Invisible Victims

I was browsing the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newspaper, I was looking for the Young blood entry that day... when a "They Said" column caught my eye, it says:

Invisible Victims

"Hardly have we built our hut when we have to move again, and sometimes we go back to our old huts and rebuild them and then we have to abandon them and flee again. And we begin to ask: Why, why, why? Why are we invisible to the rest of the World? Does the world outside ever care about us?"
-Magdalena Suhat, a member of a Minority group in Mindanaothat has been displaced many times by armed conflict.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, November 5 Issue, Opinions Section

We are blessed that we don't have to go through the same situation as these people... we can sleep soundly at night without worrying that a bomb is being dropped on our ceiling... I wish there is something that could be done... to end their plight... and don't just rely on the immediate aid but to really work on something that will finally free them from all these conflicts.. :(

Political Killings

I was trying to pause for a while and watch how the world is doing through the news... then I figured, its still the same world after all, only it got even worse... what's with all these political killings anyway? Would these ever stop? Come to think of it... the way people are killed is getting scary... merely imagining how this one journalist being killed exactly in the announcer's booth at radio station he's working... and what really scared me is that... the person responsible for the killing is a government official?

And what does this give us? That everytime we find something wrong about how the government runs their office and give them a tap of reminder, they might instantly pull a gun towards us and shut us up? Where's the Democracy then?

As far as I know, it is the Government's responsiblity to protect ones right to life... no matter what the political background of a person is.

A month from now, December 10, 2007 will be the Human Rights Day... I wonder... with all these killings? Does it still make sense?

How Do You Define Maturity?

I was awakened by my big brother's litany over my younger brother this afternoon, saying: "Maturity has nothing to do with age... maturity is doing what is right... even a Five-year-old kid is considered mature if he does what is right." Those words kinda hit me somehow.

Lets face it, sometimes we tend to act childishly and kinda impossible... specially when we are so preoccupied by our emotions... this indeed something to think about... :)

Zhang Yimou

I never watched Zhang Yimou's films until early last year of 2006, the first movie I watched, starred, Zhang Ziyi... "The Road Home." Honestly, at first I don't find the movie very interesting... but as the story progressed, i find it to be appealing.

Actually, The Road Home, is just a simple story about a girl from the countryside who fells in love with an educator. The story shows how the girl tries to win her man... it was a simple story... but I find it interesting, through a very artistic and traditional work of art at the same time..

So far, I have watched 3 films of Yimou... and each has its own style in visual storytelling no matter how simple a story can get... "The Road Home, Not One Less, and Curse of the Golden Flower".

I've been wanting to watch more of Zhang Yimou's films... he always have artistic details in his films that reveals the identity of the film.

Real Situation...

While everybody else were so hooked up with the non-ending ERAP's pardon... Arroyo-De Venecia over ZTE deal... my world stopped at a certain community where my eyes were opened to the real situation of ordinary people who actually needs the attention.

And so I thought... why are those people making a fuss about their leadership, when if they only look to communities in rural areas, they'd know how to evaluate themselves as leaders. They talk about how the economy has improved... and yet if you look on to these rural areas? All you see is a complete picture of POVERTY.

In my One week stay in the Saniag Community of Ampatuan, Cotabato... i figured that these people need education... they have a school building, but lack the materials for education... lack teachers... I even thought that not wearing slippers is part of their culture but truth? They just cant afford to buy even a pair of slippers.

One might say... people in the rural areas live a simple life... well how do you define simplicity? as far as I know... simple living... is having contentment in little things... but doesn't have to deprive himself of things that is necessary.

Well if those people wanted to be quoted as a GOOD LEADER, may I suggest, LOOK UNTO THE REAL SITUATION OF ORDINARY PEOPLE.