Sorry Na - Muntinlupa Style

Today's headlines can really kill.

Aquino says sorry to Estrada
Concedes Edsa II a mistake
By Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:52:00 12/23/2008

MANILA, Philippines—It was her second mea culpa, but this time former President Corazon Aquino said it in his presence.

Ex-President Joseph Estrada said he felt vindicated.

At the star-studded launch Monday of former Speaker Jose de Venecia’s book that gave accounts of scandals that had hounded President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Aquino asked Estrada for forgiveness for joining the Edsa II uprising that ousted him.

“I am one of those who plead guilty for the 2001 (uprising). Lahat naman tayo nagkakamali. Patawarin mo na lang ako (All of us make mistakes. Forgive me),” Aquino said in her brief but well-received remarks at the Podium mall in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

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By saying that Edsa 2 was a mistake, the fight against corruption in this country has fallen, or thrown down the cliff of politics.

We must remember that we fought in Edsa 2 not simply to depose former President Estrada, but to make a stand that we do not condone corruption, especially when evidence already presents itself to us. We made a stand against corruption and cronyism, two ills of our country that keeps us from progress.

Edsa 2 was a fight, yes, to throw Estrada out of Malacanang, because he is not just the epitome of corruption and cronyism at that time, but because it was our way of saying no to his way of traditional politics. He was convicted out of overwhelming evidence (who can forget Clarissa Ocampo), but eventually pardoned. But his pardon does not erase the fact that he wronged the people by stealing and plundering from the people's money.

This, however, does not say that other officials are not without sins too, just that some are more cunning and scheming than others, and this "some" includes both the current President and the First Gentleman.

The news that Aquino apologized already irked me the first time I read about it before, and I quote myself, again, in an old post:

and what irked me more than what erap said is what cory said to erap. as i recall from what i read, "edsa dos was a big mistake."

what was the mistake in removing a corrupt president from office? what was the mistake of showing outrage at the kind of blatant corruption that goes in his presidency, a conviction of plunder which he still so denies to this day? but more importantly, what is the mistake of the people expressing themselves, going out to the streets to make the administration know that they are no longer taking their crap?

Aquino said that she thought Arroyo to be a better alternative to Estrada, which was why they joined the Edsa 2 rally.

I have news for you, Madame former President: we fought not to put Arroyo in power, but to throw Erap out of Malacanang and his kind of politics. We threw out corruption in Malacanang through Edsa 2, with fervent hope at that time that things will turn out for the better. We knew not then that Arroyo would be just as bad or even worse, but what we did when we took to the streets we were not ashamed of doing, because what we stood for was not simply against the person, but against the very system that runs deep in the heart of our country's governance and politics.

Edsa 1 was fought for democracy. Edsa 2 was fought for good governance. Both virtues of the public have not yet been attained fully by our people, but it was a cry that this was what we wanted, this was what we should strive for.

And I am not sorry at all for Edsa 2, because I am not sorry that this country stood for virtues that our government certainly does not have.

...even when you are already speaking in plain English.

Just a conversation I had on Skype. Read on (edits are mine).

[01:07:48] ahmed: i open cam
[01:08:20] mariel: i'm not interested.
[01:07:48] ahmed: and mic
[01:07:53] … see me
[01:08:00] … plea(se)
[01:09:06] … im ahmed
[01:09:16] … i open my cam
[01:09:27] … im in qater
[01:09:30] … ok(a)y
[01:10:45] mariel: i'm not interested in seeing you on cam or talking. i can chat, but that's it.
[01:11:13] ahmed: see me on cam
[01:11:46] mariel: i don't want to.
[01:12:04] ahmed: open mic
[01:12:18] … and im open cam
[01:12:47] … (heart emoticon)
[01:12:56] mariel: yeah but i'm not at all interested in a video call.
[01:13:27] ahmed: open after im open cam
[01:14:43] mariel: wtf. i just said i'm not interested.
[01:14:52] ahmed: open and wait
[01:15:26] … hi
[01:15:33] … im ahmed
[01:15:43] … y(ou) can open cam
[01:15:51] … i want (to) see y(ou)
[01:16:00] … open cam
[01:16:09] mariel: i don't want to. i just don't want to, can't it be left at that?
[01:16:14] ahmed: hi
[01:16:26] … open cam
[01:16:31] mariel: you can't make me
[01:16:44] ahmed: y(ou) open cam
[01:16:59] … open y(our) cam
[01:17:20] … y(ou) have cam
[01:17:45] … open y(our) cam
[01:18:02] … y(ou) have cam
[01:18:06] … hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
[01:18:12] … (heart emoticon)
[01:18:25] mariel: i just told you i don't want to.
[01:18:26] ahmed: (handshake emoticon)
[01:19:15] … i want see y(our)
[01:19:21] … photo
[01:19:33] … i work in qater
[01:19:52] … y(ou) send one photo

And besides the fact that he called me eight times. Eight effin times. I hung up on six. When I finally answered just to shut him up, I didn't even talk or show my video. I thought, maybe he'll just quit. But wtf, he kept saying and saying "open cam, open cam, open cam" to me. Wtf?!

Guys, you want us girls to speak plainly and not beat around when we want to get something across. But please don't be when we give the straight talk. No means no.

Christmas Shoes - Bob Carlysle

I'm posting this beautiful song to remind us that Christmas isn't simply the festivities, but the heart of sharing and family.

Whenever I hear this song it never ceases to bring tears to my eyes.

It is always the simple things that matter in our lives. It's not the gifts, really, but the love of family and friends. The simple joy of the boy in wanting to make his mother beautiful is enough to remind us that it is love that makes the season, and our lives, meaningful.

We are all like the person who has witnessed the boy--we look too much in the unimportant things in our lives that it amazes us to see the simple ones that matter.

We work too much to enjoy the simple things, when we can have the simple things without working too much.

In poverty, the boy still knows what is important to him.

Young children do not really understand much about the world, but they know enough about the world to live in its simplicity and awe-filled splendor. The young boy in the song does not understand that shoes are not really brought to heaven with us, but he still bought his mother a pair of shoes just so she can be pretty even in her deathbed.

It's not about the shoes, but the thought that the boy wanted his mother to be look beautiful in a new pair of shoes when she meets Jesus. The little boy believed that one should be looking his own best when facing the Lord.

When we face Jesus, will we be looking our best?

I hope we look at life, the world, and our loved ones the way the little boy did, as with this innocence comes the boundless view of the world and the ways we can share our lives with others.

I just can't imagine how we can both be soulmates.

I've always been the straight-laced kind, and work has always been the center of my life. I have to be doing something else I don't feel like myself.

But here he comes, he opened my life into something outside of what I could dream of. Before, I couldn't say what films I like to watch or what music I like to listen to. I never gave myself the chance to evolve my tastes in films, in music, in literature.

When he came into my life, I realized I have preferences in interests too. I never had time to watch movies in the theater before, now I give myself a few hours to watch movies over the internet, just for fun. Heck, I don't even watch television shows just for fun anymore!

Fun has always taken a back seat in my life. I didn't give time for it as much as I should. But whenever I tell myself again that I should not have fun this time, I hear him in my head, "go have fun or I'll kick you in the ass!" Frankly it makes me laugh out loud.

My taste in culture has never really evolved to say that I love this or I adore that. Let's just say I am opening myself up to a lot more than the usual now. While I like films, I have never been the movie pundit that can say a lot about films. My music has always been limited to whatever my sis or bro listens to, but I have this preference for smooth or acoustic jazz as these have always been compatible with my mind set on study or work time.

It's not really that Jeremiah and I are compatible. We're both really different, and even if he says we have a lot in common, we still have our differences. I both love and hate what he has done to my life. I hate it that I am doing things which take away time from doing work, but at the same time I love that he has opened me up to doing these things because I feel like I am broadening my horizon.

My dad hammered into me before that I should always prioritize work before fun, and growing up I realize how much I missed, simply because I tried so hard to be just that. I can't blame my dad for raising me that way, but I simply can't live my life the way I have. It hurts to realize that I have missed a lot because I have always wanted to be the kind of person he is. I am more than what my dad wants me to be.

Jeremiah opened me up to see that I have to rethink how my life is going. I can't miss out on so many things that make life a joyride. I can't have too much of it though, I still hope to rub off my own personality on him.

Maybe because we fit together, we fill in each other what the other lacks, we are really incompatible when one thinks deeply about it, we share values but not opinions... These make us soulmates. Distance doesn't even hinder how we feel. Distance is simply how we wrap the world with what we share.