On Privacy

On Privacy

By Apolinario Villalobos

 

NOBODY SHOULD FEEL OBLIGED TO SHOW HIS/HER ALL TO OTHERS JUST TO SATISFY THEIR CURIOSITY. REVELATION OF ONESELF SHOULD BE DONE WITH CARE. HESITANCE SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED AS HYPOCRISY. EVERYBODY HAS AN UTMOST RIGHT TO PRIVACY. EVEN THE COURT OF JUSTICE RECOGNIZES THIS PARTICULAR RIGHT, SO THAT WITNESSES CANNOT BE FORCED TO REVEAL INFORMATION THAT COULD IMPLICATE THEM.

 

WHAT ARE KEPT FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF OTHERS MAY NOT BE BAD, BUT STILL FOR THE SAKE OF PRIVACY, THERE IS A NEED TO DO SUCH A THING TO MAINTAIN A CERTAIN SECURITY AND SERENITY IN LIFE.

 

 

On Achieving Goals and Cooperation

On Achieving Goals and Cooperation

By Apolinario Villalobos

 

SOME PEOPLE PRESUME THAT WHAT THEY CANNOT DO, OTHERS CANNOT DO, AS WELL. THEY PRESUME THAT THE SHORTCOMINGS AND INSUFFICIENCIES THAT THEY HAVE, OTHERS HAVE, TOO…HENCE, THEY EXPECT OR EVEN WISH OTHERS TO FAIL, AS THEY DID. THEY ARE THE CRABS OF THE SOCIETY…THE NEGATIVE THINKERS.

 

INSTEAD OF BEING NEGATIVE, THEY SHOULD BE HAPPY FOR THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OTHERS.  AND, THOUGH, THEY MAY NOT BE ABLE TO COPY THEIR FEAT TO THE LAST EFFORT, IF THEY STRIVE HARDER, THEY MAY BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH OTHER THINGS BASED ON THEIR DISTINCT CAPABILITY AND CHARACTER. HUMANS DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER… UNLESS CLONED FROM ANOTHER.

 

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT MANAGERS, DIFFER FROM EACH OTHER ON HOW THEY RUN A COMPANY. LEADERS OF NATIONS HAVE DIFFERENG DIRECTION. SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMEN HAVE WELL-GUARDED TECHNIQUES OF THEIR OWN, ETC. WE CANNOT BE LIKE SOMEONE ELSE.

 

WHAT THE WORLD NEED IS COOPERATION. WE MUST PUSH AND PULL EACH OTHER TOWARDS OUR GOALS IN LIFE FOR THE COMMON GOOD OF ALL!

My Personal Perception of the Normal Body

MY PERSONAL PERCEPTION OF THE NORMAL BODY

By Apolinario Villalobos

 

The reason why our head where the brains are encased, is located about our emotional heart which is inside our chest and protected by the rib cage, is for our reason to overcome our emotion which oftentimes is fickle, unless we are psychologically and brain-sick or clinically crazy.

 

The eyes are the silent reflectors of our emotion. It can be silently fiery when we are angry or become the outlet of our tears when we are sad.

 

The nose is the exhaust of our chest as we breathe out sighs of grief and relief from our heart.

 

The lips verbally manifests what are in our head, be they good or bad. Through them, our emotions are given substance, shapes, and color.

 

The arms that can be folded from the elbow are for embracing others to make them comfortable and give them a feeling of security in time of their lowest ebb in life. The length of the arms gives us the opportunity to extend them to others so that we can pull them up when they fell down.

 

Our groin gives us signals that can activate our tools that enliven our sexual driven, and as originally intended, must not be abused. It our tool to continue what God has initiated – to bring forth another life into this world.

 

The legs that can be folded from the knee give us mobility even without the modern contraptions, so that we can be wherever we are needed, especially by our fellowmen. If God did not intend them to function that way, He could have just created us without them so that we can just be on our own, selfish, and oblivious of what are happening around us, rolling around our home….practically, an “island”.

 

The reason why we can fold our knees is for us to supplicate or kneel as we give thanks to the Lord for all that He has given us!

 

Finally, since God is fair, He left the secret of life right inside our body – the DNA that flows in our blood which is life in itself, and with an expectation that discoveries shall not be abused. Unfortunately, it did not happen because of man’s greed and desire to be another God!

 

 

 

LEONIDA…the reason why I endure life in this world

LEONIDA…the reason why I endure life

in this world

By Apolinario Villalobos

 

She is my elder sister, deaf and mute since birth, and is more than seventy years old. I cannot imagine myself dead ahead of her. She is the reason why I kept on telling classmates before, that I will not settle down with a family of my own as foremost in my mind was take care of her until she dies.

 

Despite her handicap, she took care of us, her younger siblings, nephews, nieces, and their children. We communicated through a sign language that only our family understands. It was she who developed my love for vegetables, as she would gather saluyot, kulitis and lupo from the yet, grassy, town plaza which was in front of our house. Sometimes she would gather wild mushrooms beside the fence at the back of our house. She would simply cook them with whatever onion, ginger, and tomatoes that can be found in our kitchen. She would boil thickly sliced green jackfruit, for us to be dipped in soy sauce which constituted our lunch when there was no rice to cook.

 

Her intelligence and curiosity are such that she is fond of browsing through magazines including the comic magazines of the yesteryears. She would collect them in several boxes. Had we thought of keeping them, we could have been rich because a copy of “Hiwaga” komiks today costs not less than Php200. While she was doing her own collection of komiks, I collected my own pages of newspapers used as absorbent protection of dried fish in boxes that our parents ordered from Iloilo and Cebu to be sold in our small stall in the market. I was not yet of school age at that time during which she would observe me as I scribbled on the ground using a twig, the words that I copied from the dried-fish smelling papers, especially, “Purico”, a very popular brand of lard.

 

When we got completely orphaned, she joined me and an elder brother, in washing bottles and pasting of labels on them for Panay Vinegar, the first business entity, though, home-based, in our town. It was located in our ancestral house that we rented out to a Chinese businessman who treated us, as members of his family. I was in my first year high school then, during which we would stay late at night, especially, if orders were overwhelming, as they would come from store owners in neighboring towns. That was how we earned money.

 

Later, she was taken in by our late elder sister, Erlinda (Mary to us and her friends) a teacher at the former Sambulawan Elementary Schhol (today, President Quirino). She practically took care of her four children, May anne (Inday), Toto, Neneng, and Nonoy until they got families of their own, as she spent more time with them, than with us. Both my elder sister and my brother-in-law, Ciriaco (Ciring), are gone.

 

When I was yet with PAL, she was the reason why I would always come home even for a short while. I would take the first flight for Davao, transfer to an aircon van upon arrival for our place which takes 3 hours to reach, and after lunch would leave again for Davao to catch up with the first available flight back to Manila – on the same day. I felt that was all she wanted – see me even for just a short time. An important gift to her is a copy of the glossy Mabuhay magazine which she would lovingly caress upon receipt, open the pages and gawk at the photos.

 

She is also among the reasons why I believe in the wisdom of God for having brought me back to the point in my life where I made a decision to take care of her, to reaffirm it…after several disastrous living-in relationships, and which further made me ponder that my family is NOT limited to my blood relations but the rest of His creatures who I can touch. Where she is now living comfortably is her comfort zone, from which I could not take her away, as she would be emotionally distressed.

 

It took time for me to decide to finally bring out her story. But I am forced by the circumstance that some people cannot accept their great fortune of having normal and successful siblings and children, and loving wife, and presently enjoying the laughter of their grandchildren. I want them to compare their situation with mine. I cannot even settle down again as I might be unfortunate to get a partner who will not accept my elder sister. That is how I am simply looking at my life. Had my sister been normal and happily settled with a family of her own, I could be somewhere else, most probably in a depressed area, living with the people with whom I feel most comfortable.