for not recognizing how important the public school system should be to them... just because you go to (or send your kids to) a public school doesn't mean you're blue-collar or lower.
- i work in an independant school. don't be fooled, we're not some hoity-toity bling bling sorta school. we still have apple computers from 1989 being used in our IT portion of our curriculum! although we have "better" working conditions, it's really not that great. we still have needs that won't be met, purely because of lack of funds, and i don't think that the government notices us as much either.

what's good about it (currently):
- nothing. if you watch the news, you see how they wanna put all sorts of legal crap on the union leaders and whoever they're affiliated with so that the teachers will just shut up and go back to work.

what would be good about it (if it all works out):
- the government (and anyone else who thinks the teachers are being selfish) will realize that to have a better future for our kids, you'll have to provide them with the best opportunities in their learning years. it's not like money grows on trees. schools are always trying to find ways to raise funds, but it's not enough. everything's expensive. and everyone knows that the government is the one with the most power to help the schools get on their way to giving the optimal learning experience to our country's youth.

i could go on about how this strike is costing the kids this or the teachers that or whatever else... but it's not like the teachers a doing this for fun. i have yet to hear of a teacher who is enjoying this strike.

and i feel bad that the kids' education is suffering being out of class, but how much better is it when they're actually in class? how much will your child learn if the teacher is busy doing crowd control for a class of 35+ kids?... and what if your kid has a question in class but the teacher is just too busy trying to get the class' attention to answer it? and don't even get me started on elementary school aged children. i hear that some days it's just like babysitting. and these are just problems for the joe average kid. if your child has special needs, most likely they won't get the attention they require because there aren't enough funds for a proper special needs program. they'll just get tossed into the regular class and have to deal with it.

i know that this strike doesn't affect me directly. but i really feel for the teachers. if they were to give up and just go back to work with no changes made, they would feel like quitters. and we'd expect them to teach and positively inspire our kids? if anything, it would motivate teachers to teach the youth to continously stand up against "the man" and always question authority... like kids need MORE attitude like that. yikes, if this isn't taken care of, that could make for a pretty ugly future.