Relationship In Demand

You can’t demand anything from a person if both of you don’t have any relationship at all.

Are You A Leader?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to bring back my college and high school memories when I participated in a leadership training. As a volunteer.

The training camp was initiated by the Leadership Communities (LeadCom), Davao. One of my close friends in college, Eunice, invited me to observe for their event and I was just stoked. As soon as I arrived in their venue, I met up with new faces and some familiar participants whom I came across with in company seminars that I conduct for. It was definitely overwhelming.

Inset: Ayala Foundation launches LeadCom

I could just remember how I started being a leader when I was elected as the student government president back in my high school prime. School politics also enraptured my college days. With inevitable challenges that came my way, I realized how essential they were until today. I just miss those days.

This brings me to my topic whether leadership is taught or caught.

The topic on leadership is like motivation. You can’t motivate a person. You can only teach him/her self-motivation. If you say a lot about leading and what not, but you don’t apply it to your personal walk, you may examine yourself in the mirror and find the word, “fraud” just right above your eyebrows. It’s hypocrisy and people hate that.

Similarly, you can’t teach a person about leadership. You can only teach him/her self-leadership. In a practical sense, it’s simply leading yourself as a servant leader. It’s contagious and completely viral. You can have several definitions of leadership but it all boils down to one thing: influence.

Leadership can be taught but it’s, most of the time, caught.

Life’s Easier with Shortcuts

As I was contemplating one night about what I am currently doing, I realized that I don’t have a pivotal focus that would bring me to wherever I’m heading to. Well, I’m just becoming so uncertain about things and I think this is becoming so unhealthy. My first key strength overwhelmed me. Adaptability, that is.

To explore is to be like a sponge. Not Sponge Bob. LOL

An epiphanic bombshell disarmed right in front of me when a friend asked me about my age, and then she just told me to explore. To explore. How profound.

Sometimes, I just want to get things done. Fast. Sometimes they end up being mediocre, but I know that I can do better.

I believe that thing right there is the problem: shortcuts. Life’s journey is determined by the seasons you experience. Moving on from one season to another is not going to be a walk in the park. It’s a challenge, which will shape your character for the good.

Suffering –> Perseverance –> Character –> Hope

Life has no shortcuts. Cutting it short is a different story and nobody wants that.

High School Nostalgia

She’s a good friend from high school, and I can never forget her because apart from being our batch valedictorian, she was my classmate since high school time immemorial. Who can? We had our memorable share of experiences, whether good or bad, together with our classmates.

We used to compete with each other’s prowess especially when school politics came across our friendship. It was, for the lack of better terms, pathetic. I never knew wisdom after high school. I was so arrogant, egocentric and demented.

Not until I met God and experienced an encounter with Him like never before. It changed my idealism and shifted my paradigm. All became history. I’m not perfect but I’m definitely God’s perfect work in progress.

I remember when we used to make clay pots in our Junior year, Pottery class, with Ma’am Lumaya. Those were the days!

Anyway. Just this morning, this good friend of mine chatted with me, and as she conferred her last-night-unforgettably-frightening experience to me, I was moved. After reading her messages as if listening live, it prompted me to just blog about it instead. Here’s her verbatim post:

Every day is truly another chance from God, we do not know if we’ll surely wake up after sleep, so I immensely thank the Lord I had another. I woke up from a nightmare and in it, I saw an evil spirit rested fixed on my chest that I can’t move and breathe. Its face was staring straight at me with its horrifying eyes. It looked like just one in Asian horror movies and from that sight, I started to panic and my legs and arms felt numb, while I struggled calling my mother subconsciously hoping she wakes me up. In the duration of my struggle, no voice came out from my mouth, not one slight sound even with all the effort I made..I didn’t stop mouthing ‘Mama’ though while I talked to God in my mind asking Him to save me and not death come upon me yet..I surely thought I was about to die. I felt it. I twitched my toes remembering what my mother always tells me that I should do when I have nightmares, while I continued calming myself from panic so as not to give in to the struggle and went on speaking to God. The duration of it was quite a while, really, it was a suffering, but after some time, I can no longer see the demon on my chest but the setting of the room with outside’s light piercing through the window. Slowly and with that clear setting I still see, my chest felt lighter and my eyes then opened. I woke up, panting heavily and with goosebumps then prayed. It’s morning now, and I had another chance. God saved me, He did not allow it, so He delivered me from evil. I amazingly felt His power, His mercy and His pure love for me, and I know my faith in Him saved me because had I not called Him and asked that I be spared again after almost 5 times of this similar situation (this was the worst struggle), my soul might be in hell now burning in the fire of agony. Thank you most merciful Father. I am your child and I will follow You. Let me follow You, Lord Jesus. You gave me this life and it is Yours. I will live only for You. – I was worldly, I’ve committed several of the mortal sins before, I cursed a lot, and I know there is a God but I didn’t care that much before, and I think you, my friends, definitely know that. I knew what was right from wrong, but I loved sin too much before to acknowledge God’s words, but some circumstances happened that led me to the right path. I was lost but I never want to be again. I am going home to where I truly belong. This life on earth is fleeting, let us not dwell in it so much, what we must prepare for is our second life – the eternal life. ♥

This didn’t just move me. Having “Empathy” as one of my key themes in my roster of strengths (Strengths Finder 2.0), it almost brought me to tears. I am just so overwhelmed and simply glad that she also encountered God.

Sometimes, we are so used to our situation that we miss out the fact of the real essence of our being. Live life as how it’s supposed to be lived. There must be no time wasted. Go back to the core of our existence. That is, to love God by worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. In other words, honor Him with what you do.

Try it and you’ll never be the same again. Experience absolute freedom in Jesus Christ today.

[Hopeless] Romantic Comedy

Gaping at an enthusiastic petite girl frolicking her way along the majestic streets of Paris. It’s a natural thing to do, especially for men. But if it would take as long as five minutes, it’s definitely going to be unhealthy. Of course, I’m not the person who’s stared in wonder. I’m not in Paris, after all.

Just early in the morning, I watched a romantic comedy. Two people attempted to redefine love which didn’t turn out mutual. The lady was fragile, tangible and emotional while the lad was upfront, lighthearted and superficial. As a result, the lady friend-zoned the lad, and so they remained friends. Typical as how the plot goes on, they eventually fell in love with each other despite differences. They were polar opposites and this fact never hindered their common string, which has been tightly knit when they first met. However, the woman died in an unpredictable accident. Basically, the plot’s sad. Although surprising and freshly twisted, it’s still sad. Unhealthy.

This brings me to the point that it is not healthy to watch a hopeless romantic movie. Yes, it may feel good at some point but it wouldn’t nurture your soul with goodness. I’d like to reiterate how unhealthy it is. I remembered when I watched a couple of movies in my senior college with my batchmates, who were all girls. Two movies. First was Virgin Suicides; then, The Social Network. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the essence of the first one but what I know is that it’s gloomy and dreary. The latter was about the founder of the most renowned and well-participated social network in the world to a girl who didn’t reciprocate his parasitic fuzzy love. If it’s really love, to begin with.

Anyway, what I’m saying is this. It’s good to watch romantic comedies and all. But be wary when you cross beyond the yellow border of being hopeless romantic. It’s momentary yet excruciating, which might bring a negative enculturation of misguided virtues.

Don’t get me wrong. I love feel-good movies. Romantic comedies hype me up. But most of the time, it prompts and stirs an unhealthy stimulation of my heart’s desire to go ahead of my profound priorities. At the end of the day, it will always be about vigilance and guarding one of the most challenging and grueling battlegrounds of life:

HEART.

Party! Party! Party!

Don’t be a party pooper. Be a party popper.

People hate apathy. Most especially, deviance. It’s okay to be idealist but the extremes of what it brings is absolute corruption. You end up holding on to your belief system as the definite truth. Now, that’s scary.

When it happens, you unintentionally become a party pooper.

And again, people hate that.

Here’s a party popper.

Question #1

How do you keep yourself productive?

Only if there’s a productivity key that would swiftly shift your current mental disposition. But there’s none. So how would we keep this upbeat? How do you keep yourself productive?

Batman: Facts and Trivia

I can’t imagine a Batman movie not directed by Christopher Nolan. I once read an article that Joss Whedon was supposed to have a shot at it, but his storyline was rejected. I think it was a good thing. He’s better off with The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: Avengers.

Last night, we were planning to immerse ourselves in a Batman marathon: Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. However promising, we weren’t able to watch the second. Time constraint. Nevertheless, I remembered that I wasn’t a Batman fan in the early 2000. Batman Begins began in 2005. As far as I could remember, I think that I was raptured by the comic oblivion when I was in my senior high. That was, I guess, 2006 or 7 (So young, right?).

As a comics enthusiast, I started watching both DC and Marvel comics. Both were great comics but I realized how real DC Comics gets when it comes to their story progression and how things are tightly knit in the same universe. Marvel, on the other hand, also has epic series of stories: X-Men, Avengers, etc. but it has multiple universes that makes it so difficult for the superheroes to meet in one place.

I thought that I can be a master of the two, but I guess it would take a lifetime to do it. Of course, I’m exaggerating. Well, it can be simply described as “conflict of interest”. You cannot just mix oil with water. But to clear things up, I respect Marvel. I do.

Anyway. Back to Batman. Here’s a series of facts and trivia about the caped crusader. Get to know him and you’ll see why my time spent with this hero is not a waste at all.

• Bob Kane created Batman, then developed by Bill Finger. The first description was:

“..a character who looked very much like Superman with kind of … reddish tights, I believe, with boots … no gloves, no gauntlets … with a small domino mask, swinging on a rope. He had two stiff wings that were sticking out, looking like bat wings. And under it was a big sign … BATMAN.”

• Batman first appeared in the Detective Comics #27, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate” on May 1939.

• Bruce Wayne = Robert Bruce (Scottish Patriot) and Anthony Wayne (US General and Statesman).

• The Batman (1989) film was directed by Tim Burton with Michael Keaton as the Batman together with Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, and Jack Palance.

• Bob Kane’s inspiration of the character came from the iconic heroes in the 30′s such as The Mark of Zorro and The Bat Whispers. While Bill Finger’s were Doc Savage, The Shadow, and Sherlock Holmes.

• Kane signed away ownership in the character in exchange for a mandatory byline on all Batman comics. Although Finger developed Batman the closest to how we see him today, he did not receive the same recognition. According to Jerry Robinson, who worked with them in Batman’s story development, Finger should have been the co-creator. However, the reason why he didn’t get the credit is because Finger was Kane’s ghost writer.

• Batman’s utility belt first appeared in July 1939 while his batarang and batmobile were on September, same year.

• In April 1940, Robin (Batman’s sidekick) was introduced.

• In June 1952, Batman paired with Superman as they uncovered their true identities. They were dubbed as “The Mightiest Team in the World”.

• Bruce Wayne’s parents were Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne. He was brought up in Wayne Manor.

• Superman describes Batman as “the most dangerous man on Earth”.

• In Earth-two, Batman married Catwoman and they had a daughter named Helena (which later became, “Huntress”).

• BusinessWeek listed the character as one of the ten most intelligent superheroes appearing in American comics.

• Entertainment Weekly named Batman as one of The 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture.

• Forbes magazine estimated Bruce Wayne to be the 9th richest fictional character with his $5.8 billion fortune.

• In May 2011, Batman placed second on IGN’s Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time, after Superman.

• Empire magazine also listed him second in their 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters of All Time.

The most-awaited trilogy-ender of Nolan’s Batman series. This will relentlessly shake the big screens. I can’t wait.

Are You Alone? Or Lonely?

Sometimes, we essentially need to have “alone” times. But that doesn’t mean “lonely”. These two are different things. Anyone can fully understand that. But both can happen all at the same time. Now, that’s sad.

Emo. A political label defined by the norm which refers to those who are both alone and lonely. As the years went by, Emo became a sense of fashion. Jet-black eyeliner, dragged down hair nearly covering the eyes and the forehead, sometimes with contact lens, and no smile at all.

This is different.

“L”, from the movie Death Note, is way much cooler than a thousand “Emo”s combined. He delights in being alone with his sweet tooth that sustains his sleepless nature. He’s practically alone but not lonely.

I’m blogging this not because I’m lonely. Just alone. The “L”-type of being alone. Minus the sweet tooth and sleepless nature.

#Random

Prime Key to Progress

In order to improve quality education, we don’t need quality students. We need quality teachers who will transform ordinary students into exemplary beings who will thoroughly be equipped with what is needed in the real world.

Education is already a basic need. It is not expensive. Ignorance is much more expensive, if you know what I mean.

When people get educated, mindsets will transform. The society will transcend from mediocrity to excellence. This is the cure of every society’s putrid contagion.

There are no dull students. Teachers, probably.