YOUR CHOICE, YOUR DESTINY

Ever since I step my best foot on college and with my specialization and orientation grounded on philosophy, I’m bugged every now and then of what am I to take unto my sleeves. What goal or career am I to pursue. (Just a hint, I am a seminarian then. And you know where a seminarian is heading,? right) With that status, there are two major elements that I have to check and chose, priesthood or the other way around? When I pursue for priesthood, impending choices I know would still crash along my way. What’s worse is that your choices are coiled upon the wand of your superior or your bishop. When I chose life outside, then much of ‘em is spawning around.

What am I to follow?

There are many choices that are worse not being there at all, ’cause it’s hard for me to pin them out. Am I to pursue engineering, fine arts, computer, editorial, showbizness (ehem, excuse me), yeah it doesn’t mean that if you’re not handsome you cannot be on the line.

Excuse me again for this, to lay myself on the ground, I know how to draw. In fact I did it some way back in elementary when I won third on our annual campus art competition; and in high school when I won Community Service when I was left bathing on silver dusts, paints, scissors, colored papers, colored pens, cutters, back drafts, cartolinas and a lot of them still waiting at home waiting to be bored by the usually pay back "oi, thank you, ang galing mo’ng mag-drawing," and all of them goners afterwards. That is why my uncle encouraged me to take engineering or fine arts.

I also love computers or any tech elements. When I was a kid, I usually turn, twist and pop radio component parts ’till they no longer say a word.

In college, I spend a lot of my slack time, or not even slack time, doing some tweaks on a Pentium 2 or 3 computers ’till the system says "DISK BOOT FAILURE," and the technician would spend one lunch break for the reformatting. Well, to do it myself, 7 months ago since I’ve written this post I just have finished a Computer Technician training course which I’m finding time to invest.

What would I expect next, but to say that I know how to write and still getting better about it? Did I? Well, I guess you’re too shy to leave a comment afterwards, are you? Objectively, I’m raking few bucks from that, in fact. That’s my occupation and other preoccupation as of the moment. I write for bands and other local (Philippines) artists through my interviews with them; and I also write for you who love to read or skim.

But of all these, which of them am I put at the crux or at the center of my earthly pilgrimage?

Too English, let me speak my tongue: kumbaga, ano yung kakaririn ko?

If I have to draw them at the canvass of my life, they exude a perfect picture of what I like. And I guess this is not a one in a million life phenomenon, it is as common as seeing stars in the sky every night. If you wanna make your life better, then you are immediately confronted to look for the east where your sun rises and stars fill it when night comes.

So, it’s like chasing a rainbow for a pot of gold at its end. But it’s not at all about chasing colors. If you believe in destiny, just like most people do, then most likely you’ll be frozen into a halt. Since you’re waiting for your destiny to work for you, instead that you for your destiny.

I do believe that robots have destinies; that they cannot do otherwise but follow and be a slave of what have been programed in them.

Well, that is their destiny, are you?

It’s hard for me to believe that destiny is a distant from here. That you’ve got no other choice but to follow this long and winding road from here to there where your destiny ends. It’s a matter of CHOICE! I can say no to this and say yes for the others (of course death, you’ve got no choice, but save that as long as we live). Of course we cannot deny things that are getting out of control, things beyond our arrest.

But I’m not writing about it, so forget it.

God did not intend to make robots in us. It’s hard to realize human existence without freedom. You can even choose between heaven and hell, though God wants you to be in heaven, but if you chose to be somewhere else then God cannot do something about it. It’s in human nature to choose, and God respects nature.

One Sunday, I have attended a charismatic talk in the person of Bo Sanchez. He speaks about being choosy about life, of what you really want in life, of choosing the right cup of tea in your life - of what God wants in your life - and our power to choose.

Life offers so many stuff (beautiful stuff indeed), that you find it hard to choose among those vivid elements in life. In other words, we are confused and we are waiting for God to choose it for us. Because we think that God offers only one and only one thing in life, and that what you have to choose, no more, no less.

Again, God doesn’t want a robot in us and that’s the purpose of giving us the power to choose. If you are confused, that is because, as what Bo said "…what if God wants all of those things for you, and that you only have to choose among those promising stuff." Why choose? Because you need to focus.

Focusing, in simple terms made a Thomas Edison or a Charles Babbage in the world history and made their influences reverberate and profit our present generations.

You don’t need to be confused, you won’t be missing anything at all, not even missing God’s plan for you. You won’t miss a piece if you chose this rather than the other one. You won’t miss one half of your life if you chose to become a Fine Artist rather than an Architect, though you like both. The usual advice is think about it, pray about it because it works and then decide about it!

That’s it!

I, myself, I won’t be missing anything if I chose to become a priest rather than get married and be wealthy someday. Because, I believe that God is offering me those promising choices in a wide and silver platter.

If you’re going to ask me if I have chosen one, then I have to tell you that until now I’m still having a “free-taste” of everything - just a little bit of everything, spreading my wings as far as it can go – I’m still excited!

In a bird’s eye view - It’s your choice, your destiny!

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NAGPAPALIMUS

Isang matandang nagpapalimus sa kanto

Gamabi na’y wala pa ring taginting sa lata ng Hekaido

Kung lata pa lamang ay kayang saluhin buntunghininga’t tinging nagmamaliit

Ito’y umapaw na sana

Tumayo na nga lang at makalipat sa kabilang kanto…

May mamang nagmamaniho…

Dire-diretso…

Walang preno…


…mamahinga ka na nga lang lolo

Sadyang malupit sa’yo ang mundo.

☺☺☺

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT?

This is a seemingly rugged philosophy I often heard of people who hate doing things again and again, or simply those who are stubborn or lazy louds. At first glance the logical connection seems right of the two nuances — perfection and imperfection. Yeah, practice makes perfect, but the other side of the coin says nobody’s perfect! And it seems so convincing to keep them up every time there is a chance calling you to say so.

However, taking a second closer look at the two ideologies, two simple things come to the open — self and the things you do. Simply, when you say "practice makes perfect" it speaks about the things you do. When you say "nobody’s perfect" it speaks about yourself. You, being imperfect has nothing to do with the things you are trying to perfect. Thus, you do have to consider the dichotomy or the duality of two things — self and the things we do.

When you practice, you are trying to perfect the things that you are doing (i.e. dancing, singing, writing, drawing). When you say nobody’s perfect, you simply admit your contingency or your human nature which is imperfect.

Now, saying "practice makes perfect" is trying to perfect RELATIVELY the THINGS that you are doing, NOT yourself. Obviously, you cannot make yourself perfect by perfecting what you are doing; else you’re next to becoming a god. It is a useless passion trying to perfect yourself, rather than the things that you do. The perfection that we’re trying lay on the ground is not the perfection as if you’ll never commit any speck of mistake forever.

YOU, know it well, you can NEVER do that!

What we are talking about is a relative perfection, perfection that is suited for a man, not of a God. So we have to discount godly perfection here.

Now, at human grounds, it doesn’t mean that when we are not perfect, we cannot do things perfectly. Human as we are, no matter how we ‘perfect’ ourselves, and no matter how perfect the things that we are doing, there will still come a time that we would still falter and commit mistakes. And that is where we give justice to reparation, since mistake is everybody’s lot. We cannot make our imperfection ("Nobody is perfect) a defense against not perfecting ("Practice makes perfect") or doing things well.

Just do things as it is to be done, and perfection will find its way to it.
Just remember, in our imperfections, we see perfection itself.

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