Ten years

Ten years ago to this date, we had the following news:

1. The New Nation (Bangladesh) 26July2003
 "Reports from Faridpur said at least six persons died, 20 others injured in a road accident at Chandipur on Dhaka-Khulna highway on Thursday night (24July). Police and Fire Fighting sources said the driver of the Dhaka-bound night coach lost its control and fell into the ditch leaving six of its passengers dead.
Five of the victims were identified as Jwel (35), a Philippino national, the bus driver Hashem (45), Mianr (32), Nazrul Islam (40), Enamul Haq Munshi (35) and the rest one person is yet to be identified. Kotwali police sources said the Philippino national Jwel was a consultant of a Shrimp farm in Khulna-Satkhira area.
The injured passengers were taken to the Faridpur Medical College Hospital. A case was filed with Kotwali police in this connection."

2. Sify News (Bangladesh) 26 July 2003
"Seven killed in B'desh bus accident
Saturday, 26 July , 2003, 06:03
Dhaka: At least seven people, including a Filipino, were killed and 40 people hurt on Friday when a passenger bus crashed on a highway in southwestern Bangladesh, officials said. The overnight bus was heading to the capital Dhaka from the southwestern city of Khulna when it skidded into a ditch in the Faripur district, said an official of the Sohag Paribahan transport company. He said one of the dead was a Filipino Muslim working in Bangladesh who had given his name as Jewel when he bought his bus ticket in Khulna."

3. Sun Star (Philippines) 26July 2003
"7 killed, including Filipino, in Bangladesh bus accident
DHAKA -- At least seven people, including a Filipino, were killed and 40
people hurt Friday when a passenger bus crashed on a highway in
southwestern Bangladesh, officials said.
The overnight bus was heading to the capital Dhaka from the
southwestern city of Khulna when it skidded into a ditch in the Faripur
district, said an official of the Sohag Paribahan transport company.
He said one of the dead was a Filipino Muslim working in Bangladesh
who had given his name as Jewel when he bought his bus ticket in
Khulna. AFP"

These are all the info we had and many questions still remain unanswered. I should have visited the place ten years ago and gather all the details I need. The reason why I haven't was probably because of time and money constraints back then. I probably have the money now and should be able to do it as soon I have a bit of slack in our work comes next summer. I just hope I won't ran out of time.

Right to bear arms

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

If all men are created equal with the same rights...
... and Americans (A) have the right to bear arms (A=C),
... and since Filipinos (B) are not animals nor plants but belong to the group called "men" (A=B),
then we Filipinos have also the right to bear arms (B=C)!

Simply put, since A=B and A=C, then B=C.

Furthermore, since the Philippine Constitution is based from the American, then whatever right is enshrined in the former must, by logic, be also inherent in the latter.
Otherwise, the premise of equality will not hold, and A will not be equal B.

Agnosticism and secularism

"When I reached intellectual maturity and began to ask myself whether I was an atheist, a theist, or a pantheist; a materialist or an idealist; Christian or a freethinker; I found that the more I learned and reflected, the less ready was the answer; until, at last, I came to the conclusion that I had neither art nor part with any of these denominations, except the last. The one thing in which most of these good people were agreed was the one thing in which I differed from them. They were quite sure they had attained a certain "gnosis,"–had, more or less successfully, solved the problem of existence; while I was quite sure I had not, and had a pretty strong conviction that the problem was insoluble. And, with Hume and Kant on my side, I could not think myself presumptuous in holding fast by that opinion. [...]. So I took thought, and invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of "agnostic." It came into my head as suggestively antithetic to the "gnostic" of Church history, who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant. […] To my great satisfaction the term took."
                                                                                                       -  T.H. Huxley (1893) - 
                           ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Huxley's simple definition of the word, I am an agnostic. I am not a Christian (Catholic or Protestant) nor an atheist. Agnostic - just that. 

On the politics, I strongly advocate secularism. All activities and  initiatives of government shall be devoid of any religious consideration. That's why I strongly oppose giving autonomy to Muslims in Mindanao and the creation of ARMM. Every Filipino citizen, Muslim or  Christian, must be governed only by a single uniform legal and judicial system. The Muslims should not be allowed to impose Sharia on anybody (even on Muslims themselves)  just as the Christians are not allowed to impose the Laws of Moses in any Christian in this country.

Being alone

It seems to me, nothing scares most people more than loneliness - being alone. Being alone with your life, your thoughts and your beliefs - it's so scary to some that they tend to compromise/change/sacrifice their beliefs, their inclinations, their likes and dislikes just to be accepted by somebody or by a group of people to whom they wanted to maintain company. This is probably why most wanted to have and maintain a relationship, a family or a religion. Nobody wanted to live alone, eat alone, worship alone.

For me however, being alone once in a while is a bit of a necessity. No matter how much work I have on my plate, I usually take time to be put everything behind. This is probably how I seemed to rise above the daily grind of work (people think I'm so stressed with my work, but I'm not). It's kind like a morbid game I play starting with this: I just died. I assume I'm dead and I'm just now a spirit. Now that's funny because I don't believe in spirit, soul or ghost. But it's just a game anyway so here I am, a consciousness without a physical attribute. Thus, I can't pick-up that laptop nor that book  and of course, not even my iPod. With a situation like that, you have nothing to do but observe and think.

It was during one of those games that I realized that that most important thing a dead man can leave behind to those he really cared about is not wealth but ideas - his beliefs and the lessons he has learned in life. Of course, money would be very important to the young people who are just starting to build their lives. You need  money to educate yourself and get that necessary credentials to make a living. But beyond that is pure luxury which will not help make you a better person - and that's an understatement. I've seen too many children (and spouses) destroyed by the wealth they have inherited or about to inherit from their parents/spouse. I've seen it in my neighbors and even in my uncles. Would it be possible for Raul Songalia to be wealthier now had he not had an hacienda to inherit from his parents? Could the lives of Tio Guily and Tio Esen be even better if they don't have Lolo's fishpond to fall back on? They could have been like me many years ago - doing my best to find a job, any job and never wanting to lose my job - never wanting to return home because there was nothing for me to return to.

This idea that inherited wealth is destructive to person came to me while I was being alone - observing, ruminating on the events that I have witnessed. That's why it helps to be alone from time to time.

Iniquity of the fathers

Exodus 20:5: ...for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.

I am an agnostic but if this God exists, I will tell this to him:
Sorry Mr. God, I do not negotiate with terrorists.You screwed on the Creation thing that's why we have earthquakes and tsunamis and floods and droughts and volcanic eruptions! The body of the man you created is inherently flawed, can fail by itself and open to attacks by the viruses and other microorganisms you created.
Jealous? Punishing the children for the sins of their fathers? Have you not heard about this thing called Justice? For Christ's sake grow up!

That's why agnosticism is, to borrow a word from believers, a blessing. If the existence of an evil creator or supreme being cannot be proven, then there is nothing for me to despise. I can live with equanimity knowing that everything happens by chance and we all have to live our lives as we find it, rejoice in our victories and mourn our defeats and misfortunes until the day we die.

Neil

My daughter's wish

My daughter just published a poem in her blog today. It contains her wishes and hopes that things would not be   the way they are. With her permission, here it is:


I wish
(by Natasha Luna)


I wish life was full of laughter
So happy,very happy
But nasty people wreck it
They stomp it, hurt it, made it into sadness.
They are damaging it
People dont care


I wish life was full of smiles
that light up the way to a good place
If it wasn’t for people who made it frown
People are now sad and down
I wish those people never existed


I wish life was full of kindness and sincerity
no bullies, no criticism, no black-mailing,no two faced people
No people that say mean things are good
No people to harm you


I just wanted a kind world
where people have positive attitude
where people have smile
where people experience happiness
where people doesnt know any bad things
and where people are safe


If anyone could understand this message
This is the message that people want to tell you
a message that has meaning to it
People dont want negative but want a positive life
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Equanimity

There is only one last thing that I would like to have before I die. If I can have that, I am sure that I will be happy and contented for the rest of my life. No, it's not a high-powered sniper rifle (I already have it:) or a yacht (I do not have the time anymore to use it if I have one) or to become the dictator of the Philippines. All I need, I realized,  is just EQUANIMITY.

As sure as the sun rises every single day, good news and/or bad news in varying magnitudes will come to me. If I do not have this equanimity to deal with them, I will be like a cork  bobbing on the waves. I do not want to be a cork - I want to be that boulder in the beach. The boulder is not completely immobile - it will may shudder, topple or break when the strongest storm wave hits it. But it's not like the cork who dances and floats around like crazy. Sure, the life of a cork is definitely more exciting than that of a boulder. The cork floats around, dancing with joy as the waves lift it up and shuddering in fear and screaming when submerged or smashed against other debris.

If I can have equanimity, I will still have ambitions and still would want to work harder to achieve them. But the excitements and anxieties will be drastically reduced. I can stare God in the face and say "Bring it on, you miserable, egoistic and narcissistic being!" He can do to me what He has done to poor Job (or worse, kill me) and I can tell him, "You're sick, why don't you spend your unlimited time Creating and doing something significant rather than toying around with a passing speck of dust like me?".

If I can only have equanimity, God will learn to respect me - and that is all I wanted from him.