The Girl Who Silenced The World For 6 Minutes

This video has been making rounds on the Internet for some time now. It's been 17 years since Severn Suzuki gave this speech during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which is also known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 3-14, 1992.

It wouldn't hurt to listen and reflect on what she had to say. Maybe, we do need to listen more to children...

Asia’s Finests

Wushu-Sanshou athletes competed with Asia’s finest martial arts fighters in the recently concluded 1st Asian Martial Arts Games held in Bangkok, Thailand. Twenty-six (26) countries participated in the Wushu & Kungfu event and Team Philippines’ very lean team snagged 1 gold, 2 silvers, and 1 bronze (see names below):

• ARCITA, Dembert - Bronze
• EDDIVA, Mark - Silver
• ESTIMAR, Mary Jane - Gold
• MARIANO, Mariane - Silver

Mark Sangiao also joined the team’s delegation as a coach.

A total of 1,500 athletes and officials from 40 countries competed in 9 martial arts disciplines.

Points of View

Perspectives make us see things from corners we couldn't reach. If we're lucky, we get a brief glimpse of a wholeness that otherwise elude us. But that's always not the case and it's not entirely our fault if we fail to see the the depth and vastness of things happening around us. It's human nature. It doesn't make us less of who we are.

Since the new national artists were named, different opinions like this, this and this came out. Sadly, this is an issue that's pitting talented Filipinos against each other. In my own point of view, this is not about arrogance or elitism. It's about thinking what lessons we wish to impart, especially to the children who will someday would help define our country.

Mirage

I'm certain about many things. But once in a while, self-preservation stands between me and certainty. If only I could be so consistent, I'd want to face things head-on regardless of the potential grief they may cause me. Not knowing but still doing something is how I'd want to do things. I like the currents to sweep me away. I want to feel...to be in that moment and discover if I'd go under or make it to shore.

I've always been fascinated with mysteries and puzzles. For each one I've found the answers to, I'm happy. But what of this uncertainty that even I couldn't touch? There's something off with this picture. Maybe I didn't look at it as carefully as I should've. Maybe interpretations were safer than the truth. Maybe then it was just more fun not to know.

I briefly sought that level of certainty that I surrendered to self-preservation. The pictures seem like a mirage now that I allow myself to process them. Knowing this, I'm confident that even if certainty continues to elude me, this beautiful mirage still makes me happy.