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About Me
- noelle perez
- It's been ages since I've done this ---Blogging. My PR Writing professor encouraged me to blog again. He insists that practice makes perfect. I hope he is right...I just need to get my groove back. Find my focus. As my husband always says, "BE INSPIRED."
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Thinking about you makes me happy.
Last Saturday after our assembly, we had dinner. Then decided to go on a free ferry ride from Battery Park to Staten Island and back. It was tiring, but fun.
People are often unreasonable,
irrational, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse
you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some
unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere
people may deceive you;
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating
others could destroy overnight;
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness,
some may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today,
will often be forgotten;
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
-Mother Teresa
Misplaced Priorities Can Mislead The Nation
"He who can take no interest in what is small will
take false interest in
what is great." - John Ruskin.
JASMINE TRIAS VISITED the Philippines very recently.
Everyone was waiting to
welcome her. The excitement was remarkable as the
media and many of our
"kababayans" flocked to the airport to see her.
This scenario is typical of Filipinos. Sadly, it
reflects our country's
misplaced priorities.
Another young girl came back to the country a couple
of weeks ago. Her name
is Faye. Unknown to her countrymen, this
eleven-year-old girl brought honor
to the Philippines. She represented the country in
the Intercontinental
Science Quiz Net in Australia. Out of 57 countries,
Faye bagged the First
Place for the Philippines. Germany came in second
while the United States
came in third.
In contrast to Jasmine Trias, Faye's arrival did not
make noise.
In an earlier competition, "Mathematics for the
Young Asians", in Indonesia,
Faye also came out in the Top 5. But just like the
Australian event, this
feat did not receive any recognition in our country
at all.
Our interests seem to be set on other "priorities".
We are more interested
in promoting celebrity quests instead of educational
and intellectual
pursuits. Indirectly, we are teaching our children
that development of
external image is priority over educational
achievement.
Faye's story is inspiring.
Faye comes from a broken family. Her father falsely
claimed that he was
unmarried when he married her mom. When her mom
found out, she decided to
raise her up alone. Despite the difficulty, Faye in
no way used it as an
excuse for complacency in her studies.
In grade school, Faye was a consistent honor
student. She took every
academic requirement as a challenge. And she
delivered. At one time, she
submitted a project thesis in Australia that won
"The Best Physics and
Science Award." The award qualified the Philippines
to be one of the top 10
countries that would compete in Australia, among the
57 countries that
joined.
Considering her family's financial constraints, she
and her mom asked help
from our government in going to Australia to claim
the award and to join the
Science competition. They saw this challenge as a
rare opportunity given
that only two countries in Asia qualified, i.e.,
Japan and the Philippines.
Unfortunately, our government had other priorities.
Mother and daughter then tried to ask help from
individual senators and
congressmen. All of them turned them down except for
one who agreed to help
on the condition that Faye will give public credit
to the senator for
supporting her with the earlier competitions she
joined. Out of integrity,
the mother could not accede to the condition. Thus,
no outside help was
found.
Given the situation, Faye and her mom took out all
their savings and went
out of their way to get finances themselves. The
only driving force behind
them was their desire to give honor to God and to
the Philippines.
With the little resources that they had, they went
to Australia on September
17, 2004 for the competition. They claimed the
trophy and cash award for the
thesis Faye submitted in Sidney, and then flew to
Brisbane for the quiz
competition. No kababayan welcomed them in Australia
except for a kind
Filipina they met in the plane who assisted them.
As they were checking in at the hotel, the "kind"
Filipina who volunteered
to help them disappeared taking with her Faye and
her mother's bags,
passports, and plane tickets. The fellow "kababayan"
took advantage of them.
At that point, they literally had nothing left
except for the few pieces of
clothes and their faith in God. They were able to
sell the extra clothes
they had in exchange for a few bucks for food.
In need once again, they sought help from some of
the Filipino officials in
Australia but to no avail. The Filipino officials
there were too busy with
their priorities to help a young girl and a mother
who had no other desire
but to bring honor to our country.
Given a budget for only a one-night stay at the
hotel, mother and daughter
had to check out the following day. Leaving their
luggage on deposit and
without money for transportation fare, they decided
to walk two kilometers
to the competition venue in their native Filipino
costumes. If walking a
two-kilometer distance was bad enough, how much more
would be walking the
distance in their native costume along the highways
of Australia!
Upon arrival at the competition site, Faye and her
mom were very surprised
when they discovered that the delegates from the
other countries were well
supported by a band, a cheering squad, and a flag
while Faye only had her
mother and the anxiety of lost passports and plane
tickets. Worse,
representatives of each country were required to
decorate their booths. With
only the three-piece costume they had on, Faye and
her mom were even more
surprised when the organizing committee awarded
their booth as "The Most
Creative" booth.
In the early part of the competition, Japan, Brazil
and Spain were
eliminated. As the only Asian country left to
compete against six Western
nations, the Philippines was cheered by Japan. Faye
was encouraged by her
Japanese cheering squad, but in her heart, how she
wished that she had her
own countrymen to cheer her on.
When Faye finally won the first place and the
Philippine national anthem was
being played, she said a silent prayer thanking God
for making her a
Filipina. Despite all the painful experiences she
had with her country, her
priorities did not waver.
A Japanese diplomat was the one who helped Faye and
her mom to secure a
temporary pass so they could return to the
Philippines. The money they won
was just enough for their fare back home and their
temporary passport.
When Faye was relating this story before a crowd,
she said, "Let us love our
nation, for nobody else will."
Faye did not allow her painful experiences to tear
down her loyalty to her
country. She is not a celebrity but a servant out to
serve her fellow
Filipino.
Our concept of leadership in this country is skewed.
We mistakenly think
that leadership is about "lording" it over other
people. Christ corrected
this distorted thinking when He said
"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over
them, and their high officials exercise authority
over them. 43Not so with
you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among
you must be your servant,
44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of
all." -Mark 10:42-44
Sadly, we are far from the precept of this truth. It
is no surprise then
that we have a dearth of leaders in this
country-leaders who set the
nation's interests above their own. In the same way,
our concept of
citizenship is damaged. Those seeking for social
good for themselves are
never willing to grant the same good to others.
Hence, it is common for us
to hear stories of Filipinos who take advantage of
their fellow Filipino. We
want to be served, but we are unwilling to serve.
We dream of becoming like Jasmine Trias. We want our
children to be like
her. We would rather spend on things that would make
us look good instead of
things that would make us grow in character. We
prefer "stardom" over
service-oriented jobs.
On the contrary, Faye spent sleepless nights
studying to win the competition
because she knew her priorities. Unlike Jasmine
Trias, she did not receive a
hero's welcome when she came back but she is still
calling for Filipinos to
love the Philippines because every Filipino is a
valuable gift of God.
Life, really, is not a matter of intelligence but a
matter of setting our
priorities right. The question is, on what are our
priorities set--on
"grand" things that make us superficial, or on
simple things that lead us to
greatness?
Faye's story reminds us all to look within. This
eleven-year-old girl could
have complained to the media, but she did not. She
went out of her own small
way to bring greatness to this land.
Right priorities grant us wisdom. When properly set,
priorities point us to
the right people we need to invest in, the right use
of our energy, the
right resources to draw from, and the right
endeavors to support.
From the words of Faye's mother, "We all wanted to
win, but success is not
measured by merely winning. It is measured through
our hearts, if it is
truly attuned with God all the time. It is all that
really matters for we
have only an Audience of One. Whatever we achieved,
big or small, remember
one thing, it is for God and God alone, the King of
the Kingdom of the
Higher World."
By Rev. Rito Saquing
Associate Pastor, Bread of Life Ministries
Copyright C 2004 by BREAD OF LIFE Ministries
Crossroad77 Mother Ignacia Ave. cor Sct. Reyes St.,
Brgy. Paligsahan, QC 1103 PHILIPPINES
Tel: (+632) 3725407 to 11 | Fax: 3729234
E-mail: bread@skyinet.net
The world in which you live is not determined by outward circumstances as much as it is by the thoughts that occupy your mind. You can think and believe your way to misery or to a life of joy, satisfaction, and abundance. You have the power to choose.
How to Become a Positive Thinker
The concept of positive thinking is a philosophy, and an expression of faith. It does not ignore life's problems, but rather explains a practical approach to dealing with, and overcoming them. Anyone interested in seeking a better, promise-filled way of life, can find it through positive thinking and faith in God. To become a successful positive thinker, here are some ideas to think about:
1. To every disadvantage, there usually is a corresponding advantage. In the toughest situations there is always some value that is inherently good. The positive thinker will look for the good, for the advantage, and will therefore do far better with the difficulty than the negative thinker will. What you deeply think and visualize has a strong tendency to happen. So always think positively, believingly, expectantly, hopefully.
2. It isn't what is happening but your attitude toward what is happening. Let's assume a big, hard fact, and here are two men of equal intelligence facing it. One man says, "This is an overwhelming difficulty, more than I can handle." So he is defeated by the fact.
The other man says, "This is tough situation, but with God's help, I can handle it." And he proceeds to do so successfully. It is the attitude toward the fact that is crucial--more so than the fact itself.
3. Develop a positive mental attitude toward the bottom. I have often had to deal with glum and discouraged people who have said, "I've hit bottom and there is no hope." To one such man I replied, "Congratulations. Having hit bottom, you can go no lower; the only direction is up. So start thinking up." He did, and after a time new ideas came that helped him to move up well above the bottom.
4. Put thoughts of God up against your trouble. A friend of mine at 84, had her leg amputated. Even so, she does all her housework from a wheelchair. When asked if she ever becomes discouraged, she answered. "Certainly I do." Then I asked. "What do you do when you get discouraged?" She replied, "What is there to do but get over it? I simply take the attitude that, with the Lord helping me, I can sweep all dark shadows from my mind, as I do the dust in my house."
Excerpted from The Positive Thinkers Club Newsletter by Norman Vincent Peale. Copyright 1980 by Peale Center for Christian Living.
www.guideposts.org
Hi, haven't read my sis blog since her first two posts... and now I am reading.. and yes, even the comments. Anyway, whoever posted the comment entitled: Misplaced Priorities Can Mislead The Nation ... the young filipina girl and her mother's claim was a hoax. It wasn't true. They made it up. Her mom is suffering from clinical depression. It was on the the news days after their story was aired on media. So that is not a happy thought :p ... to contribute mine, just visit my blog :) gud day
The road to salvation is not easy and it is designed like that so that we may value it. We're only take it for granted if God handed it to us on a silver platter.
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Triumph The Dog vs. Star Wars Nerds
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Hi! An old friend from the old days still remembers you...Now that's what I call a happy thought..Anyway, I was just hopping, and blogging..and it brought me here. How are you Bads?
Hi! An old friend from the old days still remembers you...Now that's what I call a happy thought..Anyway, I was just hopping, and blogging..and it brought me here. How are you Bads?
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