Done

Hindi nagampan
Katungkulang inatas
Malayang wakas

Happy

Pinaligaya
Nais kong manatili
Pag-ibig natin

The Lord Answered My Prayer

Sorry for worrying too much. I know Lord that You are always taking care of me. And I just really have to take it one at a time...

Again and again, Lord, I will forever be grateful :)

Thought for the day

This is from an SMS message sent early this year. In fact I have posted this in my blog last January, and am reposting this again. This time around, it's a different situation I am in. I am pursuing a dream, but it seems like the journey is becoming more difficult by the day. Oh Lord, please help me... enlighten me... is my dream meant for me? Is it worth pursuing?

If it's taking all your strength...
If it's killing your heart...
If it's making you bear too much pain...
and if it's making you ignore everything else...
make sure it's worth it,
otherwise...

let it go...

World Teachers' Day

This day, October 5, is World Teachers' Day. It is held annually since 1994. This year is the 14th World Teachers' Day.

Teachers are the backbone for human development by helping develop the child's capacity and desire to learn (see UN's Message on 2008 World Teachers' Day). Critical to cite in UN's message for today's celebration is the commitment of teachers to quality education, for it is an "integral part of the efforts to reduce poverty and help ensure a better life" (see Manila Bulletin). Teachers are not only teachers, but also stewards of God in caring for children, even in the most difficult of circumstances (see Stewards of God and UN's Message on 2008 World Teachers' Day).

I've always had high regard for teachers. I admire their dedication to their vocation of educating the young, and even the old. I look up to my very own teachers, who have been a great part in molding me in the person that I am today. Maybe that is also the reason why I once became a teacher, and why I am in the business of helping teachers.


So, here is a special shoutout and thanks to the teachers I've met, my teacher friends, our teachers in the public schools, our mobile teachers and instructional managers, my teachers in the grade school, high school, college and graduate school, and to the special teachers of my life: my parents, my uncles and aunts, my grandparents, and Doy! I hope you continue to touch lives by the way you teach, live, and love.

Ateneo Bonfire

Went to the Ateneo bonfire with Mel. Then we met up with Vic, who was there mga 4pm pa lang. Then met up with Doy at around 830pm (coding kasi).


We also got similar shirts from GetBlueFever that sold shirts at Kostka. Sayang Vic and I were not able to get the Heart of a Champion shirt, bilis naubos! Di bale balikan ko yun next week sa school.

Spent most of our time walking, taking pictures and meeting friends, and getting our feet muddy. May time that we just had to stay at the side of the stage dahil pagod na. But it was super fun...

Until I saw a photo of the bonfire circulating on the Internet! Bad taste talaga ito, and it got so many La Sallians reacting like crazy. Then after a few days, Fr. Ben Nebres, President of Ateneo, sent an apology letter to Bro. Armin Luistro, President of De La Salle. The idea came from an old Ateneo alumnus, who also apologized to Fr. Ben for the incident. Here is a copy of both letters:

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Letter of Fr. Nebres, SJ to Bro. Luistro, FSC
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2 October 2008

BROTHER ARMIN LUISTRO, FSC
President
De la Salle University System
2401 Taft Avenue
Manila

Re: Ateneo Bonfire

Dear Bro. Armin,

I would like to extend my deepest apology to you and to the La Sallian community for what some alumnus or student did at the Ateneo Bonfire, namely, write the names of the La Salle players on the wood. Unfortunately, none of us saw it ahead of time, because the wood pile was covered by a tarp against the rain until the time came to light it.

Despite our rivalries in sports, we are both committed to Christian values and what was done is certainly a violation of values we share.

Once again, my deepest apologies to you and to the La Sallian community. We are trying to find out who is responsible for the act.


Sincerely yours,


BIENVENIDO F. NEBRES, SJ
President

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Letter of Mr. Paredes to Fr. Nebres
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3 October 2008


Fr. Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ
President
Ateneo de Manila University

Dear Fr. Nebres,

I write this letter for two reasons. The first one is to own up to producing the materials with the names of the Green Archers and placing them prominently in the woodpile before the bonfire for all to see.

Secondly, I sincerely apologize to you for the queasy situation you are in as a result of the backlash it created.

While the nature of this letter is a personal apology to you, please feel free to extend it to parties you may deem fit to receive it.


Sincerely,


Jesse Paredes
HS'54, AB'58

Reflections on a Championship

written by Mr. Simon Mossesgeld, former team manager of the Blue Eagles, and also a friend. Being a big Blue Eagle fan like him, I agree with his view about the team, how I believe the Blue Eagles would win on Sept. 25 (left pang-libre money with my sister in the morning of Sept. 25), and how the good Lord has blessed the Ateneo for the championships in basketball and swimming. Read on...

Reflections on a Championship
by Simon Mossesgeld

I watched the first game of the championship live right behind the bench and marveled, as I have many times throughout this season, at how this team is a team in the best tradition: unselfish, hard working, with great respect for one another, friends on and off the court. The players are largely unassuming. They do not strut about to let the world know how good they are or their team is. They just do their part and play their best together. This is what strikes me most about this team and I think it explains best its championship character. I could not watch the second game because I was teaching in a seminar but resolved to immediately proceed to the Gesu. I had texted Paolo Trillo that morning saying I would see the team in the Gesu. That is how confident I was.

Someone asked me while we were waiting for the team to arrive at the Gesu after the championship, “Sir, do you miss being team manager?” I realized that I did miss it a bit but much, much more than anything I was very happy for the team. I was happy about how the coaching staff and management (and the school) formed the players into men we could all be proud of. I did not taste a championship during my two-year tenure but it did not matter because Ateneo basketball is more than championships. It is about giving it your best. It is about forming men with the right principles and values. It is about gratitude for all that we have received. It is about community. It is about God and this team, like many teams before them, is all these. But I sense there is more in this team.

A friend texted me the next day that she saw me at the Gesu that evening looking as if I was in a trance. I guess I was in a trance-like state. I was deeply thankful for God’s love for his players, his team and his Ateneo. I was very quietly happy for the team, for my fellow Ateneans and for the school and was simply content to bask quietly in the happiness and the gratitude that filled the church that evening. This is the Ateneo I grew up in and have grown to love.

Tonight we will celebrate four champion teams—three in basketball and one in swimming. I once again thank God for his blessings.