Getting distracted

I've had two more article published on The Earth Times, and I'm still happy about it. But I am getting a bit guilty about getting distracted from my mission: a portal/homepage for Filipino catholic families.

An old friend of the family's who just passed away gave a rather formal speech for a simple family gathering last year. He mentioned how he would visit with my grandfather and my aunts because he enjoyed the intellectual discussions.

This resonated with me because I had been reflecting on the idea for several months since a conversation I had with poet ands artist Noel Beduya. What I took from that talk was his desire -- need -- for intelligent intercourse -- not the green variety!

I realized that I was blessed because when I was growing up I had this with my parents, siblings and friends. When I got married and had children, I always had my husband and my children to talk to and argue with, which partly made up for the fact that I had isolated myself from friends.

But I also realized that a lot of people don't have that anymore, even in their own families. I had a student, a very pretty and talented high school senior, who told me that she was sad because when she got home from school she couldn't talk to her mother because she (the mother) would be busy watching Korean telenovelas.

Even sadder, of course, are the many children growing up while their  parents work abroad. A male friend of mine narrated how, when he had just started working abroad, his wife and two young boys would go online everyday to say hello and chat. As the days went by though, they would be online less often, and after several months, he would only get to chat with them once a week.

And there are some families who communicate even less often.

So the idea is a homepage for every family that uses the best features available for websites so that families can share and communicate and be together, even if only virtually. There's Facebook of course, but that's got too many things going on ... too much distraction.

So that's my mission from which I am getting distracted.

But it'll have to be realized on a part-time basis because I do have to keep a steady income source to make sure my own family can keep sharing, communicating, and being together.

Writing about it here, I hope, will mark the movement of the concept out of my mind and onto the Web.

On being an environmentalist

I just got a bylined article published in The Earth Times! It's called Microblog post saves truckload of dogs in China.

I read "The Silent Spring" when I was in grade school. In highschool there wasn't much action going on in terms of environmental activism. Well, everyone was too busy studying.

In college I joined the Marine Biological Society. That was about the greenest group on campus at that time, I guess, aside from the Mountaineers.

Two notable friends from there went on to work for Earth Island and Greenpeace.

Me, I became a mom. But in my own way tried to instill earth-friendly attitudes and behavior in my children. I tried to explain that turning off the lights to save electricity was not just about saving money for the family but for saving the world too.

I taught them the importance of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and was very very proud when my daughter told me that Repair should also be included.

Now I get a chance to do a little bit more for the earth by writing for The Earth Times.

I'm so happy.

Message for mothers

When this verse first came to me, I thought it was for my husband. And then I found myself in a pretty bad situation and I realized it was for me and other mothers/wives.

Maybe it will help other moms who may, by his grace, stumble upon this post.

          Families are fragile
          Handle yours with care
          Shower with unconditional love
          Defend with constant prayer.

It is so easy to break up families these days. It is even expected in some situations (I can just hear concerned voices saying "you should leave him ..."). But families are much more than the husband-wife relationship. There are children, this is obvious. And much more, but less generally acknowledged, there is God.

My daughter Patricia (an incoming Political Science sophomore at UP Diliman) was telling me about a speech a friend of hers wrote for school. Her friend was saying that people should make sure before they get married and have children that they will stay together and raise their children properly. Seems like an obvious statement. However, taking into account the girl's own life, hearing this made me want to cry. Her parents had split up when she was a baby and she didn't live with either parent. When they were still in high school, she and her sister lived in a house with a helper. Now that they are both in college, they have their own condo and no more maid.

Another friend then said that the couple should remember that a marriage isn't just between them, but should include God. Incredible words to hear from an 18-year-old girl known for her bad behavior in high school -- she would escape from school over the fence and drink and smoke and party all night. But despite this apparently bad behavior, she's a really nice girl, very respectful and a good friend. In her case, her words are also very important in her context. Despite much difficulties, her parents have stayed together and they are a close-knit family, with the three siblings very much involved in each others' lives despite large age gaps.

God loves us with unconditional love and this is how we should love our husbands/wives and our children. It might not be easy, but doable, by his grace, and with constant prayer.