 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
mix
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Copyright©2008 iEARN Philippines | All Rights Reserved
Developed by A Vision 2008 Team, Makati Science High School, Philippines
Carizza Marie Magat Magdaleno
16 years old
Makati Science High School
Mrs. Maria Luisa Hernandez Larcena
Philippines
I come from a wonderful family. Everything is given to me- beautiful clothes, delicious food, and fancy things. I can get anything I want when I am with them. But material things are not the only things given to me; they also make sure that I feel their love when I am with them. They make sure that I am always safe and that I am always in good hands. Because they take good care of me, I make sure that I give back what they give to me ten times more.
All my life I have treated my family’s love and care for me as a good thing. Nothing has changed until know, I still appreciate it; but sometimes I already think that it is too much. I sometimes think that they are treating me as the three-year-old girl that I used to be. I feel that my every move is calculated and all my decisions are noted. I can not blame them for that. I know that they only want the best for me. I also know that they do not want me to regret any decision I make. As I mentioned, they treat me with much care. They do not let anyone take advantage of me. Like a little baby, they do not want even a single fly to go near me. They are veryprotective of me. It is a good thing. I am treated like a princess. But we all know that princesses do not have any freedom.
I really do love my family, but sometimes I wish that I could have another one. Another family that will let me do anything, another family that will let me go out and see the world by myself. You must think that I am so bad to my family. You must also think that I am the worst daughter in the entire world because I do not appreciate the sacrifices they are doing for me. Also, from these previous sentences I wrote here, you must think that I really have a very big problem. But what you are thinking is wrong. Funny as it may sound, but I am slightly exaggerating my problem with my family.
I mentioned here that my problem is about my freedom. It is true; but it is not that very serious at it seems. You must think that my problem is that I do not have the freedom to love anybody I desire. You must also think that my parents do not let me choose a career I want. But you are wrong. I really do only have one small problem. That is I want to be free and what I mean by free is that I can “commute” by myself. It is a funny problem, isn’t it? Some who would read this must think that I am very shallow. Well, for most it might be a small thing; but it is a very big deal for me. I want to experience riding a jeep, a bus, or a tricycle by myself. I want to reach a place by following my own directions. I feel envious when I see my classmates who are going home by themselves. I feel jealous when I see them making “para” to the jeepneys or tricycles on the street. Sometimes I tell myself, “Balang araw, ako yan! Ako yan babae dyan na magpapara and kakaway kay mamang driver.” You must think that this dream is hilarious, and I agree with you. I sound so desperate.
Now, I am already a fourth year student. You must think that I have yet to ride a jeep, a bus or tricycle because of my previous sentences; but you are wrong. Occasionally, my parents allow me to commute as long as it is for school and the place that I will go to is not that far. Here you may ask, “Anu pa inaangal mo? Allowed ka naman pala.” This is true, but I am not yet content. I am happy that I already have this small privilege, but I still think that this is not enough. I believe that I have yet to be given full freedom because I am still not allowed to go out by myself and go to any place I want.
I cannot wait for college, because I believe that by that time I will already be allowed to go out by myself.
__________________________________________________________________
Katrina Flor A. Pantilla
16 years old
Makati Science High School
Mrs. Maria Luisa Larcena
Philippines
And at last I beheld you. With that amusing smile playing on your lips, my gaze fixed upon you. I could not recall how long I stood there, waiting for you to speak or move. The coldness of the air must have kissed you all night, for you looked frozen on the spot. I felt my insides melt like a bar of butter. I did not know what to do, except to keep on looking at those mysterious eyes of yours. For a time that felt like eternity, someone, or something, had pulled me from this reverie-like state. Your visage had disappeared, and all I could perceive were faces of people whom I failed to recognize momentarily.
I would never forget that moment.
With matters weighing down upon us heavier than ever, I felt like it would be the end. It was, apparently, as I evaluated later, the beginning of the end. I was starting to lose myself, like every screw in my body was unwinding from the hinges, with the danger of breaking down just around the corner. The desire for release from emotional captivity had led me in every step I took towards the end. I was debating whether the memories we shared should be left in the cold or carried in a treasure chest. I was questioning my own sanity and doubting my own conscience. Should I risk further emotional injury by refusing to forget? Or would I better if I free myself from any memory of you? I glanced around and then I felt my eyes fill with tears. Again, I felt the harshness of the cold wind of the month, and I felt broken all the more. I tightened my grasp on the jacket I was wearing, and recalled the sound of your voice, which seemed so far away. “Everything has a purpose. What’s happening now is part of God’s plan.” – is this not what you once told me to remember at all times? If this had been in God’s divine plan, then there is definitely nothing I could do to prevent this from occurring.
I strolled around, and started counting my steps but stopped at a thousand. I wanted the fact that there is a deal more than a thousand steps between you and I to be made unknown to me. With one final glance at the place, I sighed heavily and left the place, never to return anon.
It was then when I felt coldest.
Michael Dominic Zabala Padlan
16 years old
Makati Science High School
Mrs. Maria Luisa Larcena
Philippines
Of all the movies I have watched, I believe that The Godfather is definitely the most educational. Sure, it is about life in the mob, but upon serious thought one begins to see that this classic movie tells the truth about some things in life.
My favorite scene in The Godfather was when Don Vito Corleone told his son Santino “Never tell anyone outside the family what you’re thinking again.” It means never to tell anybody you do not trust what you think. Letting other people know what you think about an issue might just lead them to figure out how you think, thus costing you in the long run.
This world is a Machiavellian place. Trust is a relative thing. Alliances and friendships are formed on mutual benefit and interest. It sounds so unappealing, so gritty, so cynical, so sad, so depressing, but that is the way I see it. When worse comes to worst, when things get ugly, it is undeniable that there is a potential to use whatever we have to achieve our ends. It is a fact. My point is this – why would you give someone something to use against you?
I know I sound paranoid, but then again “it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.” It is better to be safe than sorry. Why take unnecessary risks?
I made this mistake once. I put my personal thoughts out into the public forum, unedited, uncensored, all right there in the open for anybody with half a brain to read and understand. Stupid, I know. Maybe my brain is going soft from all this comedy I watch. I knew better than to put my thoughts where I did, but I went ahead and did it anyway.
On hindsight it looked like an okay enough idea back then. Things were going well, no problems big enough to warrant attention. So maybe I let my guard down, and made full use of my right to freely express myself once or twice. Now my freely expressed thoughts have become liabilities, more things to worry about just in case we go to the mattresses, more things to keep me up at night. It is too late now. No use crying over things I cannot change. Maybe next time I will be more careful.
Maybe that next time starts real soon. What better time to begin than the present? I do not believe I gave away too much about how I think in this piece, at least not things I have not written about before. I guess I do not need to worry about people taking advantage of the following freely expressed thoughts. I think that putting one’s thoughts into a medium that can be read and understood by people you do not trust is a little stupid. I think that assuming that the people who read things you were stupid enough to put out into the open would not use the things they learned for their personal advantage is also stupid. I think that writing personal thoughts about personal things then releasing them defeats the purpose of them being personal. I think that this would be my last personal piece dealing with very personal stuff because I try not to repeat my mistakes. Lastly, I think that I should stick to writing personal thoughts about political things. May God give me the strength to accept the things I cannot change.
_________________________________________________________________
Lira Perin Habana
16 years old
Makati Science High School
Mrs. Maria Luisa Larcena
Philippines
To Hide and Unhide
I used to play Hide-and-Seek with my cousins every time I go to our province in Quezon. I was good at playing it. I guess that was the only game in which I really excelled. But when I turned 13, I barely played any outdoor games, not even Hide-and-Seek.
When I went to my former classmate’s house, I saw a child hiding in a pile of wood. At first, I did not know what he was doing. But when I realized that it was my former classmate’s cousin, I asked him and he told me that he was playing Hide-and-Seek with his friends and other cousins. At that moment, I was reminded of the feeling that I used to feel whenever I played Hide-and-Seek. But I can no longer play; I am too old for children’s games. So I just watched him, I watched him long enough to see that he was really good at hiding. Everyone was caught, and yet, he did not bother to say that he was there in the pile of wood. The next moment, I saw him yelling with his friends and cousins, telling them that they should not give up their search for him, while they answered that he should stick with the rules of the game that if there is hiding, there should always be showing up when the ‘It’ could not find you.
Playing Hide-and-Seek may be for children only but there are instances when adults would play it accidentally, meaning, not knowing that they were already playing it. I have a cousin who was in her 4th year of college. She was in a good school and in a good family. But a month before her graduation, her family noticed that her belly got bigger. She was pregnant. She knew that she was pregnant. She did not tell her family right away because of the fear of rejection. She may die if she was not caught. Good thing she was not like the boy, in the pile of woods, hiding too well. Getting found kept her in the game. Hide-and-Seek, grown- up style: wanting to hide, needing to be sought after, confused about being found. “I do not want any one to know.” “What will people think?” “I do not want to bother any one.”
Better than Hide-and-Seek, I like the game called Sardines. In Sardines, the person who is ‘It’ goes and hides, and everybody goes looking for him. When you find him, you get in with him and hide there with him. Pretty soon everybody is hiding together, all stacked in a small space like puppies in a pile. And pretty soon somebody giggles and somebody laughs and everybody gets found.
Patricia Cecille Monica Hernandez Panganiban
16 years old
Makati Science High School
Mrs. Maria Luisa Larcena
Philippines
The Bad Side of Creativity
When you are a kid, everything is so easy.
One would spend their days, basking out in the sun, playing in the park, reading children’s books with large colorful illustration and virtually anything. There were no assignments, long tests, chores, or responsibilities. There was none of that.
I was an only child.
I still am.
But because of that, I got used to finding ways to amuse myself without playmates. I loved to draw. I had a set of plastic cookware and dinnerware and I would spend the afternoon drawing food and cutting them out and set it for all my dolls. I made up stories about families, about kids, about the secret lives of my dolls. That kind of stuff. I would write songs, and give it a tune. Complete with a matching music video.
Growing up, I really had to make do with what I had. I did not have brothers or sisters and my cousins all live far far away, so I played with dolls and action figures and those little figurines you used to get with Happy Meals. In fact, I have great pride (and an equal amount of shame) in my collection of Barbie Dolls. I had Barbie, I had Barbie’s friends, I had Snow White, I had Barbie sleeping, I had Barbie with poofy hair, I had cheap Barbie, I had Filipiniana Barbie, I had Ken, I had Barbie that was all glittery, I even had LA Laker Style Barbie.
I also had markers. Permanent markers. Washable markers. The like.
One day, I decided that Barbie needed a makeover. I mean, does Barbie really have to be blonde, blue-eyed, and girly? Why not artsy? Why not mod? Why not punk?
So, markers at hand, I colored them, painted on them. By the end of the day, my Barbies had blue and green streaks on their hair, dark-colored lips, and tattoos. I even gave one of my Barbies a haircut, from her long hair, I gave her a very smart shaggy bob. Well, at least during that time, it looked smart. It was not really that bad. There is nothing wrong with green hair or pink hair. There is nothing wrong with a bit of lip color other than hot pink. And I was six years old, my tattoos were hearts and stars, no skulls or dragons or koi fish.
Then, trouble came. I had to wash them off before my parents would arrive. I put them inside the sink, which in turn was filled with water. I scrubbed their plastic flesh-toned, perfectly tanned skin. I rinsed and washed their hair back to the bleach blonde we all know.
But fate did not work that way.
Karma does not work that way.
The hair was still streaked with color. However, it was not as bright as when I first applied color. The make-up was still evidently there. The tattoos were still on Barbie’s plastic blemish-free skin. Though due to the suds of the soap, had began to spread and discolor her skin.
In chemistry, you will learn that black ink is made up of different colors of ink. As time wears on, ink begins to fade. That is why in your notebooks that you have not used for a while, the pages are bluish or yellowish.
That was exactly happening to my Barbies.
And by the end of it all, they looked like battered women. Blue and black smears on their skin looked like miniature bruises. Streaked and colored hair looked like a worn-out fashionista. Like a trend coming to an end. The make-up worsened the overall look.
Of course, my parents got mad.
Who would not?
I learned a very valuable lesson that day. When it comes to fashion, simplicity is best. Just kidding. I learned that being creative in that way is not the best thing to do. No matter what I say, what I did was still graffiti. And not the kind of graffiti that is cool and puts a smile on the pedestrian’s face; but the kind that people choose to ignore, the crappy kind.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, they are still covered in tattoos and they still have colored hair and make-up.
__________________________________________________________________
Jose Mari Hall Lanuza
15 years old
Makati Science High School
Mrs. Maria Luisa Hernandez Larcena
Philippines
Finding a Treasure
Once in the life of a person, there comes a day when he or she will find a special treasure. Something so rare and precious that that treasure will probably be incomparable to any other thing in this world. This treasure can come in any form. It may be a thing, a person, or even just a simple memory. But when we finally find that treasure, our life will seem complete and happier than ever. This special occasion shall come to every single person’s life at some point in time. A treasure that one can view as dirty piece of rock but value as a priceless and unique gem.
Treasures can seem priceless for some and worthless to others. For example, trash is worthless to common people, but it is the treasure of the people whose businesses involve recycling and stuff. A total stranger is no one to you, but that stranger can mean the world to another. These treasures can be found anywhere. They blend in with the environment. They are common, and yet they are rare. Mostly because we have different perspectives when it comes to treasures. We may be looking too hard for stones that we did not notice that precious gem behind us. We need to look and not see, so that we can find the treasures that the world has given us.
Almost exactly one year ago, I found my treasure. And I found it in the most cunning way. This treasure of mine came so unexpectedly. And though it is not as precisely cut as a prized diamond, I have learned to love its jagged edges, as well as its shine and luster. I have learned to love and value this treasure so much that any day of my life spent without it by my side is considered incomplete. I have become so fond of my little precious treasure. I have learned the hard way that life would simply be bitter with it gone. This is how much my simple treasure means to me. It can mean everything to me. This treasure of mine that has given me smiles and tears, this treasure that has given me peace of mind as well as chaos. This unpredictable treasure that simply and unexpectedly captivated me. This treasure of mine that I love and value so much.
Everyone is bound to find his or her treasure. And everyone is sure to experience a great surge of emotion that is simply unexplainable. A great wave of happiness and fulfillment and assurance that no matter what happens, you won’t lose everything, because your treasure will always remain by your side.
Treasures can be found anywhere. It may be great or small, grand or simple. No matter what form it may take, the treasure that belongs to you shall be of great importance, incapable of measurement, number and logic. It simply is. No explanations. You are bound to find it, the treasure that shall make a great change in you for all of time.
__________________________________________________________________
Zatia Denise Gammad
15 years old
Makati Science High School
Mrs. Maria Luisa H. Larcena
Philippines
Vaccine
“OMG. Why me? I’m not good at this. May I stop now? Please? You will just laugh. Please, choose others. Please?” Sounds familiar? Of course it does. Living your every day under the tyranny of pressure and stress, these words are never safeguarded. Indeed, these come out when it is your time to take the floor. At first we feel confident, because we’re looking at ourselves in the mirror. But when we are in front of a crowd, it feels like our hearts are pounding back. It feels like we want to fall into a bottomless pit. It feels like we want to blend into the woods. Embarrassment or lack of self-esteem? We are nothing without fear. It is in our very souls that control us when it is time to make a diversion. But I tell you this, without fear, there can be no courage.
Not all are born to be stuntmen. There are certain stunts that we cannot perform. Doubts come out of the blue. And it feels like we are in a contest wherein judges are there to criticize. Therefore, fear starts to do well in its occupation. That is for you to chicken out, worm out, or weasel out. It is preventing you to cross that bridge. That bridge to the gates of victory. But look at it this way. Fear acts like a vaccine for our souls. A vaccine is a preparation which is used to improve immunity to diseases. Similarly, fear prepares us to strengthen our character, to be not toppled down easily. Remember in biology class, vaccines contain weakened diseases that are identified by our immune system. Once identified, the immune system develops antibodies that fight the infection. The body then stocks these antibodies so they’re available to fight off the diseases later on. Now, let us substitute. For instance, the fear in making speeches is our vaccine. Once we encounter it, we tend to shake instantly and forget the words that we have memorized. Of course we do not want to lose that shining grade of a 100% so we think of a way to shrug it off. By doing so, we are hiring courage to fight of the fear. And once we have done this, experience becomes the stocked antibodies. So the next time around, we will know how to deal with that same fear. Remember, the more vaccines, the more immunity you get.