2015 Week 51

The week prior, we have been complaining about the heat. This week, there was too much rainfall because of two typhoons that entered PAR. All this as the COP21 was happening in Paris and the leaders are leaving the indigenous peoples out of the picture in the discussions on global warming mitigation.

In the two weeks of continuous discussions and negotiations, a big flood in the Southern Indian city of Chennai claimed 300 lives and destroyed both residential and commercial structures. This should be an important lesson for humanity and everyone should be extra mindful of how humans are contributing to the gradual destruction of the earth. 

It reminds me of the seminar I attended two weeks before where a presenter passionately argued against geoengineering saying that while it is a brilliant idea in the history of human civilization, we should look more to natural ways because in the long run, it is only nature's own devices which will be for the best. This echoes my firm belief in Mother Nature's self-healing methods so upon hearing those words of hers, I almost cried at the thought that finally, an architect who understands the dynamics between nature and the built environment!

The rainfall in recent days caused many to question why we are experiencing typhoons in December, an occurrence that never happened before. Now if only people were closing in on the climate talks instead of being preoccupied with Aldub and other showbiz nonsense! (*Facepalm) 

On the 15th, just coming from an almost-fever after exhausting myself in Laguna last weekend, I found myself braving the icky floods in Balintawak after attending the first of the series of Simbang Gabi this year. It already sucks going home wet but it sucks even more to see your favorite green pants suddenly turn into yellowish brown because of the floodwaters. Sigh! People in the Philippines are too conscious of their personal hygiene but cannot go beyond their bodies. The environment suffers as a result of wanton garbage disposal. I don't know if I have any right to complain since I do not partake of any actions to educate the stupid masses of the importance of keeping the surroundings clean. On the other hand, shouldn't it be first the government, second the school's responsibility to do that??? And another voice inside my head cynically retorts that since when can we rely on the government to mobilize the masses for a common good? And schools nowadays have become factories of certificates and have stopped being institutions of real learning.

[Allow me to insert one of my favorite paragraphs in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, a book that I almost dropped off my to-read list until I browsed the latter pages and found interesting takes on real education among other philosophical musings:

 "The real University, he said, has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries and receives no material dues. The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries and which does not exist at any specific location. It's a state of mind which is regenerated throughout the centuries by a body of people who traditionally carry the title of professor, but even that title is not part of the real University. The real University is nothing less than the continuing body of reason itself.

"But this second university, the legal corporation, cannot teach, does not generate new knowledge or evaluate ideas. It is not the real University at all. It is just a church building, the setting, the location at which conditions have been made favorable for the real church to exist." ]

And there are so many problems in this world that we need to address. So many intertwined problems, a hypernetwork of problems that we inherited from the previous generations whose lack of foresight made the world what it is today. [And the relationships among these problems are so convoluted I always get a headache thinking about them and how to address them.] So it shall fall on today's generation to undo all these shit, which is next to impossible so the only recourse is to be less of a burden to the world and be more of a good example for others. Except, when you exhibit qualities and possess opinions different from the masses, you will be treated with contempt and ridicule. In moments like this, I am always reminded of the cruel fate my favorite PH hero Antonio Luna suffered, at the hands of fellow [read: STUPID, SELFISH, PRETENTIOUS] Filipinos no less.

So I rant again... Just yesterday we were finally done with the team Christmas party. Thank God for that. And I got what I wrote down in my wishlist: a copy of Ang Diablo sa Filipinas, originally by Isabelo delos Reyes and translated into English and Filipino. One of the translators was Benedict Anderson whose work Under Three Flags was a treasure I found in one of the libraries in UP and which I read for PI 100 class even though it was not part of the required readings. (Because I was so poor I couldn't afford to have photocopies of the required readings...) He died just last December 13, so God bless his soul.