Life-fulfilling

If I were given a chance to have a date with a historical person, that person will be "The little flower of Jesus". I am an admirer of her since I was in elementary, and having a chance to talk to her in person will definitely be the best moment in my life. I could ask her the questions I've been longing to ask.

In the patio garden beside the church..

Me: I cannot wait to see her. I want to talk to her and spend time with her..

St. Therese: Oh, there you are. I'm glad you came here to see me.

Me: Is this for real? Thank you, God! You have given me a chance to see St. Therese of the child Jesus.

St. Therese: That's right. It's always important to give thanks to God. So what's your name?

Me: I am Jonah Terese. I am an admirer of yours since my elementary days.

St. Therese: Thank you, Terese. Why? Why did you admire me?

Me: I admire you because of your simple deeds did with extraordinary love. The little things you do seem so big because you give your whole heart in it. You do it with passion. Faithfulness remained in you at times of doubts and fears. You are one of a kind.

St Therese: You are right about my deeds, but you are wrong in saying that I am a one of a kind. It's not me, but God. He's one of a kind for letting me do all the things I've done and for giving me strength in life.

Me: I definitely believe in you, St. Therese. But most of the time, I cannot do the things that you do and have the faith and love you have. I feel sad when I think about those times.

St. Therese: I can feel that there's something bothering you. Tell me, don't be shy.

Me: Whenever I witness the sufferings of the Yolanda victims in the Philippines on television, I can't stop crying. I feel so sorry for them. All I want to do is to help them and give them everything they need, but I cannot. I was able to send some foods, but I can't go there and serve them. But when you were in my age before, you could help them in person. You do your work passionately and with love. I just feel worse.

St. Therese: Big or small, God acknowledges your gift for other people in need. God is not after on how much material things you have. He's after the love and care you gave for those people. It's all that matters. Great deeds are useless if they are not given with love.

Me: Thank you, St. Therese. I really enjoy sharing these things to you. Uhm.. May I ask some things to you?

St. Therese: Of course, you can. Go ahead.

Me: Are you happy with your accomplishments in life even though you died at a young age?

St. Therese: Yes, I am very happy and contented with everything I've done when I was still alive. I spent each day praising God and thanking him for everything he has given me. I do these things because I do not want to suddenly die without letting God know how lucky I am for being blessed by him. Since I know that I am sick, the only way I know for me to repay God was to do good deeds out of love, faith and passion. And with all of that, I felt accomplished.

Me: You are a great saint, St. Therese. Your last words before you die are "My God, I love you!" Why did you say those?

St. Therese: I said those words to repay the things I owe to God until my last breath. It's just what I feel that time and I want other people to know that it is God who should be loved until the time when you need to give back the life you borrowed from him.

St. Therese: Thank you. I am just curious about something. Of all the great historical persons in the world, why me? Why did you choose me?

Me: St. Therese, you were called 'the little flower'. That's what I like the most about you. You are great in your simple ways. You are humble in helping others. I love the way you show your thankfulness to God because even young people like us could do the things you do with love and faith.

St. Therese: Thank you so much for admiring me the way you do. I never thought someone  would appreciate those things.

Me: I am sure enough that I am not the only person who appreciates the things you did. There are many people inspired by you.

St. Therese: Thank you so much, Terese. I had a great time with you even though our date lasted for a short time only. Once again, I felt alive.

Me: It should be me thanking you. You answered all my questions and that is more than enough. Thank you for sharing your time with me and you'll continue to stay in my heart and serve as my inspiration.

St. Therese: God bless you, Terese! Take care of yourself. Until the next time again.

Terese: Farewell, St. Therese!

After my date with St. Therese, my life became almost complete. She taught me the most important virtues in life. My wish was fulfilled.

9 Stations of Violations in CavSci

Anywhere, everywhere, we can find people who commit mistakes and sins. Many of us, teenagers, do sins everyday. Because we stay at school for the whole day, we often do sins at school. Though we are not in hell, we could still find symbols in school for the nine rings of hell. I chose nine places in our school where the violations which symbolize the sins are often done.

1st. Gate. This is the first place in the school where we can do violations and tell lies. Yes, not only violations, but also lies. In the violations, there could be two possible things a student may do. The first one is he/she did not wear his/her identification card. We sometimes forget to wear it at home, so when we go to school, we do not have any I.D. The second one is being late. Students reason out that they're late because of plenty of school works or they just woke up late. In the lies, when the monitor in charge at the gate asks us the true reason why we did the violations, we sometimes tell lies. We tell lies to prevent getting into trouble.

2nd. Comfort Room. Students in our school are not allowed to bring cellphones. They cannot use their phones at the classrooms, so they go to the comfort rooms to use their phones. It could be not as bad as I think, but it is still a violation. Bringing cellular phones in school is a violation. 


3rd. Library. In the library, the most common violation is when we make noises. Yes, it is a violation, but there is still another violation in the library. It's when some students take books out of the library without any permission. Students are not allowed to take any book outside, but some still disobey the rules. Another is when we scatter the researches. We do not take care of the alumni's precious researches. Instead, we put them everywhere, making everything a total mess.

4th. Pathway. Students always forget about this violation. We often do this, but we never realized that it's a violation. The violation is when we talk with our classmates and friends about teachers. We make gossips about terror, lazy and other teachers. I chose the pathway because it's a place where students do nothing but walk and realizes things about teachers.

5th. Gym. During flag ceremonies and flag retreats, we are required to wear the correct attire and to behave and obey everything the platoon leader says. But sometimes, others do not obey the rules. Some hairs are untied, some socks aren't white, some hairs are too long, some identification cards are not with them and some uniforms are not properly worn. Students oftentimes make fun of the leaders and commanders. We think that these things are only simple, but they are still violations.

6th. Canteen. No one will ever think that there could be a violation here. But honestly speaking, there could be. It's a violation seldom uttered by the teachers because it's impossible for them to think that students will steal. I know a few who do those things, so the canteen could be considered as a station. Most of us do not do it, but it does not mean that we can't.

7th. Teacher's table. When teachers ask some things from us, we are expected to tell the truth. If someone did something wrong, students are obliged to tell the truth. But because we're afraid to, we lie. We lie because we do not want our classmates and friends to get angry to us. If you are wrong, you sometimes defend yourself to lessen the trouble. We do these things for ourselves, not for the best.

8th. Classroom. It's a place where students can commit many, many violations. First, vandalism. We do not give importance to the things that are not ours. Second, disobeying the teacher talking in front. Students study to learn, so we should learn how to obey elders, especially our teachers. Another is eavesdropping. Though it's not a violation, it could be a sin to listen to others' conversation. Lastly, backstabbing or simply fighting with our classmates. We are grouped by section to have them as our family, not enemies. Instead of fighting at their back, we should tell them how we feel towards them.

9th. Seats. The simplest place where we can commit the worst violations. This violation is cheating. We all know what it is. Some of us already did it. It's when we copy or look to our seatmate's answers because we do not know what the answer is. This reason is the dumbest reason for committing a violation because it's no one's fault but yours, so we do not have the right to get answers from those who studied hard. This dumbest reason, however, leads to the worst mistake in school.

Texting's Impact on Language

Texting has been an important way of communication for everyone of us, particularly the Filipinos. It is widely used in communicating with our pals and relatives. This is clearly the easiest and cheapest means of communication. But as we let this method interfere with our world, we also let it mangle the English language. Children, teenagers and even adults let this change happen. We, technology users, contribute in our own little ways.

Since texting was popularized, a sudden change occurred. A sudden change which let texting make its own kind of grammar, affecting the knowledge of humans about the English language. There are words shortened, words with numbers and words with changed spellings. I am sure enough that most of us accidentally type shortened words in formal writings because we are used in using those words in texting. I, myself, agrees that texting affected my knowledge about the english language.

Before, I used to be a 'jejemon'. It feels so bad to remember that, but I was unfortunately one of them back then. A jejemon is a person who types words differently with excess letters and numbers. It greatly affected my knowledge especially during making essays and sentences in school before. Hopefully, I was able to quit in being a jejemon, to quit using a changed grammar in texting.

I realized that texting might help in destroying my knowledge and learnings about the English language, but it also depends on the person if he/she will let the grammar of texting overcome his/her knowledge in english language. Luckily, I was able to make a change. I use more proper words in texting than before. Texting obviously paved way for English language to be ruined, but it's always our choice whether we will go on with the change or remain the same for good.

Worthy Kick Back

Students, for sure, get excited when it comes to semestral break or sembreak. It is a one week or more vacation from school which means that students are able to have fun. Though it is not as long as summer break, students still love it because sembreak is a time to relax, enjoy and recover the backlogs in sleeping. They can sleep very late and wake up late in the morning. They can watch television while not thinking about school works and be online until morning without worrying about waking up early to go to school. Sembreak is surely a wonderful time for students to kick back.

As a student, I definitely love sembreak because I am free from school works, project, eye bags and stress. We should enjoy sembreak, but we should also make it worthy enough to spend. For me, my sembreak was worthy because I was able to have fun and do my school works at time. I spent my sembreak in Makati with my family, so we were able to spend time with each other. Of all the people I had fun with, my dad was the best. The two of us played badminton, watched movies, ate our favorite foods and talked. He surely made my sembreak worthy enough. My brother also made my sembreak complete. We had so many bonding moments, especially in the halloween party and at home. I'm gonna miss him so much now that sembreak's over. My parents assured us that they'll make our sembreak boredom-free. They did not fail us and did a great job for us. Even though they have work everyday, we still go out of our house and stroll at malls. I can see their effort to please us which made each day of my sembreak even more worthy. To repay them and to assure that I won't be cramming so much before classes, I did my school works as early as I can so that I can spend all of my time with them.

This year's sembreak was one of the most worthy sembreaks. Not only because it's loner than last year's, but because I enjoyed most of my time with my family and because I did my homeworks on time . Everything's almost perfect, but I wasn't able to hang out with my classmates. Still, I could say that this one week vacation is a worthy kick back with my beloved family.

Imperfectly Perfect

"Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."
                                                                        — Franklin P. Jones

This world I have been for so long never made any difference. We live, face challenges and problems, survive, and die. I thought all of these rides were the same, that they were just made to let the journey be longer and harder. I thought I had known everything the world has, but I was wrong. I was wrong because there's this 'thing' I haven't felt yet.

Back then in the elementary years, I have known love. For me, it was the feeling you feel when you see a good-looking, fair-skinned, tall and smart guy a.k.a. Mr. Perfect. It's when Mr. Perfect passes and everything's in slow motion. It's when you do not see anyone but him. That's how I picture out love. Unfortunately, I knew how love feels like, but I never felt it. I never felt it until in the fifth grade.

I believe that my crush in the fifth grade was the Mr. Perfect I have pictured out for he was the one who had a great impact in my life. I know I was too young to be in love at that time, but I seriously consider it as love. He was an altar server. Our school is beside the church, so it was an advantage. The first time I saw him, I got goose bumps. It was like everything stops and you don't want the time to move. He was walking, wearing an altar server's uniform which makes him even more charming. I saw his perfect dazzling eyes. When I finally met him, my ride was even more worthwhile. Everything about him mesmerized me.Since then, I felt it. I am in love. Love came into my way.

There was a realization I had. I was thinking of Mr. Perfect who has all the good qualities I want, but the  guy I saw wasn't Mr. Perfect. He is not tall, not that good-looking and not that smart. But despite of his imperfections and despite of not having the qualities I want, I still felt it. Since that time, I called him 'imperfectly perfect'. I realized that it's what love is. No matter how perfect you want the guy to be, you'll still love an imperfect guy whom you will consider as perfect. Love lets you love perfectly a guy of imperfections. Love doesn't make us breathe. It makes breathing more fun and easier. Love gives you goose bumps. It arrives at an unexpected time. 

If I were to define the guy I would want to have, he would definitely be my crush in the fifth grade. He has dazzling eyes, captivating smile, and sense of humor. The things I liked much about him was his closeness to God, great devotion, love for God, thoughtfulness and bright personality. In short, he, himself. The physical attributes may somehow affect your love for someone, but what matters are their personality and attitude. You cannot do anything if you felt love for a person who wasn't able to meet your expectations. We use our hearts to love, not our eyes. Instead of looking for the right guy, our heart feels for the right guy. 

I would love someone because I want to and time permits me to. For me, there is no perfect timing in falling in love. It comes naturally. It just comes suddenly,making your life worth living. Love should not be denied. You should accept it for it may change your life. It may spice up your life of boredom. Love may color your dull life. I will never decline to love somebody for these reasons. Regret always awaits at the end. Trying won't always hurt us, but makes us even stronger. I won't stop loving for this is what the rides in our life want us to feel. They want us to feel the excitement, fear, anger, sadness and other feelings. 

Until now, this feeling never got tired of loving him. It's been five years, but the love I feel for Mr. Perfectly imperfect gets stronger and stronger. He may be far away, but my love won't stop.

Life won't be imperfectly perfect if there is no love. It gives you reason to live, strength in facing challenges, faith in coping with problems, courage to survive and bravery to face death. Maybe love let this worthwhile ride continue while the guy continues the ride in unity with God.

Inevitable Fate (A Tragic Romance)

      There was once a ship that sailed gently through the seas. Boarded were hundreds of people and among them were the two infants, Benedick and Beatrice. They were together for some unknown reason but danger struck. A hard-blowing, strong-raining storm greeted them and cut the ship in half. Unfortunately, the two babies were separated but thankfully, two ships came to their help. Benedick was rescued by Montaboat, owned by the Montagues, and Beatrice was rescued by Capuship which was owned by the Capulets.

     The Montagues and Capulets have been rivals for years and it seemed that their rivalry wouldn’t end without blood. Years passed, both families had loved their own adopted child like they were their own. Beatrice was given great care and grew as a gorgeous maiden, while Benedick grew as a brave and handsome young man. Never did they saw each other, but after 20 years, their lives met a life-changing turning point.

      Three witches came to visit Montague to tell him about their prophecy. With their ugly faces and crooked teeth, together with their long, sharp and dirty fingernails, Lady Montague wished to send them away but Montague disagreed after finding out that their prophecy was of great news for his own power. The three witches called forth 3 spirits. The first spirit showed a knight wearing a crown, signifying that Montague would be the new king of Verona. Eager to make this true, Montague plotted a plan to kill King Escalus. He succeeded and like what the prophecy said, he became the King.

      However, his felicity was short-lived due to the prophecy of the three witches given by the remaining spirits. The second was an infant in a pool of blood, showing that he would be killed by a man not born of woman. The third was an armored head with blood dripping out of its opening. He didn't seem to mind the prophecies at first and went on with his plan to kill his rival, the Capulets. Battles were fought but at the end, Capulet confesses that he was untimely ripped and he beheaded Montague with a triumph smile on his face.

      Benedick was distraught and wanted revenge for his father. He promised never to marry and to spend all his remaining years avenging his father holy. But fate never seems to run out of surprises. Benedick and Beatrice's lives would meet a bittersweet turn.

      As the days near the 21st birthday of Beatrice everyone helped in the preparation for this grandest occasion. They spent days on preparation. While passing the market, Benedick overheard gossips about the beauty of Beatrice and became eager to see her himself but probably just for his revenge. The big day came, and Benedick wore a disguise and went to the party. There he saw Beatrice staring at him with an awe expression on her face. Their eyes met and it seemed like the world just faded away and left nothing but the two of them alone. They fell in love at the first sight and Benedick's crave for revenge for his father and his belief that he'll never marry vanished into thin air. He forgot about the anger he felt for the Capulets.

      Days passed and the King Capulet wanted Beatrice to marry a nobleman named Paris. Beatrice refused to and told her father that she's in love with Benedick. The King Capulet turned red with fury. He told Beatrice that if she would disobey his command, he'll have her either executed or sent to the monastery to be a nun. Beatrice went to Friar Lawrence for help and was given the potion that would stop her pulse for 48 hours. She told Benedick of the escape plan. When the night came and Beatrice's body was transferred in the family tomb, she finally woke up and ran into the forest with Benedick. However, Paris saw what happened and followed them into the forest.

      Paris allies with Puck, a mischievous fairy, and ordered him to pour a love spell on the lips of the sleeping Beatrice while Benedick was out hunting. Puck followed Paris, and when Beatrice woke up, she immediately fell in love with Paris and they kissed thoroughly. Benedick saw what happened and got so enraged but chose to hide it first. When the spell faded, Beatrice couldn't remember what happened. They decided to go and get married on a small village. During the marriage, Benedick proclaimed and told everyone that Beatrice was a whore. He was so furious with Beatrice and his initial desire for revenge returned.

       He left Beatrice on the village and ventured back to Verona to kill King Capulet. After arriving, he immediately sought the senators and other officials and convinced them to conspire against the King.

      Before the planned assassination, while Benedick in his room, a spirit named Ariel came to visit him and deliver news that would surely twist and crush his soul. Ariel told him that he(Ariel) is the spirit guardian of his parents and that when they died, he had watched over Benedick all through the years. Ariel also told Benedick about Beatrice's innocence and that it was all Paris and Puck's fault. Benedick immediately felt guilty, sorry, and horrible all at the same time. He had left Beatrice alone; he had accused her of being a whore yet the truth she was innocent and faithful all those time. He realized that he never stopped loving Beatrice and that he was just consumed by his rage. He changed his mind about assassinating King Capulet. He was about to go and stop the other senators when he freezes on his feet and felt the world crashing down on him as Ariel told him the truth that had been buried together with the shipwreck 21 years ago.

      After being left by Benedick, Beatrice went to Verona in hopes of explaining and proving her innocence to her beloved. But as she stepped foot on the castle, she felt something very wrong. So she ran. She ran so fast and at last, she saw the dead body of her father. She cried and wailed. But then something struck her and she suddenly feared of what might have happened to Benedick. She stood up, and moved her numb legs, not even quite noticing of fast she was running. She saw the door on the ballroom where she first saw

Benedick slightly open. Her heart was drumming inside her chest. She picked up her speed and alas, she reached the door and opened it.

 

      She stood there and saw the greatest horror she could ever imagine. In the center of the room was Benedick lying limpwith blood pooling over his body. She didn't skip a beat; she quickly darted toward him and fell on her knees. She cradled his head on her lap and asked him to wake up. Slowly and weakly, Benedick opened his eyes and tears started to fall from them.

“It's my fault. I didn't save him.” he said weakly, barely a whisper.

“No, it's not. I love you.”

“I love you too. Much more than life. But our love more powerful than the stars is also more impossible to touch, for it is forbidden. It is forbidden, my dear twin sister...”

He took his one last breath and died in her arms.

     Beatrice, painfully shocked of her love’s dying message, took the dagger out of Benedick’s body and said “Oh, sweet dagger, take away all of the sorrow. Let my body be your sheath…” Without second thinking, she stabbed herself and her body lay above the body of Benedick.

      The citizens of the kingdom went inside and saw the dead bodies of Beatrice, Benedick, and King Capulet. They found a note that was seemingly glowing saying the events that perspired for the last days. Paris, who also entered the castle, saw light figure over the bodies. Paris doesn’t know why but he feels that the light figure is crying.

      The figure then walks of out of the door, its true appearance revealed. “It’s finally over; I guess it’s time, after 21 years, our family can be reunited again, in the sky. Benedick, I hope you don’t get mad at me for not telling you the truth sooner, I had my reasons but at least now, we can enjoy the happiness of forever.”

Heroic Candle

 “A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.”

Terror, strict, mediocre, superior and lazy – words frequently used by students to describe the teachers they do not like. They even call their teachers by different names. I, a student, admit that I belong to those kinds of students. I judge them easily without knowing how hard it is to deal with people like us, how hard it is to teach lessons every day and how hard it is to understand why we, students, treat them the way we do. I realized how heroic they can be to consume themselves like a candle just for our sake.

            It is amazing to know that there are still teachers in our time. Though they do not get high salary, they still do their best for us to learn. Though they get less recognition, they still continue doing what is right for us. Despite of all the hardships and challenges they face in school, they can still manage to smile. We may say that it is not easy to be a teacher, but we can never know how it feels unless we become one of them. They are too great to be underestimated. Our society does not realize how important teachers are. Without them, no professionals will be made. There’ll be no president, doctors, lawyers and other professionals if there are no teachers. In short, a teacher is a professional that teaches all the other professions. They make everything possible. Teachers can be companions when we need them. They can also be mothers or fathers who scold at us for us to know what is right, but can be brothers or sisters when it comes to problems. We may always get mad at them, but all they ever want is for us to be successful because I can see how they feel whenever their hardships bloom into something.

I cannot give them high salary nor great recognition, yet I can offer them the sincerest gratitude I can ever give. The gratitude for being a teacher, mother, sister, companion and for being who you are.  Thank you for doing your responsibilities and things beyond your responsibilities. We, students, owe every learning from you. Most of all, I thank you for accepting who we are and for being our candle who lighted up the way for us. We love you, teachers!