passionate servant

GO GREEN!!! GO CELTICS!!!

Gerald Eraldo — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:42:05 +0000

Macbeth: Tragedy, tragedy, tragedy!

Gerald Eraldo — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:58:05 +0000

Watching classic movies is really fun and exciting; fun in a sense that you don’t have to read an Old-English drama script anymore almost thick as a novelette and exciting because the fight scenes are really incredible. It can make you really laugh out loud.

One of the classic movies I’ve watched recently was the Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare directed by Roman Polanski in 1971. It is about a killing of a king and its consequences. It is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1606, with 1607 being the very latest probable date and it is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy.

I can say that Shakespeare was really a startling writer by using extraordinary characters in making the story very interesting. The presence of the three witches at the beginning of the film impressed me the most. The three witches really caught my attention because of their great look. They were for real. Hope I won’t meet one of them. SCARY!

One thing that made me really to laugh out loud is the fight scene between Macbeth and Macduff. It was as if, they can no longer carry their weapons and metal clothes. They fought like a child and it looked like they were doing a mock fight. It was really amusing to see how Macbeth asked to rest first in the middle of the fight. Maybe, directors and people behind the film didn’t discover yet some better techniques in doing fight scenes for films. At least, they’ve tried.

However, I like the role of Lady Macbeth. She did great and she was excellent. Her suicidal, though, was brutal. Yet, I love the way she died in the film. That is what selfish people can get at the end. It simply shows that your own life can sometimes be the payment for your injustice and greed of power.

Murders are extremely bloody in the movie. I took pity on the killing of Macduff’s wife and son. Yet in some ways, it made the movie stimulating. I can’t deny it, the movie had a great photography. Polanski really showed his real skills as a film storyteller. A magnum opus.

I also love the conflict of the story and the way Shakespeare connected everything at the end. The idea of “man born of a woman” is impressive. Yes, it is just a simple concept but it added up to the excitement of the story. Sometimes we miss to look at things because of its simplicity without knowing that we can get a lot from it.

The story of Macbeth made me realize one thing. The greed of power is the most dangerous thing. It can sometimes cause someone’s life and even your own. We need to be always contented with what we have and don’t crave for greater things in a wrong way.

We can’t deny that human beings have this ambitious side. I’m not saying it is bad, but we need to remember that we can’t have everything we want all the time. Just like the Scripture is saying, God will answer the desires of our heart according to His will.

“The tragedy of human life consists in our vain attempts to stretch the limits of things which can never become unlimited, to reach the infinite by absurdly adding to the rungs of the ladder of the finite.”

Rabindranath Tagore

It’s YOU!

Gerald Eraldo — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:23:29 +0000

My life was once a life of uncertainty,

I was always contented yet unhappy alone

Suppose I die now, I pass life lonely

And end my life’s pages on my own

But on these poor sketches of my life, I have viewed,

You came in the picture unannounced, unassured

And so in the middle of my story I seek to conclude

That page would not be crumpled by mistakes or erasures.

You were on that page, but a little red dot

That I did not try to scratch off or mix with another

For you look quite stand out on your given small slot

Where you consumed all eyes, all spaces on my paper

But I have not given you so much of my interest

For your part; I thought was finite in my sense

But then again it seems to me I made an unreasonable guess

It came up to me that you were the reason for my existence

With all the pages I painted with black and chaos, mocking brushes

The page where you are stands lighted and compassionate

I wish to find peace, to burn that book of mine to ashes

But I cease being foolish to save that little dot’s page.

Who says blogging is easy?!

Gerald Eraldo — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:31:53 +0000

Oh Blogging!

B. L. O. G. G. I. N. G.

I love to write but my hands are lazy. I have a lot of thoughts in my mind but I can’t express it out. I always ask myself, why are there people who are very good in writing? People who can write an article or any short stories in just a little span of time. Why can’t I?

For the past five months, my blog, in a way, has been left behind. I didn’t update it regularly, and I didn’t write anything in it. It was just because I’m so busy and I had no time to think of anything in this world to write about. I know, I’m not an excellent writer and I’m not really good in writing, but I do always challenge myself to write and write and write even if I don’t make sense.

How do other people acquire such excellent skills in writing? I know someone who is very good in this area and I really salute him for his gift of writing. This someone had been my teacher in some of my Journ classes in the university I am into and he was the one who encouraged everyone of us to write. He believes that freedom can be found in writing. Writing is life.

Since then, I forced myself to write. I forced myself to learn how to write rather. I know it’s not yet too late to learn to become an excellent writer. Time, effort and heart are the factors leading to the success of my dreams; the dream of becoming a journalist, or perhaps a novelist.

I believe each one of us has the hard time forcing ourselves to write, especially when it is being posted for public consumption. Honestly, I sometimes hesitate to post my write ups in this blog because I know a lot of people will be reading this. However, I realized that blogging is made for us to speak for ourselves, for us to express our ideas and our emotions. Blogging is freedom. Blogging is life.

Nevertheless, who says blogging is easy?!

Stand-up for the Jews!

Gerald Eraldo — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:31:10 +0000

Flag of Israel

The world today is in chaos. People wherever part of the globe are into different sorts of uncertainties. People are on the verge of reservations and don’t know what would happen next after such particular undertakings. It’s enormously unpredictable.

As a fretful Christian of this world, I would like to focus more on the fate of the Israeli people and the Jews for general in this stage of global bedlam. Tracing back the history, the Jews suffered a lot of painful experiences in the hands of a Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in 1930’s whose intention is to kill and exterminate all the Jewish people in the world.

During his childhood years, Hitler was brought up in a Roman Catholic Family and he went to a seminary to study priesthood. While he was studying, he realized that Jewish people are the ones who plotted the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and since then, he promised himself to exterminate all Jews because for him, Jesus Christ, first of all is a Jew-hater. Hitler didn’t know the fact that it was not really the Jews who wanted to kill Christ but the Roman Catholics such as Caiaphas and other Roman priests. People were made to believe that Hitler was a Christian because he used the teachings of Christ when he spoke to the people but candidly speaking he was not – he was a pure Roman Catholic.

Extermination of the Jews

Way back in the 1930’s, the Jews were not given even a little amount of privilege to live. They were considered as pigs and 6 million Jews were burned into a gas chamber. Others were put into a single room and being sprayed by an insecticide. Children were shot and stab by bayonets. Hitler really showed no mercy to the Jews but instead, he considered them as the roots of dilemma in this world.

However, we can do nothing about what has already passed. What’s important right now is our present biblical obligations as Christians in defending the nation of Israel. Israel needs us right now. We need to pray for the peace of Israel against the rise of the new Hitler – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran – who has threatened to wipe out Israel and United States through their powerful nuclear technology.

We must stand up for Israel right now and we must not wait for the Holocaust to come. Our Christian religion rooted from Judaism therefore we have this biblical accountability in defending them against the threat that is drawing closer. Christianity as a matter of fact cannot explain its existence without the help of Judaism, while Judaism can explain its existence alone. First and foremost, Jesus Christ is a Jew. He was brought up by Jewish parents and he practiced Jewish traditions since childhood and these were stated in the Bible. Moreover, his disciples are also Jew.

Pastor John Hagee, founder of CUFI

Right now, there is a Christian organization which stands toward the peace and rights of the Jews to exist. The CUFI (Christian United for Israel) under the leadership of Pastor John Hagee based in San Antonio, Texas aims to fight and stand for the whole nation of Israel against the different threats of enemies.

Isaiah 62:1 says, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quite, ‘til her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.”

Honestly, all of us have all the rights to live. Only God has the power to take our lives away from us. For sure, He condemns those people who are cruel and evil in nature. We need to remember that we are created equal in the face of the earth. Who is Hitler to kill the Jews? Who is Ahmadinejad to wipe out Israel and America? I don’t care what people will say and think about my obsession in crying out for the peace of Israel, it’s alright. Long live Israel – a God-chosen nation! Christians are on your side!

Theories of the Press: Authoritarianism vs. Libertarianism

Gerald Eraldo — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:54:35 +0000

Each country’s mass media system is determined by its political philosophy. These controlling philosophies have even started since then without people noticing or knowing it. From the earliest civilizations up to now, various controlling philosophies are playing a great role in a certain nation’s political and even mass media system.

When I was a kid, I thought that everything wherever part of the globe is for free. However, later in college, I slowly understand things the way they should be. I realized that the God-given freedom is not that free everywhere and not that free all the time. In fact, you cannot have that freedom easily even in countries with democratic form of political system.

Since the earliest times, the control of leaders which led to the oppression of the people has been demonstrated. The concept of authoritarianism developed throughout history wherein people in various societies lived under the authority of scrupulous people. Even English monarchs in the 15^th and 16^th century, when the printing press was realized, compelled restrictive censorship on publishers through a series of limitations such as licensing, taxation, and seditious libel. Actually, these forms of limitations are not bad at all because these serve as gatekeepers for some irresponsible printed materials.

Conspicuously, even up to now, lots of people are still living under the authoritative form of government system wherein the government has the absolute control over the media and that they use media for propaganda purposes. Sometimes it’s a funny thing to know that in this type of political system there are no marketing strategies being used, only but just threat – morose threat.

However, given the ubiquitous state of internet today, does any nation have the power to apply the authoritarian form of mass media system? As what Rupert Murdock has been quoted, “We are already in the midst of technological storm.” For me, the capacity of the authoritarian form of government to have the control over the media is questionable, the fact that everyone is already accessible to the internet, as well as people are already critical thinkers. What do you think?

The offshoot of authoritarianism is the Soviet-Communist theory. Let’s compare and contrast the two theories first. Basically, both theories have control over the mass media; nevertheless, there is one important difference. In authoritarian, the media is recognized as a different body from the government while in Soviet-Communist theory; the press for all matters and functions has been a part of the state. There is no such term as repression of the press in this system, for the press is the state. However, the question is, how does the government make profit out of it?

During the Age of Reason in 17^th century, another theory, Libertarianism, evolved in United States initiated by the forerunners John Milton, Thomas Jefferson and John Stuart Mill.

Libertarianism grants a totally free press upholding that people are inherently rational truth-seekers. Here in the Philippines, just like in U.S., journalists and broadcasters have this freedom of expression as stated in the First Amendment (“Congress shall pass no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”). Though sometimes it leads to some libel and slander cases in the part of journalists but they have this freedom to defend themselves. We have what we call the privileged communication and fair comment on matters of public interest. For me, Philippines is a perfect place to exercise libertarianism. As future journalist (hope so), I consider my freedom of expression as my best weapon to influence others through writing. My freedom is my life!

As future journalist, we should also have this social responsibility. A responsibility to eradicate corrupt, irresponsible or immoral actions that may bring impairment to the community, its people, or the environment before the behavior takes place. A true journalist must have this passion to serve and provide good service to the people. Sometimes, the liberty of having this freedom led for some to abuse it and use it in several negative purposes and intentions.

There are both advantages and disadvantages between the authoritarianism and the libertarianism as what I have discussed. The amount of government control depends upon the relationship between the government and the governed. Generally, the controller – controlled relationship is natural for humans. Yes, it is!

Pen And Paper

Gerald Eraldo — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:52:26 +0000

Mataas na ang sikat ng araw. Ang ulap ay bahagyang nahahawi habang iniihip ng hanging habagat. Bughaw na bughaw ang kalangitan pati na rin and dagat na nagbabadya ng walang anumang senyales ng pag-ulan. Sa di kalayuan, naririnig ko ang mga ibong nagsisiawitan habang palipat-lipat sa mga puno at nangunguha ng mga dahon na gagawing pugad para sa malapit ng mangitlog na inahin. Mula sa puno ng niyog, lilipad tungo sa puno ng kamatsili dala-dala and tuyong dahon na nakuha.

Nakaupo ako ngayon sa isang berdeng silya sa terrace ng aming boarding house na malapit sa batis. Nakasandal ng bahagya ang likod sa pader na may pinturang puti habang nakatanday ang mga paa sa isa pang silya. Kinuha ko ang gitarang nakahiga sa isang mahabang upuan at sinimulan ko ang pagkuskos dito. Bawat tunog na nagagawa ng gitarang hawak ko ay binibigyang harmoniya ng umaagos na tubig sa batis at sinasabayan din ng matitinis na huni ng mga ibon.

Sa highway malapit sa Tumagbok Bridge, matatanaw ko ang mga batang naghahabulan at nagkakantiyawan pabalik sa kanilang paaralan galing tanghalian. Matatanaw ko din ang mga sasakyang dumadaan at nagkakarerahan sa isa’t-isa habang ramdam na ramdam ang mga pasaherong nanginginig sa takot sa bawat pagtapak ni Manong driber ng gasolinador. Sa bandang ibaba ng tulay, may nag-aayos ng kanilang mga pukot, may namimingwit at may mga batang lalaki na naliligo ng hubo’t hubad at tila sunog na ang mga katawan sa kabibilad sa araw.

Kaygandang pagmasdan ng bawat pangyayari na halos kada araw ko ring nakikita. Ang buhay nga naman, parang isang gulong na pabalik-balik ng pag-ikot na tila ba’y walang katapusan.

Kinuskos ko ulit ang gitarang akap-akap ko at kumanta ng isang pinakapaborito kong awitin. Ramdam na ramdam ko ang mensahe ng bawat salitang kinakanta ko na para bang ako’y mapapaluha pero pinipilit ko itong pigilan. Ayaw kong umiyak ngayon.

Dahil doon, pinatong ko ulit ang gitara sa mahabang upuan at kinuha ko ang lapis at kapirasong papel na nakatungtong sa drawing table ng aking boardmate na kumukuha ng drafting sa SIPC. Pero hindi ko alam kong ano nga bang gagawin ko sa lapis at papel na hawak ko. Magsusulat ba ako o guguhit? Napaisip ako.

Mga dalawa’t kalahating taon na pala ang nakakaraan nung una akong dumating sa malaking boarding house na ito. Kaybilis talaga ng panahon, akalain mo, parang kahapon lang. Ang dami na talagang pagbabago sa lugar na ito. Hindi ko lubos mabilang ang mga pangyayaring minsa’y naging parte na rin ng buhay ko. Mga boardmate kong nagmamahal sa akin na parang isang kapatid at ang napakabait na may-ari ng bahay na ito na kailanman ay hindi nagbabago. Kaysarap ding balikan ang mga kaganapang nagpamulat sa akin sa realidad ng buhay. Sari-saring kwento at sari-saring laban na naranasan ng bawat isa sa amin sa loob lamang ng dalawa’t kalahating taon na pamamalagi rito. Ito ang pangalawang pamilya ko na pinagkaloob sa akin ng Panginoong Diyos. Talagang pinagpala ako at dito ko naisipang tumira. Sa mismong bahay din na ito ako natutong maging responsible sa aking sarili at natutong mamuhay ng hindi masyadong umaasa sa mga nagmamahal kong magulang. Ang hirap sa umpisa pero ako’y lumalaban at nagpapatuloy. Hay, tama na nga ang drama.

Tumayo ako ulit sa silyang kinauupuan ko at pinatong balik sa mesa ang papel at lapis na hawak ko. Walang bahid at walang ni anumang gusot ang papel. Nakatitig ako sa puno ng kamatsili na pinamamahayan ng mga ibong masasaya. Kaysarap talagang pagmasdan ang ganda ng inang kalikasan at ang mga buhay na nagpapasigla dito.

Sa ibaba, naririnig ko ang kalatog ng mga pinggan at kobyertos sa mga kustomer ng karenderya ni Tita. Tinignan ko nag aking gintong relo, alas 12: 45 na pala. Tumutunog na pala tiyan ko sa gutom. Oh pano, kain muna ako ha!

Life’s Chords

Gerald Eraldo — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:42:45 +0000

C – Commit everything to God and He will never leave you.

D - Do what God has commanded you to do for He will going to reward your obedience. It pays to obey.

E - Eschew from doing things that might get to displease Him.

F – Fear nothing except God.

G – God is faithful if you will remain faithful to Him as well

A – Allow God to work on you and use you.

B - Be God’s masterpiece in conquering every soul.

C – Confide everything to God for He is our Bestfriend.

“UP Amung Pinalangga”

Gerald Eraldo — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:13:33 +0000

“Mil Nuebe Sientos Otso, gintukod ang isa ka unibersidad nga nagapatuhay.”

sa kaalam kag serbisyo.”

“Unibersidad nga nagadihon sang mga intelehente nga mga estudyante.”

“Nagligad na ang isa ka gatos ka tuig.”

“Apang ang dugo sang pagka-Pilipino padayon nga ginapakigbato.”

“Wala nagaminyar sa anu man nga mga isyu.”

“Kundi nagapanindugan sa ginapatihan nga kamatuoran kag insakto.”

“Unibersidad nga kilala sa mga wala kapares nga mga esudyante.”

“Kritikal!”

“Maalam!”

“May panindugan!”

“Kag labaw sa tanan, may paghigugma sa banwang namat-an!”

“Padayon nga nagapanguna sa pag-implementar sang demokrasya.”

“Kag may tagipusuon sa pagserbisyo sa banwa.”

“Kilala nga unibersidad!”

“Kilala nga mga propesor!”

“Kilala nga mga estudyante!”

“Kag wala’y langan sa pagpanguna sa bug-os nga banwa.”

“Unibersidad nga kaalyado sa kauswagan.”

“Unibersidad nga nagatinguha sa pagdilanto sang tagsa ka kabataan.”

“Nagasinggit sang katarungan.”

“Nagapakigbato sang prinsipyo nga ginatindugan.”

“Dungog!”

“Hustisya!”

“Kag kamatuoran!”

“Wala’y kakugmat sa pag-atubang sang mga anomalya sang gobyerno.”

“May kaisog sa pagsuay sa mga layi nga wala nagakaigo kag indi insakto.”

“Unibersidad sang amun kabuhi.”

“Unibersidad nga amun ginapabugal.”

“Ang amun tagipusuon sa imu gid lamang.”

“Ikaw ang ginahigugma wala na sang iban.”

“Sa imu ko natun-an ang magpalangga sang bug-os.”

“Pinaagi sa pagbulig kag pagserbisyo sang lubos.”

“Oh UP! Amung pinalangga! Ikaw ang dalan padulong sa kauswagan. “

“University of the Philippines! Numero uno sa kaalam kag serbisyo.”

UP Mabuhay Tayo!

Gerald Eraldo — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:42:38 +0000

‘Sandaang taon na ang lumipas

Talino at galing, ‘di parin kumukupas

At ditto sa amin puso

Kailanman ay di magbabago

Chorus:

Sabay-sabay, kapit kamay

Unibersidad ng aming buhay

Sabay-sabay, isigaw natin ‘to

UP Mabuhay tayo!

Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan

Susi sa tagumpay at kaunlaran

‘Pagkat dito sa aming puso

Mananatiling totoo.

Sabay-sabay, isigaw natin ‘to

UP Mabuhay tayo!

(This song is the original composition of the author.)