new friends

"the othernight,i was with my friends..(drinking).when suddenly a group of fine looking ladies approached us,then started talking to us..they were telling us about a plan for a reunion…then it came to me that these ladies and me are from the same batch.(we graduated together,in the same school)…but wow!..are these ladies here in front of me really the classmates i had in hischool?…they had crayolas in their bags which i guess explains the colors in their faces…but the most shocking part is tHAT THEY HAD BREASTS!!!!…hahahaha..wow!.clothes which ressemble the ones Paris Hilton wears and shoes of michael jordan,aw!wrong guy..they had sandals that looked like ferry boats..and ooohhh!..u shud have seen those teeth,they were like white boards..tsktsktsk…i dont want to thinkthey were my old frends,i want to look at them as new frends..para wlang konsensya!"
-ben-

"this is the reason why i dont drink too much.."
-thirdie-

undermined

i had the previlege of being one the few who are given the chance to tour the premises of camp aguinaldo and have a round table discussion with high ranking officials in Camp Aguinaldo.

After a backgrounder on what the afp really is, we were given the chance to ask questions by the officials. So i took the oppurtunity and asked the general directly about his view on the 2010 goal of the current administration. The goal is to really minimize insurgency in the country com that year. After i finished my question, i saw a weird smile in the face of the official, its not something you always see in the AFP. Then the general started to answer me. I am not going to quote him on what he said but he's answer goes to this effect.." there is a slippage on that goal, we cannot minimize the insurgency by 2010"..the general continued to answer but my ears were not for him anymore, i was srtarting to think about another thing after i heard that answer.

I was asking myself, how come when president arroyo talks about these goals she seems so sure that it can be done?.yet we have generals in the AFP saying that it is not possible. what? isnt this a clear undermining of the people who are credible sources of information with regards to suppressing the insurgents in our country?..if anyone is to speak about when and how we can stop these insurgents from growing,it is the afp.

AFP personnels are the msot credible source of information and they say that the 2010 goal to stop insurgents is not attainable. I felt sad for these people, they are tasked to do something which is i guess impossible for now and before 2010, but they are left with no choice because it is the goal of the administration. They know its not going to be possible but they are still doing it, if time comes(2010) and the insuirgents are still there, who will the people criticize and hate?.its not going to be those who announced the plan..the ones at the end recieving the blame and hate will be the AFP for not being able to do what the administration said was attainable by 2010!!
@%**.

our duty

it was a fine dinner, a common dinner i guess if you dont include the fact that seated in front of you is House Speaker Prospero Nograles..As part of our educational tour, we were previleged to be welcomed into the speakers office. Where we had a talk with the busy congressman and of course a dinner sponsored by the house. As we were enjoying our time with the speaker, i heard a line from him and i have to quote him on this---" it is your right and duty to know".

All of a sudden, my perception on the right to information changed as my perception to my duty as a citizen was also tapped. As far as i can remember, i have always been a critique of the government especially with regards to information dessimination. But the statement of speaker Nograles amde me think that yes, i deserve to know because it is my right but at the same time, it is also my responsibility to know.

As human beings, we all want what is good for us..that's what we all want right?.BUt we dont just wait for it to come...we usually exhaust our energy and resorces in achieveng these wants..we dont just sit back and complain why we are not getting what we want, we work hard to get it..at least that's how things work for me...

But why cant we use that same eagerness to fulfill our wants and use to fulfill our duty to the country?considering that if we want to be productive members of our society, we have to be knowledgeable....if we want to be good members of the society we have to know what is happening and we can only achieve that if we take time "TO" know..

im back.

just got back from manila..me and my class went on our educational tour.
it was quite a trip, considering that most of the things i got from it were not really the ones i expected...i gota lot of realizations than "fun"(the shallow description of the word)..

new found respect...SOLDIERS!

I played Paintball with my friends just this afternoon..The game was fun, the objective was to eliminate all members of the other group using your gun powered by an airtank using paitnballs as bullets.when u get hit, u just walk away from the action and wait for the next round..at least thats the idea. I started the game by first hiding behind the positioned tires then went to the "woods" to find a more suitable hiding place..

As the game progressed, i also had several realizations of my own. i was starting to ask myself questions like, what if these are real bullets and not just paintballs..what if these are real guns powered by gun powder.what if im in a real combat situation..what if i was a soldier. then the thought of being as soldier made me laugh..because i always hear stories about how soldiers who are toughened by trainings in camps become cowards during real battles..
Being me, i continued playing..but as the action in the game became fiercer, my thoughts became harder to ignore. (what if these are real bullets and not just paintballs..what if these are real guns powered by gun powder.what if im in a real combat situation..what if i was a soldier)..

so when i got hit, i stepped back and watched my friends play and also took time to reflect on my thoughts.

i had to admit, i felt ashamed of myself for laughing at jokes pertaining to soldiers..
its not easy being them!..

imagine, i know that what we are using are only paintballs yet i still feel scared thinking about how it would feel if i got hit..the endless effort to find a good hiding place disorients me..the gun im using is not heavy im telling you but it makes moving around difficult for me.
now, how hard can that be compared to the situation our soldiers face during combats. .

i am not trying to say that we cannot criticize our brave soldiers, what im trying to say is that the next time we think of making fun or make harsh comments about soldiers, we should really stop and ask ourselves.."what have i done to have the right to dishonor soldiers?"..
because honestly, i have not done anything as noble as what soldiers are doing and will do for the remaining days of their lives..have you?