Storms are a must

Unlike the Americans, most Filipinos are laid back when talk comes to

storms. After all, the Philippines is battered by an army of tropical storms each year. Our homes were built to last the winds and torrential rains these atmospheric disturbances pose. For the opposite side of the globe however, westerners are traumatized even with cyclones making landfall, talk about Hurricane Katrina and the billion worth of damage it has done to property in the United States. While the opposite side of the earth talk about the submerged houses they have and the loss of business, in Cebu as per

experience (mostly in Pasil), we talk about how people would scramble to gather as much GI sheets in the streets blown off from the roofings the night before and the fun while doing it.

Meteorologists claim that storms are a must for the whole global climate being able to stabilize the temperatures across the surface of the earth. Storms generally transfer the heat that gathered in the equatorial regions to the higher latitudes thus easing the global climate. There is a connection therefore between global warming and typhoon strength. The warmer the region, the stronger the storm. Global Warming anyone?

We are an embattled people and we are stronger because of that. Through these battles we have become more resilient to the challenges of the times and it has made us appreciate the passing vanities of the world. We as a people have learned to dance with the music played about by Nature. Our knees have grown stronger with each effort we take to stand up after falling face deep in mud. We are strong.

This is the ancient wisdom of storms. Storms, whether they be natural calamities or personal struggles, never fail to make you stronger. Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger. Isn't it common for us to say that storms no matter how strong doesn't last for very long? Were we not trained by experience, like bamboos in the midst of prevailing winds, dance with the blow? Could you still remember what happened to the trees that stood against the wind in the pride?

You are an embattled person. You have been facing storms all your life, why give up now? You know that these challenges would not last for long. You know how strong you are. Storms are a must for everyone. It is when you are stronger that stronger storms come to strengthen you more. It is when problems come in heat waves that we learn to balance our lives. The outside is but a reflection of the battle inside. Even nature mirrors the struggles we have.

We are still in September, the typhoon season. Stay strong.

Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen

We were all seated at the conference room. We were a band of brothers who spent months living and studying together. We consider ourselves a family, after all we are a community of Salesian aspirants.

"Not all of you will become priests here. Some of you may have to leave and build their own families. How I wish all of you will become Salesians but that is not the case, not all of you will become Salesians", Fr. Ronel frankly declared.

Such is the case of all religious communities. Many young people enter the seminary gates with much enthusiasm in their hearts. The same young people exit the seminary gates with bags full of experiences and their hearts full of enthusiasm for things other than religious life. With five years of college aspirancy behind me, I can attest to the truth that not everyone I see in a school year will last for the next. This is how fluid the community is. This is the test of one's detachment.

Many young people would come to say "yes" but could not keep that "yes". It's nobody's fault that most seminarians would eventually leave the seminary. It's a play between their true vocational calling, their psychological maturity, family background, and their generosity. Most, if not all, come with a very good intention of following Christ's call. However, formation to the religious life has been providentially designed to sift through vocations.

I, for example, came from a batch of a meager six aspirants. Now, I am the lone survivor of that batch in the postulancy. Most of my companions have to leave to further other dreams. The perseverance rate of religious life is low. The call of community life remains. This is the bittersweet reality of our life. We act like real brothers even with the possibility of departing from each other. We trust is the community as it is now.

There are many factors that affect vocations, but the most essential things are discernment, prayer, and personal commitment. Seminarians can have the most lucrative venue and amenities for formation, they can have the most talented, wise, understanding, and loving formators, but if they lack the capacity to commit, persevere, and surrender to God's Will it means a change of choice.

Oily Problems

No, I'm not writing about the greasy facial oil masking your skin. It's all about sweet crude oil, the Black Gold, the OPEC-issue, today's fuel, and tomorrow's scarcity. We're seeing macroeconmics here, when most of today's economies solely depending on oil, take it away and you paralyze the global economy. Who cares, you ask? You might have felt it a little with the rising of the standard minimum fare but its long term effects are disastrous.

It has already been noted that global market growth is slowing down. The US Economy is fluctuating, the OPEC is fighting for a $100 a barrel mark-up, Russia is going war freak again with oil as its hostage. The slower the growth of a market, the slower the development, and the slower can we uplift our standards of living. Yes, it's nobody's fault but everyone's. We've been too dependent on oil. We knew its long-term effects yet everybody's addicted to it. Think about opium and shabu addicts in rehabs. The world is so much like it right now, enslaved and in-denial.

I've written how indolent we are when we could have harnessed other sources of energy by developing hybrid technologies. We've been too slow on these developments. Our policy was: let's use oil for now and see what happens next. Good heavens, we not only see but also feel global warming, pollution, and now economic slowdown. Think about it, if oil runs dry today, what would happen to the millions of jeepneys and tricycles running up and down the Philippine road?

Will we really run out of oil? No, we won't. Oil will become so scarce that it will become so expensive, no one wants to buy it or invests in finding it. Isn't this a classic human condition? We trust so fully in things that are passing, things that are temporary. We easily find solace in the easiest conditions that we have. What little psychological problem we innately have adds up to become the global problem. Everything after all rests on individual choice and everything else is a reflection of the inner struggle. We can't always blame the higher institutions, it's too immature for today's consciousness.

As human persons, we are called to more social awareness and active participation. Whatever we do, no matter how small, affects everything in reality. Think about the Butterfly Effect.